Orbital zones · where each pattern wins

Same tile. Different envelopes.

The hex tile is the same. The conformation isn’t. Each zone has a thermal, radiation, power, and link profile that picks its own deployment shape. The tile’s docking protocol, compute payload, and operating system stay constant.

The deployment ladder · distance from Earth (log scale)

The zones

Five envelopes. Three primary targets.

ThermoEdge targets LEO, GEO, and L4/L5 first — the zones where the planar / boom / disc conformations close on the math. MEO and cislunar are reachable but secondary.

LEO

Low Earth Orbit · 300 – 2,000 km · ~90 minutes

Conformation

Planar farm

Thermal

Eclipse fraction up to 40%; sun-facing IR + albedo; passive radiator sized to sub-watt average.

Radiation

Mild TID; SAA upset rate ~50% elevated. Mature-node CMOS + ECC handles it.

Power

~1361 W/m² solar at vernal equinox; eclipse-limited duty cycle.

Link

Crosslink and downlink both viable; antenna apertures small enough for tile-integrated patches.

When this zone wins

Default. Where the sun-pointing geometry maps cleanly to a flat radiator.

MEO

Medium Earth Orbit · 2,000 – 35,786 km · ~2 – 24 hours

Conformation

Planar farm + shielding

Thermal

Lower Earth-IR + albedo; deeper eclipses or sustained sun; thermal cycling is harsher.

Radiation

GPS/Galileo zone — Van Allen Belt residence. RHBD + scrubbing essential.

Power

Higher dose for the same solar; harder to keep silicon junctions in tight thermal band.

Link

Longer crosslinks; optical preferred over RF for inter-satellite.

When this zone wins

For navigation-class constellations needing global synchronous availability.

GEO

Geostationary · 35,786 km · 24 hours (stationary)

Conformation

Boom or stationary farm

Thermal

Quasi-steady-state. Single solstice eclipse season; predictable.

Radiation

Outside the worst belts; GCR + solar event exposure. Mature-node tolerant.

Power

Continuous sun (except brief seasonal eclipses); attitude is locked.

Link

Single ground footprint; high-rate downlink; small inter-satellite separation if co-located.

When this zone wins

Persistent broadcast / sovereign-territory cloud / very-long-life payloads.

L4 / L5

Earth – Sun Lagrange · ~1.5 million km · Solar synchronous

Conformation

Slow-rotating disc

Thermal

No Earth-IR; no eclipse; clean deep-space radiator view at all times.

Radiation

Outside Earth's magnetosphere for most of the year; SEP-event peaks dominate.

Power

Continuous, undisturbed solar; ideal power envelope.

Link

Communications back to Earth on a tight band; intra-cluster mesh optical.

When this zone wins

Science cluster, observatory cloud, deep-space relay.

Cislunar

Earth – Moon vicinity · Variable (DRO, NRHO, etc.) · Variable

Conformation

Accreting cell on a host vehicle

Thermal

Periodic eclipse; lunar-IR contribution near pericynthion; harsher than LEO at extrema.

Radiation

Outside magnetosphere for most of orbit; significant GCR + SEP.

Power

Mostly continuous; occasional eclipse passages.

Link

Earth-Moon laser links viable; latency ~1.3 s one-way.

When this zone wins

Augmenting a lunar gateway, cislunar relay, or transfer-stage payload.

The deployment ladder

LEO first. GEO next. Lagrange when the math closes.

The same hex tile, the same compute payload, the same docking protocol. What changes between LEO and L4 is the radiator-area-to-mass ratio target, the inter-tile mesh range, and the radiation-tolerance margin. The architecture absorbs those parameters; the artifact does not.

The deployment order follows what already exists: LEO rideshare is cheap and frequent; GEO transfer stages can drop a boom into geostationary slot; L4/L5 missions ride a science transfer. Every zone is a different rocket, not a different chip.

The architecture, end to end

From physics to shape to network to zone — one architecture.

← Physics ← Modular ← Integrated Back to overview