Transportation Fleet Requirements - Table B-3 provides a summary of the total transportation requirements for the installation of one 10 GW SPS. Requirements are expressed in terms of flights/year for each vehicle, fleet size, and propellant requirements. Personnel Launch Vehicle (PLV) - The personnel launch vehicle provides for the transportation of the crews between earth and low earth orbit. The vehicle is a derivative of the current space shuttle system which incorporates a liquid propellant booster in place of the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB's). A series-burn ascent mode was selected and as a result External Tank (ET) propellant load is required. The personnel launch vehicle, shown in figure B-24 incorporates a propane fueled booster, External Tank and Space Shuttle Orbiter. Overall vehicle geometry and characteristics are shown in the figure. The overall length of 60.92 m is due to the tandum arrangement rather than the side-mounted concept in the current shuttle system. The vehicle transports 75 passengers to low earth orbit using a personnel module as depicted in figure B-25. Personnel Orbit Transfer Vehicle (POTV) - The functions of the POTV is to deliver personnel and supplies from LEO to GEO and to return personnel from GEO to LEO at 90-day intervals. The vehicle is a two-stage (common stage) LO^/LH^ configuration as illustrated in figure B-26. The vehicle transports 75 personnel per trip. Cargo Orbit Transfer Vehicle (COTV) - The COTV includes all hardware, software, and consumables installed on SPS modules to equip them for orbit transfer from LEO to GEO. There are eight sets of this equipment as the SPS is transferred in eight modules. The modules are self-powered during the orbit transfer using portions of the on-board SPS solar array as the energy source for ion engines.
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