SATELLITE POWER SYSTEMS (SPS) SPACE TRANSPORTATION WORKSHOP SUMMARY* J. Preston Layton, Consultant 60 Penn Lyle Road, Princeton Junction, New Jersey 08550 In the course of studies of satellite power systems (SPS) over the past ten years, it has become apparent that the space transportation requirements are major elements in the technical and economic realization of the entire concept. The space transportation requirement is usually divided into an Earth surface (ES) to low Earth orbit (LEO) part and a LEO to geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) or orbit-to-orbit portion which involves all intra-orbit operations including transfer through the van Allen Belts. A considerable number of concepts have been studied for enhancing the capabilities of the current Shuttle Transportation System so that its role can be extended in the early SPS demonstrations and other flight operations. Beyond the growth and derivative versions of the present shuttle concept lie the possibilities for relatively low cost transportation from ES to LEO. First steps in enhancing the shuttle will probably include the Titan based liquid Boost Module (LBM) and liquid propellant boosters (LPB) to replace the present solid rocket boosters (SRB). The next choice between new ballistic or winged boosters must still be made; as well as the choice between series (staged) and parallel operation. Entirely new vehicles of large size will be required before the economic and environmental problems of the prototype, or even demonstration, SPS can be resolved. The need for single stage to low Earth orbit (SSTO) vehicles using either vertical or horizontal take-off and/or landing remains to be determined by future analyses or the course of events. In any event, considerable analysis, research and technology will be required before the choice can be properly made. Social impacts such as noise, and atmospheric pollution, locally and in the ionosphere, will need to be fully resolved. The ES to LEO operational requirements and costs dominate the SPS space transportation scene. Launch vehicle technology must be driven to a rather sophisticated extent to meet the needs as currently perceived and this perception is immature at the present time. The workshop decided that, although rather advanced technology and well-developed operational management would be required to properly target the average cost of gross cargo payloads into LEO at 30 $ (1979)/kg for the construction of the initial SPS, the further goal for repetitive construction of 30 to 60 SPS at 15 $(1979)/kg for all operational payloads would require the use of very advanced, long-lived vehicles with a sophisticated operational organization using off-shore, equatorial launch sites, etc. ★ The SPS Space Transportation Workshop with fifty-seven participants was held at the Sheraton Motor Inn, Huntsville, Alabama from 29-31 January 1980. It was managed by the Kenneth E. Johnson Environmental and Energy Center of The University of Alabama in Huntsville under contract to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, George C. Marshall Space Flight Center. This paper was prepared for presentation at the Department of Energy/National Aeronautics and Space Administration Satellite Power System (SPS) Program Review, Nebraska Center, University of Nebraska - Lincoln, Nebraska on 23 April 1980.
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