9. 2. 4 TRAFFIC CONTROL AND INVENTORY MANAGEMENT Primary traffic around the SPS construction area will be in support of delivery of items of inventory to or from storage. Traffic control, however, must begin on the ground with packaging of materials for delivery to the SPS. With one launch opportunity per day, several HLLV payloads may simultaneously be placed into suitable phasing orbits, that may require several days of phasing time before final rendezvous can begin. Thus, as many as a dozen payloads may be in phasing orbits waiting for rendezvous opportunities at any time. Similar situations exist in coordinating operations of shuttle crew delivery, LEO to GEO and return traffic, as well as local delivery of material and products to the SPS assembly sites. Even without a clear concept of the elements involved, functional requirements can be somewhat defined, and they indicate the requirement for a high degree of automatic traffic control, large scale automatic collision avoidance equipment and procedures, and rapid contingency assessment and reaction capability. 9. 2. 5 DISPOSITION OF UNUSABLE ITEMS During the buildup, construction, and operation of the SPS, there will be many disposable items accumulated on-orbit that must have proper disposal. These items will consist of propellant storage tanks, OTV engines, unusable beams, amplitron hardware, depot facilities, spools, unusable solar blankets, etc. Since these articles must not be allowed to accumulate haphazardly in space, a temporary storage facility must be provided until they can be returned to Earth or disposed of otherwise. Storage and, certainly, return, of these items in their present forms would probably be prohibitive. To alleviate this problem, a compacting or smeltering facility should be provided to improve packaging efficiency for both temporary storage and later return to Earth. Another approach to the disposable items would be to build them in such a manner as to have a secondary application. For example, propellant storage tanks might be converted for use as a temporary shelter, or they might be attached to provide some structural element for the SPS. 9.3 MANUFACTURING, CONSTRUCTION, AND'MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS 9. 3.1 REQUIREMENTS AND GUIDELINES The prime fabrication and assembly location in LEO is at an altitude of approximately 435 km because of logistics and cost considerations. An HLLV will deliver cargo into the construction orbit, and another vehicle will deliver
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTU5NjU0Mg==