Figure 12-15. A11-propulsive personnel and critical logistics orbital transfer vehicle. Aerodynamic braking/maneuvering to reduce the mission propulsive velocity requirements have shown a significant benefit in propellant mass requirements for a personnel/logistics mission. The aerodynamic braking maneuver reduces the total mission propulsive velocity requirements by approximately 2. 3 km/s. The resulting performance gain is most significant on a round trip or retrieval mission, the mission type required for personnel transfers, exchanges, and return from GEO to LEO. A typical aeromaneuvering orbit transfer vehicle is shown in Figure 12-16, and a performance comparison between all propulsive and aeromaneuvering systems is shown in the Table 12-1. The performance comparisons are based on shuttle compatible systems. 12. 2. 6 LOCAL SPACE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS A variety of types of local transportation equipment will be required to accommodate such activities as cargo receiving and handling, solar array and conduction mast material delivery, structural beam transportation, antenna subarray delivery and retrieval, and damage surveillance. Cargo receiving and handling will probably involve such transportation equipment as elevators, trolleys, long manipulator arms, and possibly conveyor belts. Array and mast material delivery and beam delivery will probably involve some type of automatic free-flyers, since the distances involved may frequently exceed 5 km,
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