AUTOMATED FABRICATION OF STRUCTURE IN SPACE PURPOSE • STRUCTURE OF PROJECTED FUTURE SPACE SYSTEMS (LARGE ANTENNAS, SOLAR POWER STATION, ETC.) IS CHARACTERIZED BY: - LARGE SIZE - LOW WEIGHT IN RELATION TO SIZE - REPETITIVE STRUCTURAL CONFIGURATION • MANUFACTURE IN SPACE INSTEAD OF ON EARTH - REQUIRES MUCH SMALLER LAUNCH VEHICLE PAYLOAD VOLUME - ELIMINATES EFFECT OF LAUNCH LOADS ON STRUCTURAL WEIGHT - ELIMINATES FOLDING MECHANISMS & DEPLOYMENT DYNAMICS PROBLEMS - ELIMINATES ALL OR PART OF PROBLEM OF HANDLING AND JOINING LARGE SUB-ASSEMBLIES IN SPACE - IS PROBABLY ONLY FEASIBLE APPROACH FOR SYSTEMS OF KILOMETER SIZE • AUTOMATION IS NECESSARY TO REDUCE TIME/COST TO ACCEPTABLE LEVELS A, J. LOUVIERE 6-28-76
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