V-B-l Construction and Manufacturing Facilities The Construction and Manufacturing Facilities provide the capability for direct construction operations. The crew monitors automated manufacturing and construction functions; however, the systems will be designed to provide a crew override capability in the event of systems malfunction. The facilities consist of machines for fabricating the structural elements of the SPS collector system. Preprocessed stock is supplied to the machines and processed into structural truss members. These trusses, in turn, are then connected to form the larger trusses of the SPS primary structure. Cable rigging devices are also operated from the facility. Packages of solar cell blankets and collectors are positioned by equipment in the facility for deployment. The construction facilities also provide a means for connection and deployment of power distribution cabling. Two construction facilities are used for antenna construction. Machines for structural fabrication and assembly will build the primary antenna structure and subarray support structure. Other machines will install antenna subarrays. A portion of the construction facilities will contain a pressurized shirtsleeve environment which will be used for manufacture of the subarrays. This is conceived as an assembly line type of operation. Antenna subarray manufacture could be done in LEO, packaged and transferred to GEO via orbital transfer vehicles. This would reduce personnel logistics requirements for the GEO base. V-B-2 Orbital Construction and Support Equipment This is the equipment required to monitor the machines in the construction base, to service them, to inspect subsystem installation and to perform contingency operations. Manned remote controlled manipulators will provide a shirtsleeve environment for man-machine operations. Manipulators will be used for grappling, positioning, alignment, holding, and assembly of structural components. Conceptually there would be facility manipulators attached to the construction facilities and mobile manipulators with a capability for moving along the SPS structure. EVA capability will be provided by an EVA module which houses all of the associated EVA equipment hardware, its checkout facility, recharge, stowage and donning facilities, and an airlock to gain access to the vacuum environment. Each module will support two to four men and their associated hardware to provide EVA capability on quick notice (24 hr/day). EVA will be used for contingency operation, rescue, and for equipment malfunction retrieval.
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