FIGURE 2.3 HISTORICAL AND PROJECTED GROWTH OF SPACECRAFT POWER AND LIFETIME These traffic requirements are shown in Table 2.1. This table reflects the fact that there are two fundamentally different classes of payloads which need to be transported to geosynchronous orbit. The first class involves durable goods such as the materials for construction of new platforms. It is probably economic to transport these materials between LEO and GEO using a low-thrust electric cargo orbit transfer vehicle (COTV). The implications in this decision indicate that the cost of capital for the durable goods during the period of transportation is more than offset by the cost savings afforded by the electric COTV. Nondurable goods, however, such as man and his logistics, require more rapid forms of transportation. The present option for the personnel orbit transfer vehicle (POTV) involves the use
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