will provide the leverage necessary to make future space based operations,industry, and science far cheaper and easier than would be possible without the ET. III. Current interest in the External Tank There are several groups interested in possible orbit applications of the External Tank. The interest spans the entire spectrum of all those interested in doing anything in space from hard science to DOD to private industry. The interest in the tank is also international, with papers proposing ET based space stations written by British and Czechzslovakian authors in the last six years (43, 70). Aeritalia has retained the services of a consultant working on the possibilities of ET applications on-orbit for a few years (75). A typical scientific interest is the Smithsonian Observatory which is looking into the possibilities of constructing a variety of ET based telescopes (32). DOD is interested in the ET due to its capability to carry large diameter payloads and serve as targets for SDI experiments. NASA is interested in the ET because they have to answer the question "Why don’t you use the External Tank in space?" posed by members of congress frequently. They are also interested in it as a way to get more "bang for the buck" out of money spent in space. In other words, the ET is a way to cheaply conduct a very large expansion of a space based operation with minimal cost to the public. Commercial interests are looking at the tank because it provides a way to conduct possible future manned private space operations at about the same cost as two or three generic communcations satellites (17,57, 58). It becomes possible for a company to fly their own large platform cheaply. This increases national interest in space and involves a larger segment of industry in space. It should create jobs and tax revenues due to the business expansion. Companies such as 3-M, Johnson & Johnson, Wyle Labs (17), Ford Aerospace (88), and Martin Marietta (25) all either have a present interest or possible future interest in the ET on-orbit. The Space Studies Institute is interested in the tank as a way to make the construction of Solar Power Satellites (SPS) and space-based habitats come about. There are additional private groups and consortiums interested in flying the tank. The interest in the ET continues to grow. This interest should continue to grow as long as launch costs remain high and payloads remain constrained by the dimensions imposed by the Shuttle cargo bay.
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