sales. The other class of applications include the use of the ET as a landing module. This either crashes the ET as a raw materials carrier on the Lunar or Martian surfaces or drops it in a controlled soft landing using the crushing of a portion of the ET as a large shock absorber in the landing. C. Spacecraft Any structure that can be used as a space station can be used as a large spacecraft (43,82). The ET and ET based structures are no exception. The advantages are available volume and structural strength. As mentioned previously in this section, the primary problem is excess mass. The ET as it flies, may be a bit too massive to fly manned missions to the planets without partial disassembly in orbit (51, 80). The oxygen tank and intertank can be removed and the hydrogen tank can be used for habitats and fuel tanks. However, the use of a space station as a spacecraft is well within the realm of possibility if the designers are careful about mass and propulsion problems (82). D. Wake Shield This is the use of the ET as large windshield in orbit (17). On the lee (or downwind) side of an orbiting body, it is possible to achieve vacuum enhancements orders of magnitude better than ambient. The ET can be cut lengthwise, opened, and flown to provide this advantage for materials processing or experimentation in orbit. This application is highly drag intensive in that it aggravates the orbital maintenance problem of the ET. It also might not work out as desired due to the tendency of vehicles to collect orbital plasmas (48).
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