Payload In the case of the space shuttle, all equipment or raw materials carried to low earth orbit for use in space, other than the external tank. For other vehicles, all equipment which can be removed from the vehicle without preventing its operation, except reaction mass. Reaction mass Mass expelled from a vehicle to provide thrust. Receiver A device to convert energy from solar power satellites into electricity. In the plans discussed here, it is used by earth, and positioned on a balloon at 20,000 m altitude. Self-reproduction A factory which can produce a copy of itself using only raw materials is capable of pure self-reproduction. A factory which requires at least some equipment from another source to copy itself is capable of partial self-reproduction. Shuttle The 1983 version of the U.S. space shuttle. Shuttle, advanced The shuttle with a payload shroud instead of orbiter [2], Solar power satellite A receiver of solar radiation which transmits the resulting power on a laser beam. It is assumed here to be positioned in geosynchronous earth orbit, and transmits power to earth, 10 GW of which is converted to electricity. Teleoperator An object controlled by a telecommunication link which communicates its state to the controller. Throughput The mass per unit time input to a manufacturing facility; it may be less than the mass constructed by the facility. Plans Considered Sources of Plans Manufacturing facilities based on assumptions from a plan developed by the Space Studies Institute (which will be referred to in the following as S.S.I.) [3] are the basis of all plans considered, with the exception of a plan from SP-428. The plan from SP-428 is not completely independent of earth, since men, consumables, and propellant from earth are required even after completion of the space manufacturing facility;
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