The Space Station - A new frontier thesis

Several firm equipment, configuration and applications concepts have emerged from preliminary design studies for the Space Station (SS), although budgetary considerations have already caused the projected launch to slip from 1993 to 1995. The baseline design requires strung-together compatible modules. The SS will serve commercial, basic sciences and military needs, provide a staging area for building structures larger than transportable whole by the STS, and will have power requirements that begin at 75 kWp. Compatibility with a 10 ft diam orbital maneuvering vehicle (OMV) is required, and crew will be rotated every 90-180 days. NASA will manage the project, a departure from prime contractor practices of past large programs. The initial SS will house four persons and is to be expandable to indeterminate dimensions. Photovoltaics are foreseen as the providers of initial power supplies.