re space station redesign jsc alternative dbm tm lerc nasa gov david b mckissock writes text of options a and b deleted option c single core launch station this is the jsc lead option basically you take a ft diameter cylinder that s ft long slap space shuttle main engines on the backside put a nose cone on the top attached it to a regular shuttle external tank and a regular set of solid rocket motors and launch the can some key features are complete end to end ground integration and checkout tangentially mounted fixed solar panels body mounted radiators which adds protection against micrometeroid orbital debris centerline docking ports one on each end berthing ports a single pressurized volume approximately cubic feet twice the volume of skylab floors center passageway between floors kw of housekeeping power only kw graceful degradation with failures power channels thermal loops dual environmental control life support system increased crew time for utilization micro g thru out the core module ha north america modular space station construction same apprach same reasoning construction occurs under assembly line conditions no random weather problems interupting site work on your home better quality control sounds like first point above somehow i have a strange attraction for this idea living in a modular home maybe has altered my mind the only thing that scares me is the part about simply strapping ssme s and a nosecone on it and just launching it i have this vision of something going terribly wrong with the launch resulting in the complete loss of the new modular space station not just a peice of it as would be the case with staged in orbit construction michael f santangelo internet mike cbl umd edu work dept head computer network systems mike kavishar umd edu home umcees cbl solomons island bitnet mike umuc fwd to mike cbl
