NASA Study Summary: "Preliminary Technical Data for Earth Orbiting Space Station"

[luke strawwalker]

Here's a study from November 1966 dealing with various aspects of space station design. The paper focuses on several issues related to human factors and then shows several different designs, both for zero-gee and artifical gee spun stations. The crew complement discussed was between 9 and 22 men! Quite a crowd!

At any rate, the pics are interesting and so are some of the ideas. The Van Allen belts and space radiation hazards from CMEs were discussed briefly-- the crew radiation limits were set at 300 rads per year! Pretty darn high IMHO... but considering the day and time... LOL

Anyway, enjoy... might make some interesting payloads for a Saturn V model...

later! OL JR

[luke strawwalker]

Pic one is a diagram of the orbital orientation of the space station with the long axis aligned with Earth's axis of rotation, so that essentially the space station completes one rotation per revolution of Earth. This would allow for "downlooking" Earth observation instruments to always be looking at Earth's surface, while the "uplooking" astronomical observatory instruments would always be peering out at the stars. Solar observing instruments could maintain continuous observations of the sun as well. This would also simplify solar array pointing for maximum solar cell output.


Pic two is an artificial gravity spinning space station, with it's axis of rotation aligned with the sun as it orbits the earth. This would require the station's instruments be located at the top and bottom of the central hub platform, with instruments for solar observation and nightside Earth observations on the sunward end, and daylight Earth observation instruments and stellar observation instruments located on the leeward end. This would also limit their viewing to half of each orbit when the respective ends would be "pointed at their targets" since essentially the station would be 'flipping over' in its orbit one rotation per orbital revolution.


Pic three is a 9 man station packaged for launch atop a two-stage Saturn V.


Pic four is a couple more 9 man space stations in their payload envelopes for launch


Pic five is various artificial gravity spinning station designs-- some using the spent S-II stage as a counterweight, some splitting the compartments into three "Y" shaped branches off a central hub, and the ubiquitous "O" design (in this case a hexagon).


More to come! OL JR

[luke strawwalker]

Pic one is a 9 man artificial gravity space station using the spent S-II stage as a counterweight.


Pic two is a larger 33 foot 9 man space station, again using the spent S-II stage as a counterweight for rotation. Most of the instruments are housed in the central zero-gee hub near the axis of rotation.


Pic three is the Apollo 9 man logistics spacecraft, to be launched by an enhanced Saturn IB.


Pic four is a graphic of the Van Allen Radiation Belts. High radioactivity precludes long-term manned spacecraft operations from 500 to 2500 nautical miles above the equator. Polar orbits at those altitudes would be less affected, since they'd rapidly 'transit' the belts from 'top to bottom' and vice-versa, but they would also be subjected to higher radiation and less magnetosphere protection when flying over the poles due to the field lines converging near the surface at the magnetic poles.


Later! OL JR

[luke strawwalker]

Here's a graphic I found of the dimensions of the launch package of the SELF-DEPLOYING SPACE STATION (hexagonal ring design). This would be launched as the six tube-like ring modules surrounding a core "hub" in the middle with the spoked somewhere in between. Note the station could be launched atop a Saturn V with an Apollo CSM topping the stack, or a simple Apollo BPC-type nosecone at the top of the stack if launched unmanned.

Later! OL JR