New Reusable Orbiter
Andrew Swallow
and parts of the crew capsule have the makings of a new
reusable orbiter. Using the spacestation as a base,
the resulting general purpose spaceship could make
return trips to Hubble, geostationary orbits, low Earth
orbits and possiblely launch interstellar probes.
The general purpose orbiter would need:
· A shuttle like arm
· A cabin able to support people for several days
· Controls for driving the orbiter
· Appropriate sensors and communications facilities
· Reusable space motors able to make return
trips to geostationary orbit whilst carrying
a heavy cargo
· Small navigation motors to allow it to move
sideways, backwards and perform both rotations
· Docking facilities permitting astronauts to enter and leave it
· Heavy duty connectors so it can carry large
objects into the required orbit
· Spacewalk facilities
· Refuelling facilities, possibly by replacing the fuel tanks
· Designed to last several years
If the orbiter never lands it does not need to be
aerodynamic, have legs/wheels or be covered in tiles.
The capsule~Rs heat shield may be worth keeping but
only as an emergency escape facility for the life pod.
The crew would be launched to the spacestation and
returned say 6 months later using normal rockets and
landers.
An arm would allow the orbiter to pick up cargoes
launched using say the heavy lifter and insert them
into the ~Shold~T. The cargo hold does not need an
airtight cover; it could just be the space beside the
orbiter. The engines being placed such that they do
not burn the cargo. The arm can catch satellites in
need of repair such as Hubble and its successors.
The arm can also assemble Mars rockets and new parts
of the space station.
An orbiter already in orbit saves significant amounts
of weight on subsequent missions because there is no
need for each launcher to carry space engines and
crew compartment. Fuel and supplies will still be needed.
A method of refuelling the orbiters in space will be
required. Since there are no big petrol stations in
space the fuel has to be taken up in throwaway fuel
tanks. It is easier to swap the entire fuel tanks
over than try pumping over most of the fuel.
Possible mission for this type of orbiter are:
· Repairing satellites like Hubble and its
successors
· Building spacestations and deep space rockets
· De-orbiting satellites in low, medium and
geostationary orbits
· Placing satellites in medium and geostationary orbits
· Placing large satellites in the difficult to get to orbits
· Act as a final or next to final stage for
interplanetary / interstellar probes
· Rescue missions
· Possibly place objects in moon orbit
· Other missions
Andrew Swallow