CHAPTER 4 THE EQUIPMENT

A) SPACE TUGS

The “Space Tugs” can be designed and built on the Earth by fabricating the frame at a factory on Earth and attaching it to the Fuel Tank, Fuel Control, Engines, Control Cab and Electronics. The frame may be designed to be inflated with expanding foam filler that will make the frame rigid once it is in orbit and initiated. To inflate it would require that it be released from the cargo rocket and unwrapped, the “Tug” would then be inflated to give it form then an injectable plastic Resin/Foam would be released into the frame of the “Space Tug”.

The ‘Bigelow’ method is a good start to this kind of construction. Note; inflateable buildings have been used by the US Military since the Vietnam War and before for emergency field hospitals along with civilian uses since then. The electronic controls would contain an attitude reference, short range radar and laser lock on and range position targets, other items in the general vicinity, Laser and UHF communi- cations to the Space Station, the crews on the delivery vehicles, and orbital lift vehicles or “Transfer Vehicles.”

The Rocket propulsion system of the “Space Tug” can be Hydrogen Peroxide for simplicity and reliability. Also, there can be small strap on Solid Fuel Rockets for use in a backup roll for larger masses. The Hydrogen Peroxide would also be used in the attitude thrusters and would be available at the orbital “Fuel Depot”. To conserve fuel the “Space Tug” could deploy a cable and/or small solid state retrorockets to be attached to the arriving vehicle to bring it into any receiving area that is desired.