6.7.3 TRANSPORTATION, ASSEMBLY AND PACKAGING Three transportation, assembly and packaging alternatives exist for the subarray, which is the basic building block of the transmitting antenna. These are: a. Build the waveguide, converters, etc. on the ground, and assemble the parts into subarray sections which can be fitted into the launch vehicle. b. Build the waveguide, converters, etc. on the ground and transport the parts in the launch vehicle; assemble into subarrays in orbit. c. Produce the waveguide material, converters, etc. on the ground and transport the material and parts in the launch vehicle; manufacture the waveguide and assemble the subarrays in orbit. A manufacturing module would be required. These options are illustrated in Figures 6-38 through 6-40 using the Space Shuttle as the launch vehicle. A variation for alternative B is shown in Figure 6-41 where the implications of waveguide wall thickness also are illustrated for the Space Shuttle, and it can be seen that even for that relatively sophisticated packing concept that the Shuttle remains volume limited. The threshold for weight limit should be reached for lowest cost transportation. The implications of alternatives A, B, and C above are: We see that Alternative C is the desired approach if space manufacturing of waveguide is feasible. The question of transportation and assembly is addressed further for the structures and entire MPTS in the later section on Mechanical Systems and Flight Operations.
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