INTRODUCTION Much of what has been designed to date for use in space has fallen into two categories, small transportation vehicles and space colony scenarios for many years into the future; we are now entering the period in between the two extremes. The four successful flights of the Columbia have launched us into an era of regular low Earth orbit (LEO) transportation; however, we are years from such ambitious endeavors as mining the moon and asteroids. It is the intent of this paper to offer the realizable design in today's terms of a manned LEO orbital research facility, such as the proposed Satellite Pseudogravitational Operational Research Environment (SPORE), which recognizes the medical and environmental obstacles and accepts the challenge to design a structure to address these problems and begin to fill the void between the Apollo missions and the space habitats of the next century. A mission duration of six months was decided upon as appropriate for many reasons including [ 1 ] a six month mission would be a doubling of the longest manned, American space mission; [2] it would build upon the research initiated in the Skylab missions; [3] it would allow at least one growing season of many botanical and marine interests; and |4] a duration of six months in relative confinement is considered acceptable in a humane environment. The proposed mission was designed for 2 rpm, but once the data has been analyzed, it may prove fruitful to perform additional experiments at other rpm's and/or for various time durations. All the while, crystal growing and other space based manufacturing already known to be optimized in the gravity free environment of the Og hub would continue to finance the operations of the facility. And once SPORE has served its initial purpose, its function and even its configuration may be changed. Components may be added or subtracted so long as static and dynamic equilibrium are maintained. Eventually, it could quite reasonably function as a medical way station to and from deep space and/or as a hospital, as the medical benefits to some types of bedridden patients in lower gravitational environments are innumerable. And the continuing purpose which can never be overemphasized is the advancement of research and development aimed towards the definition of a closed- loop environment and the realization of the means to provide and maintain it in space, as well as here on Earth. When given the choice to conserve or waste, unfortunately most people will waste if conservation can be circumvented, but such a luxury does not exist in a program in which every gram of weight is expensive and every square centimeter of space is precious. The associated costs of transportation from Earth to LEO via the standard Shuttle also apply to maintenance considerations, self-sufficiency and safety issues, and ultimately to the success of the mission at large. So it is that health, safety, conservation, multiple uses of objects, interchangeability, repetition of elements, redundancy and incremental parts become major design criteria for the design of environments in LEO. CONTENT Design Approach It was from this architectural/engineering perspective that the design process began, the first step of which was to establish a philosophy of design. A prioritized set of criteria and principles was established and held consistent throughout the
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