An orbiting molecular shield vacuum facility - A materials laboratory in space

Certain classes of materials processing experiments require a combination of near zero gravity and ultrahigh vacuum. This combination of environmental requirements can be obtained within a molecular shield vacuum facility deployed from the Space Shuttle Orbiter. To avoid degradation by Orbiter effluents, it is necessary to deploy the facility from the Orbiter's immediate vicinity to a distance of about 100 meters. This may be achieved with an extendable/retractable boom, so that power and other resources are supplied by the Orbiter. Alternatively, the facility may be deployed as a free-flyer satellite and retrieved on a subsequent Orbiter mission. Preliminary results of boom design and dynamics analyses are presented.