Earth orbital experiment program and requirements study

A compilation of Earth orbital experiments and their required support technological developments is given. Six disciplines including manned spaceflight capability, space biology, spce astronomy, space physics, communications and navigation, and Earth observations were subjected to an overview analysis that resulted in the identifiying of 3,800 critical issues. Of these critical issues, 1,983 that were deemed suitable for near-term manned space research were grouped into 136 research clusters in accordance with commonality of instrumentation and measurements. These clusters are described at a level of detail that identifies the important aspects of the research and establishes the principal requirements that will be placed on the missions in accomplishing the research and on the space research facilities for these missions. Summaries of the space facility requirements and guidelines for mission planning are given. The supporting technology developments required to pursue the research are identified and grouped into 233 work packages.