Orbital Transfer Vehicle: Concept definition and system analysis study

Findings and recommendations from the second extension of the Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) concept definition and system analysis study are outlined. The extension study opens the scope of potential recommendations by introducing a variety of ambitious programs, and by making the large cargo vehicle recommended by the Space Transportation Architecture Studies available at no acquisition cost to the OTV program. It is a further objective of the extension study to evaluate the sensitivity of OTV program recommendations to scenario variations such as different mission models, different launch vehicle availability, and different space station availability. Program/mission issues are addressed including safety considerations for the Aft Cargo Carrier (ACC) OTV. Design issues related to the development of a near-term expendable OTV, engine configuration tradeoffs, lunar missions, and program evolution are discussed. Finally, aeroassist considerations for a manned Mars mission and high speed entries are presented.