Jul 24 1984
From The Space Library
NASA announced that it had selected LTV Aerospace and Defense Company, Dallas, Tex.; Martin Marietta Denver Aerospace, Denver, Colo.; and TRW Inc., Redondo Beach, Calif., for negotiations leading to contracts for system definition studies of an Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle (OMV) to ferry satellites about in space. MSFC would manage the fixed-price contracts of approximately $5 million each. NASA anticipated that one of the three companies would likely construct the platform upon approval to proceed with the project.
The vehicle would supplement the Space Transportation System (STS), having the ability to retrieve satellites from high orbits and bring them to the Space Shuttle for maintenance and repair. The OMV would then place the repaired satellites in their operational orbits. The OMV would also serve as a means of reboosting satellites as their orbits decayed, thereby avoiding costly, dedicated Space Shuttle missions.
As envisioned, the OMV would be a remotely piloted, unmanned spacecraft approximately 3 meters (15 feet) in diameter and about 1 meter (3 feet) in length. (NASA Release 84-102)
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