Brewster, Richard Wyatt2014-03-142014-03-141990-05-05etd-12302008-063634http://hdl.handle.net/10919/46456A systems engineering approach was used to produce a preliminary design configuration for an ion-propelled orbital transfer vehicle system. The four components of the system are: ground software, ground hardware, the orbital transfer vehicle and the space shuttle. The orbital transfer vehicle uses electrostatic propulsion to transfer payload satellites from a low earth orbit, to any other desired orbit. The system maintenance concept, and a conceptual design are derived from the statement of need and the system operational requirements. The resulting design, maintainability, reliability and support requirements are discussed. A discussion of the feasibility of an ion propelled orbital transfer vehicle is included.vi, 76 leavesBTDapplication/pdfenIn CopyrightLD5655.V855 1990.B748Orbital transfer (Space flight) -- ResearchThesishttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-12302008-063634/