Rockwell Station '76 Credit - NASA via Marcus Lindroos

Another 1970s design was North American Rockwell's 'Austere Modular Space Station'. The most important application in those days was constructing large space structures, e.g. extremely large communications satellites , giant 20 kilometer-wide solar power satellites or even giant orbiting space colonies for millions of people. Contemporary space station studies such as Rockwell's and Boeing's were closely tied to this objective. NASA's Outlook for Space report from 1975 recommended a number of possible goals, including development of a 12-man space station in low Earth orbit by 1988 and a similar station in lunar orbit by 1994.

Article by Marcus Lindroos

Typical orbit: 400 km circular orbit, 28.5 deg. Electrical System: Solar panels.