A simple question

On 1/27/12 8:49 AM, sraj wrote:

> At what altitude would we position a Space Hab orbiting Earth? What mass
> can be launched to this height at present? (The ISS has an orbit which
> varies between 320 and 410 Km - this would probably be too low).

I tend to agree. A good orbit for an early space hab might be in the
"safe zone" between the two Van Allen belts, somewhere around 10,000 km
high. That's well above LEO, but only about 1/4 the way to GEO, and
radiation levels are lower there, which might reduce shielding
requirements (which ends up being a really big part of your mass budget).

Best,
- Joe