In 1985, Rockwell considered that there might be a market for space construction facilities for large orbital structure such as solar power satellites, large radio/radar antenna, SDI “elements” (likely references the relatively gigantic neutral particle beams, space based lasers and other “space guns” that were contemplated at the time) and other large structures. This capability was first contemplated in the mid 70’s for the SPS program, but did not really last much past the late 80’s when such vast structures were no longer really expected anytime soon.
