underdense heating on the ionosphere, to determine the resultant impact on telecommunications systems, and to ascertain if the SPS pilot beam will be adversely affected by the SPS power beam. In order to significantly advance our understanding of, and hence our ability to predict, the SPS impact on the ionosphere, these studies will have to rely on simulation of SPS effects using ionospheric heating facilities that operate at frequencies significantly below the SPS frequency. These facilities in fact rely on the heating of the ionosphere by high frequency radio waves. The results of such simulations can be extrapolated to the SPS frequency if the heating is truly ohmic and the appropriate theoretical studies are undertaken to permit a valid scaling of the results. Depletion and stabilization model studies coupled with vehicle launch parameter and communications link measurements should be coordinated so as to demonstrate the typical range of frequencies and geographic extent of services affected by launch vehicle effluents. Ionospheric characteristics for input to communication prediction models should also be provided through the physical model and measurement efforts.
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