Spacelab E-l mission. By contrast. 3-4 ASAP opportunities will be possible on an annual basis. More importantly, this single Hitchhiker-G option will occur at about the time of the start of Space Station Freedom deployment. Potentially, this could result in further delays that the Powersat programme would have to absorb. The Shuttle may not be considered the most suitable option for the proposed inexpensive demonstrator. However, it may well be the only possibility for a follow-on “moderately expensive” experiment. The availability of Astro-SPAS, in particular, provides the possibility for a very significant experiment, as will be discussed in Section 5.2. Its dependence on the Shuttle still remains, of course. However, the longer-term/hig her cost nature of the proposed advanced demonstrator provides more time and money to prepare for a Shuttle launch. Further, its large size and mission requirements would ensure its status as a primary Shuttle payload. Cooperation with the US should not be overlooked as a possibility for reducing launch costs, as will be discussed later. If Space Station Freedom completely dominates the Shuttle’s capacity, then there will be no other alternative than to use Ariane 5 or a Russian launch vehicle for this advanced Powersat demonstrator. Although neither have been assessed in great detail by this study, the Russian option will evidently have a lower price than an equivalent Ariane 5 option. However, deciding to follow such a path today for a launch early in the next decade might not be prudent given the political uncertainties. Likewise, ignoring the potential of the former Soviet Union’s capabilities might be equally inappropriate. Clearly, the relative success of the initial demonstrator is vital in preparing the groundwork for the advanced demonstrator choices. For the purposes of this study and following the detailed trade-off assessment of options presented in the Interim Report, the priority in launch options for each demonstrator type is as follows:
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