5. REFERENCE CONCEPTS FOR A EUROPEAN POVVERSAT DEMONSTRATOR PROGRAMME Following a comprehensive review of the possible options for a European Powersat programme. Eurospace considers that the most realistic reference concept for the initial and later advanced demonstrators should be to use the Ariane 4/ASAP and the Astro-SPAS platform. This section provides an overview of the aspects of each demonstrator, with emphasis placed on the initial experiment due to its higher priority. Section 6 reviews alternative concepts including those within the context of the Columbus Precursor Mission opportunities. Section 7 of this Final Report will provide an overview of the possibilities for international participation and cooperation, and how these could effect the chosen reference concepts. 5.1 The ASAP Reference Concept 5.1.1 Concept Evolution ASAP was chosen as the launch platform for the initial demonstrator because it offers by far the best combination of cost and availability. It also provides the capability for a relatively substantial demonstrator with a mass of up to 200 kg. As discussed in the Interim Report, the ASAP demonstrator was initially conceived to use just one ASAP position, restricting its mass to 50 kg and limiting its size to a cube of about 0.45 m x 0.45 m x 0.6 m. Upon further analysis it became clear that packaging a demonstrator within these constraints would be very challenging. For example, the basic service module subsystems alone would have consumed 40% of this total volume based on the UoSAT/Microbus design, leaving the other 60% for the transmitter equipment, rectenna, main power supply, etc. Importantly, even if such a demonstrator
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