technical solutions to be selected. However, such a Phase A study should be no longer than 6 months, and if encouraging, should immediately transition into a similar length Phase B detailed definition and design phase. A two or three year Phase C/D development programme would then be undertaken to build and ground test the demonstrator, the length of time being dictated by the pointing system and rectenna development critical paths. Launch could then occur in 1996 or 1997. This four to five year development programme is considered realistic. Moreover, it is considered mandatory to meet the low-cost goals of the initial Powersat programme. 5.1.6. Costs A very preliminary cost estimation is presented in Figure 5.1-18. Most of the hardware costs are well defined, except for the feed horns and reflector where rough estimates are used. The greatest uncertainty is in the management and administrative overhead costs. However, it is felt that a total programme cost of under 10 MAU is realistic, and efforts to reduce it further should be encouraged. 5.1.7. Laser Discussion The ASAP demonstrator is planned as a microwave experiment. However, a laser experiment could presumably be conducted in a similar manner. The TWTs would be replaced by a suitable laser source, and a smaller rectenna could be used with thin-film solar cell patches placed on its surface in strategic locations. The tether length could also be increased to 10-20 km. Although such an experiment is feasible, it was not considered worthwhile and will not be proposed at this point. There are a number of
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