(Figure 1-1). However, at the present time no organization is seriously pursuing the deployment of a Powersat. although long-term plans have been formulated. This situation is exemplified by the fact that the only known space-based power transmission and reception experiment ever flown was on a 7 minute-long sounding rocket flight in 1984. [2] The current major space “infrastructure" programs. Mir. Freedom and the Columbus Free-Flyer, could be considered self-contained Powersats in the sense that they provide power to experiments located within the pressurised modules or on the external structure. In other words, space station experiments do not need to be launched with their own power source, but can be plugged into the generic station facilities. If centrally supplied power is so wide-spread on Earth, why is space apparently so different? There are many technical and economic answers to this question. Perhaps the most profound relates to the high cost and limited volume of space activities today. Terrestrial power stations are economic because the costs are spread over an extremely large customer base. In space today there are few. if any. suitable candidates for space power users, except for perhaps Mir and long-duration Shuttle missions. [3] The launch of Columbus and Freedom might provide the first opportunity for a Powersat. However, the high economic cost of supporting the Powersat could place a heavy burden on these two facilities. This does not necessarily mean that a Powersat would be uneconomic for these limited applications, as will be discussed at length in Section 4. The limited number of potential Powersat users raises important questions about the economics of such systems. Other problems relate to the actual technical and operational practicalities of relying on an external power source for space missions. These issues are summarised below and in Figure 1- 2.
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