fact, allow a rather more ambitious demonstration than CSP’s original Phase 1 experiment. For example, the ASAP demonstrator would transmit around 500 W (12 GHz) over 250-1500 meters, whereas the CSP experiment would transmit 250 W (2.45 GHz) over about 15-20 meters. The only significant advantage of the CSP experiment is that it can be recovered, inspected and the apparatus reused for the Phase 2 and 3 efforts. However, reusing comes at a high price - 5 to 10 times the cost of the ASAP demonstrator - and, equally critically, total dependence on Shuttle availability. CSP would be interested in cooperation on a demonstrator programme with Europe. However, this may not be possible because of the politics of the CCDSs. The CCDSs are intended to foster US high technology R&D and stimulate technical advances in a wide range of areas, including terrestrial applications. As a result. CCDS activities are intended to provide the US research centres with a competitive leading edge in certain fields of technology, and. therefore, international cooperation has not been widely encouraged. For example. CSP had hoped to use a modified version of the rectenna developed by the Canadian Department of Communications for the Phase 1 experiment. This rectenna design has already flown on a high altitude aircraft powered by microwaves supplied from an Earth station. (The aircraft used is a prototype of the Stationary High Altitude Relay Platform or SHARP programme.) Unfortunately, complications in this cooperation have arisen due to the ever present fears of technology transfer from the US to Canada. EML, and other organisations such as the Space Studies Institute (SSI), are very interested in cooperation. EML, in particular, said they could contribute a rectenna for the ASAP demonstrator as they have already performed a number of laboratory experiments with rectenna designs for 10 and 35 GHz, as noted in Section 5. This work would be valuable to European efforts and would help to ensure a rapid development in this critical aspect of the ASAP demonstrator.
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