These kinds of tubes are used in telecommunication ground stations. They would require minimum screening for use in the short duration, Powersat demonstrator. An active cooling would be necessary, complicating the payload. With 2 meter in diameter antenna and rectenna, a transmission range of about 100 meters might be feasible. Kylstrons are usually more powerful (above one Kilo Watt) and would not be useful for this mission. Again, 100 Watt - 12 GHz space qualified TWTs could be used, with the benefits already mentioned. It would, however, be more interesting to use the Hitchhiker capabilities to transmit a larger amount of power. 6.4 Spacelab E-1 Precursor Mission. Because of the possible cooling capability, available on the USS, the above sources (400 Watt - Ku Band TWTs) could be used, provided the antenna/rectenna apertures are sufficiently large. This seems to be the case with an inflatable subsatellite. Would the RMS be used, the small diameter rectenna (e.g. 0.5 m Dia.) imposes higher frequencies of operation. For instance, the following combination of parameters would lead to an interesting and realisable experiment:
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