Study of Various Candidate 20 kWe Space Power Systems." European Space Power Conference. Madrid. Spain. 2-6 October 1989. (13) A discussion on using variants of TOPAZ for Powersat-type applications can be found in a Technical Memorandum entitled “Perspective Space Information Systems On the Basis of Thermionic Nuclear Power Plants." written by the Scientific Production Amalgamation ’‘Krasnaya Zvedzda." This memorandum was supplied in letter to Eurospace dated Nov. 29. 1991. (14) Safety standards for lasers are detailed in a NATO document entitled. ’STANAG 3606 LAS (Edition 4) - Evaluation et Controle des Risques Lies au Laser." Eeb. 10. 1983. (15) Bonnel. C.. Theillier, F., Salt, D.. “ATV - Ariane Transfer Vehicle Status." IAF-90-167, 41st Congress of the International Astronautical Federation, Dresden. Germany, Oct. 6-12, 1990. (16) In a report entitled “Each Shuttle Flight: $1.67 Billion." by G. Koprowski in Washington Technology, (September 26, 1991, p. 1), it was explained that a Congressional Research Committee calculated that each Shuttle launch so far has cost the US $1.67 billion, including development and production costs, but excluding NASA staff salaries. This analysis is perhaps a little harsh because the development and production cost should be amortised over the total Shuttle life-time. For example, if the Shuttle were to complete another 100 missions over the next 15 years, the amortized cost per launch would be about $1 billion. NASA, by contrast, claims each Shuttle flight costs ‘just’ $400 million. This is calculated by taking the annual Shuttle operating costs - as defined in NASA’s budget - and dividing it by the number of flights. So in 1991. NASA spent about $2.8 billion on pure operations, giving about $470 million per flight. However, these operations cost calculations should also include costs associated with other NASA salaries and what is termed “Shuttle Production & Capability Development,” which is funded at about $1.3 billion. Most of this money must be spent to safely fly the Shuttle. Therefore, it is by definition, operational cost. As a result, in 1991 the minimum NASA spent on Shuttle operations was about $4.1 billion, giving a cost per flight of about $680
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