relevant to later activities. • The mission requirements must, however, be traded against costs. Although an inexpensive demonstrator will not be able to achieve as much as an expensive demonstrator, cost versus capability value judgments must be car efully and realistically assessed. • One mission requirement that will contribute significantly to minimising cost is keeping the experiment length as short as possible. Design & Construction • The demonstrator should be relatively small and built in a simple, robust manner. Interfaces should be as clean and distinct as possible, and tendencies to mass optimise the spacecraft by invoking highly integrated design philosophies more typical of “expensive operational spacecraft" should be avoided. The temptation to build the spacecraft to "operational" standards must be avoided. • The demonstrator should be built in a manner that enables rapid assembly and disassembly. This would allow the demonstrator to be simultaneously tested while being assembled in order to minimise the need for advanced analysis and modelling before construction. Rapid assembly and disassembly would allow problems to be overcome in a shorter timescale through an evolving “test-fix-test-fix" development philosophy. • The majority of the efforts and expenditures must be focussed on elements of the demonstrator that are vital to fulfilling the experiment objectives. Service-related functions of the demonstrator
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