Of the next two opportunities. Eureca-2 is essentially a reflight of most of the Eureca-L payloads. In addition, experiments for the few remaining slots have already been selected following ESA Call for Proposals and Ideas in November 1990. However. Eureca-3 is intended to be a flight of essentiallv a new suite of experiments which have not been finalised, although their selection will depend on the results of Eureca-1 & -2. Therefore, it is concluded that the Eureca-3 in 1997 is the only possible option for a Powersat demonstrator on this platform. The 1997 date fits in well with the objectives of a near-term Powersat experiment. However, it is important to appreciate that this date will be highly susceptible to delays, as virtually all Shuttle pay loads have been and continue to be. It is also important to be aware that the 1997 Eureca-3 launch and recovery 6 months later will occur at the beginning of Space Station Freedom’s assembly sequence. Delays of one or two years would push Eureca-3 deeper into Freedom's construction. As a result, the reality of this situation is that Eureca-3 could be even further delayed as the Shuttle's capacity will be all but totally consumed by Freedom's needs. To put this into perspective. Freedom will require some 25 Shuttle flights between mid-1996 and the end of 1999, a rate of 7 per year for assembly and support operations. [9] Unfortunately, cut-backs in the Shuttle program will essentially preclude no more than about 8 annual Shuttle flights. [10] After Freedom is launched, an additional 5-6 logistics support flights will be needed every year thereafter for operations of this manned base (See also PART I, Section 4 for a related discussion). If problems occur at anv time with Freedom or the Shuttle, it is considered a virtual certainty that the Eureca-3 launch and recovery will be delayed well into the next century. A three-year plus launch delay would increase the cost of the Powersat
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