Table 10.1.1 Preliminary Calculations for Transmission from Arecibo 10.1.4 Program Costs The objective of this design example was to demonstrate trans-atmospheric microwave beaming as well as microwave reception in space for under $10 million. Program costs would include satellite construction, satellite launch, use of the Arecibo radar systems, ground station operations for data reception from the satellite, data processing costs, and staff salaries. The launch costs for an entire ASAP ring of 4 or 6 microsats have been quoted at around $1 million. These costs are somewhat variable, and universities have been known to get much cheaper launches. So one can guess that the cost to launch a satellite taking two of the positions would be around $500,000. Fabrication of the inflatable should not be too expensive as it need not be manufactured to the high degree of accuracy necessary for a transmitting antenna. Actual satellite equipment is minimal: just a small rectenna, power measuring equipment, a small transmitter, camera, and power supply. It would not seem unreasonable to place the total satellite costs at about $1 million. Operating costs for Arecibo would not be high; with an average encounter rate of 5 passes/month over a mission life of about two years, 120 data collection runs could be made. According to Mike Sulzer of Arecibo Observatory, It is a little hard for me to estimate the cost of running the 2380 MHz radar since we do not charge (although we do recover certain exceptional expenses in infrequent cases). I would guess several thousand dollars an hour if you need a number. It really is not practical to think about seconds or minutes; you need at least two hours to get things set up and going. [Sulzer, 92] So at $5,000/hour for 120 2-hour periods, the cost would be at worst $1.2 million, and at best would be free. With another couple of hundred thousand dollars thrown in for ground station costs and staff salaries, the total program cost might come to about $3.5-4 million. So even if the cost of producing the inflatable was much greater than expected, the program would still be well under the $10 million target 10.1.5 Time-Table It is believed that this program could be carried out over a period of 5 years starting in 1993. Design would begin in 1993 and last throughout the year. Hardware development would begin in 1994, and actual manufacturing of the satellite systems in early 1995. Testing would be started in mid-1996 while manufacturing of some of the subsystems was still in progress. Transport of the finished spacecraft to the launch site would take place in the end of 1997 for a launch in early 1998. Most of the necessary equipment would be fairly easy to design and construct; the only question would be procurement of the inflatable reflector. Meeting the 1998 or 1999 launch date would be essential, as the last ASAP launches are planned for sometime in that period, after which launches
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