antennas for the wave receivers and the impedance probe are extended. The high voltage power supply is turned on for the DFD. The microwaves are concentrated at a focal point of 20 A away from the SFU with phase control under computer guidance. Measurements will be taken while gradually increasing the microwave transmission power in discrete steps. One experiment cycle will take anywhere from a few minutes to a day due to the differing charging times of the battery. The total number of experimental cycles will be at least 50. As mentioned above, sensor antennas will be detached and discarded after this experiment. Both the TGS and the diagnostic packages will be brought back and stored in the FLU. In case of an emergency, they can be completely jettisoned. Summary and Conclusions The objectives of the METS experiment are to develop necessary pointing technology for microwave transmission and to examine nonlinear interactions between high power microwaves and the ionospheric plasma. The METS experimental objectives are: (1) orbital tests of the hardware developed for microwave power transmission in space environments; (2) verification of the pointing technology with transmission tests towards both a target satellite and a receiving site on the ground; (3) accumulating experience in space power system operations where the complete system is composed of several separated elements in orbital motion; (4) finally, an environmental study of the effects on the ionospheric plasma of a very intense microwave field. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors wish to express their appreciation to Professor I. Kimura, Dr T. Sato and Dr M. Tsutsui of Kyoto University, as well as Mr. S. Miyatake of the Electrocommunication University for their useful discussions. The authors are also grateful to Mr T. Hashizume of Mitsubishi Electric Corp, for his earnest support. REFERENCES [1] Glaser, P.E. (1968) Power from the sun: its future, Science, 162, pp. 857-886. [2] Hanley, G.M. (1980) Satellite Power System (SPS) Concept Definition Study, NASA CR, pp. 3317-3324. [3] Duncan L.M. & Gordon, W.E. (1977) lonosphere/Microwave Beam Interaction Study, Final Report, NASA Contract NASA-15212, Rice University. [4] Duncan, L.M. & Zinn, J. (1978) lonosphere/Microwave Interactions for Solar Power Satellites, Final Report J-10-4306, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. [5] Gordon, W.E. & Carlson, H.C., Jr (1974) Arecibo heating experiments, Radio Science, 9, pp. 1041-1047. [6] Perkins, F.W., Oberman, C. & Valeo, E.J. (1974) Parametric instabilities and ionospheric modification, Journal of Geophysical Research, 19, pp. 1478-1496. [7] Perkins, F.W. & Roble, R.G. (1978) Ionospheric heating by radio-waves; predictions for Arecibo and the satellite power station, Journal of Geophysical Research, 83, pp. 1611-1624. [8] Perkins, F.W. & Goldman, M.V. (1981) Self-focusing of radio waves in an underdense ionosphere, Journal of Geophysical Research, 86, pp. 606-608. [9] Thome, G.D. & Perkins, F.W. (1974) Production of ionospheric striations by self-focusing of intense radio waves, Physical Review Letters, 32, pp. 1238-1240. [10] Utlaut, W.F. & Violette, E.J. (1974) A summary of vertical incidence radio observations of ionospheric modification, Radio Science, 9, pp. 895-903.
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