carrying a propulsion system for anything other than attitude control would drastically reduce the usable system mass. Thus the orbit of the satellite is basically determined by the orbit of the main spacecraft. In the case of Ariane ASAP launches it is possible to achieve high inclination orbits, and some small amount of phase adjustment may be used to increase the number of passes over the target radar or radars. In the case of the GAS, the orbit is that of the shuttle. Figure 5 shows the frequency with which typical orbits of these types might pass within view of Arecibo. Looking at these orbits, and noting that for the ERS-1 example the altitude is 785 km, it seems clear that an ASAP launch is dictated. Mission Objectives To choose a proper vehicle configuration within the limitations of such a small spacecraft we must decide exactly what we want the demonstration to achieve. To do this, three major aspects of the demonstration’s mission must be considered: collection of scientific data, demonstration of the reception of useful power levels, and publicity. One possibility is to orient the mission mainly around low cost and collection of scientific data. Here the main objective would be collection of data regarding beam scattering, sidelobe strength, frequency dispersion, atmospheric absorption under different weather conditions, and rectenna efficiency. Excellent information would be
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