A free-flying platform which can be transported into space by shuttle, left in orbit for up to 6 months, and then retrieved, and the platform, instruments, and experiment facilities refurbished or reused, is introduced. A 400 N thruster and tanks containing sufficient propellant for a total velocity change of 400 m/sec allow the carrier to lift itself from its shuttle deployment orbit (300 km) to altitudes compatible with the atmospheric drag and orbit-decay requirements of of microgravity missions (500 km). The core payload constitutes 70% to 80% of the total 1000 to 1200 kg payload of the first mission (materials science, protein crystallization, botany, exobiology/radiation biophysics experiments).
EURECA: An Introduction to Europe's Free-Flying Retrievable Carrier
1983
15 pages
Report
Keine Angabe
Englisch
Astronautics , Unmanned Spacecraft , Manned Spacecraft , Eureca (Esa) , European space programs , Reusable spacecraft , Spaceborne experiments , Botany , Crystallization , Exobiology , Proteins , Radiation effects , Reduced gravity , Satellite design , Space transportation system , Foreign technology