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).


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    Title :

    EURECA: An Introduction to Europe's Free-Flying Retrievable Carrier


    Contributors:
    N. Longdon (author)

    Publication date :

    1983


    Size :

    15 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English