Report of the student working group to the panel on satellite communications

Conclusions drawn by a high school panel regarding applications of space capabilities are reported. Weather satellites should be equipped with communications systems for automated severe weather and natural disaster warning systems. An internationally oriented system of satellites for air and marine navigational data is required, as are DBS television satellites beaming signals to dwellings with low-cost antennas, and military systems employing all available and some specialized systems. Research is required to identify practical alternatives to solar cells for powering spacecraft, frequency use must be made a finer discipline through digital systems, polarization studies to control atmospheric effects, and defining the HF range at which ionization would become a hazard. The cost of individual earth stations must be reduced, while satellites must be funded by innovative means, e.g., common stock or through quasi-charitable donations. Galaxies of intercommunicating satellites in GEO would permit larger scale missions to be flown, and manned space colonies in LEO, GEO and on the moon would support all R and D activities, industrialization, and exploitation of interplanetary resources.