A major aim of ASSA was to make Austrian industry competent in the field of space technology. The participation in programmes of the European Space Agency (ESA) provides the optimum basis to achieve this goal. The legal rules of this agency include the clause that about 80% of all contributions paid by the participating countries have to flow back to these countries in the form of industrial contracts. There are about 20 firms in Austria interested in obtaining research and development contracts for space technology. They cover mechanical, metallurgical, electrical and optical equipment. Two companies succeeded so far in designing space hardware, with one of them concentrating on mechanical equipment, the other on electronic ground support facilities. Ten to twelve other companies are assisting the main contractors in the manufacturing of the hardware. Representatives from Austrian industrial firms have formed a working group to follow up the status of the Solar Power Satellites development. Meetings are taking place about twice-a year under the leadership of the OIAG (Osterreichische Industrie Aktiengesellschaft), the society who controls the industrial companies in Austria owned by the government. The purpose of this working group is to bring interested companies continuously up to date with the latest activities in this field and to enable them to become actively involved in the design of SPS subsystems whenever the opportunity arises. ESA, together with a group of the University of Strassbourg, carried out a costbenefit study to evaluate the economic efficiency of contracts placed with European industry for the design and development of space technology. The result showed that on the average the additional financial benefit for the industrial firms amounted to 2.7 times the initial value of the contract. In addition, these firms did not only become competent in the design of most modern technology, but the engineers engaged in these tasks obtained outstanding management experience. Austria so far has participated in the Spacelab project of ESA and in various communications satellites programmes. Thereby, the Advanced Systems and Technology Programme (ASTP) is of particular interest for small countries since it provides the means for the elaboration of modern communications technology. The Institute for Communication and Wave Propagation of the Technical University Graz has carried out several research contracts within this programme and has achieved a great competence in this field. Thus, this institute is currently starting to carry out a study on the effects of microwave radiation on the ionosphere. This study should contribute to make Austrian scientists acquainted with the problems connected with the solar power satellites systems. Austria became an associate member of ESA in April 1981 for a period of 5 years. During this time the competence of Austrian industry should be built up in such a way that it would reach the potential to absorb efficiently the return of contracts when Austria would become a full member of the European Space Agency. Education of students in space science and technology is another important task of small countries. In Austria, several courses are given at various universities and summer schools are organized by ASSA each year on different topics of space research. Users of space data have become very active in Austria. These are about 15 institutions who evaluate data from remote sensing satellites. ASSA provides for these groups a National Point of Contact (NPOC). The Austrian Postal Administration (PTVj established a ground station for Intelsat in Styria. The Austrian Broadcasting Authority (ORF) is very eager to transmit Austrian television programmes via satellite before the end of this decade.
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