COMETS
Already in development before the ETS VI accident was the Communications and Broadcasting Engineering Test Satellite (COMETS), also sponsored by NASDA, designed to test inter-satellite and advanced mobile satellite communications. With an overall mass and spacecraft bus similar to ETS VI, COMETS, to be launched in 1997, would carry a variety of Ka-band and S-band transponders and would be stationed at 121 degrees E. Gallium arsenide solar cells will provide increased power (up to 5.5 kW) as compared to ETS VI. Eventually a 2-satellite Data Relay and Tracking Satellite (DRTS) network is envisioned with full compatibility with its American and European counterparts (References 173-177).
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