GE Astro-Space Division, Pnnceton, New Jersey, has joined with MBB-ERNO of Germany* Aerltalla, and MATRA, in proposing a program employing two spacecraft which would offer flight opportunities to the space science community in the 1990s. The first of these spacecraft would be obtained by transfer of the European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) to this initiative. EURECA is a spacecraft currently under development, scheduled for launch in May 1991 and retrieval in January 1992. The second spacecraft, called the - Autonomous Microgravity Industrial Carrier (AMIGA), would also be built, as a\u27 duplicate of EURECA... The entire program is referred to as the AMIGA Initiative.
AMICA Is a free-flyer spacecraft that features the highest degree of mlcrogravlty, extended flight duration, cleanliness, retrlevablllty and re-flight. \u27It. Is therefore a key element 1n the 1990s Industrialization of space.
The program evolves from the EURECA. program which will in 11991 carry a variety of experiments In Solar Physics, Atmospheric Physics, Gamma-Ray Astronomy, Astrophysics* Materials Science, Life Science, and technology development. The EURECA spacecraft, in turn, employs techniques used in the Shuttle Pallet Satellite. AMIGA, therefore, represents a low-risk approach based on extensive space flight experience
