Interim Flight Opportunity (IFO)

Abstract In order to cope with the lack of flight opportunities for users due, in particular, to delays and reallocations of Shuttle flights, it was suggested to develop a relatively simple facility named Interim Flight Opportunity (IFO) that can be launched on different launchers, will circle for a limited time and then will reenter in a controlled way for recovery on the ground. Payload candidates, reentry constraints, choice of reentry vehicle shape, IFO typical mission, IFO design are considered successively.