Bárbara Heliodora Rodrigues (INPE, Brasil)

Brazilian Contribution to the LOFT Mission 
 
We present a preliminary description of the expected Brazilian scientific and technical contribution 
to the LOFT mission. Brazil's participation will be based on INPE, the National Institute for Space Research. 
Besides participating in the scientific teams and data analysis efforts, Brazil is expected to provide 
a ground station in the Equatorial region operating probably in the X band. 
This station will receive both science and housekeeping data and will be a primary ground station for 
the mission. Brazil is also planning to contribute with software development for the Payload Data 
Handling Unit (PDHU) and help in the development of the Back-End Electronics. 
Another possible area of technical contribution is on power supply systems. In this paper we will show 
the possibilities of INPE's contributions  to the LOFT mission, both on scientific and technical terms.