assurances could be provided during implementation of an SPS program and during routine operations of a network of power satellites that the system is NOT being used, overtly or covertly, for military purposes and that the system is no more vulnerable to attack than more conventional electrical power sources. Under the auspices of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) SPS Concept Development and Evaluation Program (CDEP), these military implications questions were studied briefly in 1978. Table 1-1 lists the possible threat and vulnerability issues which were identified in those two studies, and possible methods of forestalling any real concerns about military uses of power satellites. In this study, these and additional issues have been addressed in greater depth and breadth to develop specific proposals of safeguards for the SPS. 1.2 Scenarios for SPS Programs Any discussion of the military implications of Satellite Power Systems must recognize that the research and development effort and the construction and operation of power satellites will not be carried out as a single, monolithic project. During different phases of an overall program spanning fifty years or more, different types of organizations will be involved in a variety of roles, each interacting with different sets of actors on the national and international scenes in diverse arrangements having significantly different military, political, and social implications. Five distinct phases can be identified in an overall program geared to commercial* operation of a significant number of solar power satellites. First, the research and development (R&D) phase may last up to ten years to prove the validity of the SPS concept and to provide a reasonably high degree of confidence that the following phases will be successful. If the R&D effort continues to demonstrate the viability and desirability of SPS, a commitment could be made to proceed toward SPS deployment by initiating an eight to ten year design, development, test, and engineering (DDT&E) phase, possibly overlapping the R&D phase. (The Reference System report^ assumes this phase would run from the late 1980’s to the late 1990’s.) * In this context, we use the term "commercial" to mean widespread use in commerce, not to imply that SPS will be (or should be) exclusively a private sector affair.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTU5NjU0Mg==