political actions. As an example, if the United States were supplying electrical power to a foreign nation and desired to apply pressure to that nation, the United States could threaten to shut off power from the SPS. Similarly, economic warfare might be conducted by controlling the price of electrical power, much as the price of oil is controlled by OPEC. Safeguards, like threats, were subdivided into technological and institutional categories. Technological safeguards involve methods of force delivery or surveillance. Institutional safeguards encompass such means as international agreements and treaties, and international inspection. Potential safeguards will be discussed in Section 5. 3.2 Potential Military Uses of the Reference Design SPS Implementation of the Satellite Power System would result in a large expansion of basic capabilities in space. Could those capabilities inherent in the Reference Design SPS be used for military purposes, without any modifications of SPS hardware, if a deliberate decision were made to use SPS elements militarily? In this section, we assess the capabilities of the unmodified elements of SPS for such potential uses. Transportation System. The Earth launch facilities used for SPS could be used for launch of military vehicles or for transportation of military cargo and personnel aboard launch vehicles belonging to the SPS. The Earth-to-LEO vehicles, the orbital transfer vehicles, and the sortie vehicles belonging to SPS could all be used for military transport purposes, including deployment, retrieval, and on- orbit maintenance and repair (DRMR) of military satellites, with no modifications of the hardware. These military support applications of the SPS transportation systems are no different in kind from the use of the civilian highway system, railroads, airlines, and ships for transportation of military personnel and cargo on Earth. The Personnel Launch Vehicle, the Personnel Orbital Transfer Vehicle, and the Sortie Vehicles, however, could all be used (to a limited extent) to "kidnap” satellites belonging to hostile countries (SATNAP). To use the civilian SPS
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