On the Second day of SPS
The four editions of Volume 2 of the SUNSAT Space Solar Power Review
And the view of it all which is strikingly familiar – and immediately useful.

“… Except for a laser system, the basic SPS technologies have been proven technically feasible. Research would be needed to develop low-noise microwave tubes; high efficiency, low-mass photovoltaics; efficient continuous-wave lasers; low-mass mirrors; and space construction and transportation capabilities. Although the fusion community is confident that fusion is feasible, “energy break-even,” the production of more energy than is put into the fusion process, has not been proven. For both SPS and fusion, a cost effective generating plant would still have to be developed and demonstrated….”

“…The choice between a source on Earth and one on the Moon, for a material available from both, is easy. Several studies have proven that for two reasons, the Moon presents a tremendous physical and hence financial advantage over the Earth as a source for materials available from both. The “gravity well” we live in on Earth requires a huge expenditure of energy to overcome. Although the Moon’s gravity is one-sixth that of the Earth, the energy needed for a given mass to escape from the Moon is only 5% of that needed for it to escape from the Earth; the resistance of the Earth’s atmosphere increases this difference. This lunar advantage is multiplied, however, by still an other major factor. To take a payload off the Earth by currently available technology (e.g., chemical rocket) requires a vehicle whose payload normally consists of 1.5% of the original lift-off mass. On the Moon, however, as a result of the lack of an atmosphere, essentially pure payloads, without a vehicle, could be accelerated to escape velocity on the surface, by using solar-derived electrical energy in a linear electric motor or “mass driver”…”

“…This paper analyzes solar power satellite (SPS) development not as a challenging technical undertaking, but as an issue of potentially high political salience. In order to advance discussion, it accepts the arguments of SPS advocates about the promise of the concept and asks: what are the implications for international political relations of an essentially inexhaustible, technically feasible, economically justifiable, environmentally acceptable source of the basic commodity required for industrial civilization, i.e., energy? It also attempts to identify the kinds of political pressures and conflicts which are likely to influence SPS development, once the program becomes visible to political and economic leaders in the Western world…”

46 added articles, 449 added pages

The four editions of Volume 2 of the SUNSAT Space Solar Power Review

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