The Solar System. We need not describe here the interest of the public as well as of the scientific community that has been raised by studies of objects in the solar system; indeed, the magnitude of NASA programs in this area speaks for itself. The planets themselves, while of prime interest, are generally very bright, and ground-based studies of them and their satellites would not be greatly affected by SPS light pollution. There are, however, other interests in the solar system for which a bright background would severely impede ground-based research. For example, comets and their tails, asteroids, and other "minor" constituents of the solar system are generally faint. The plane of the ecliptic is fairly closely aligned with the equatorial plane of the Earth and the satellites, and the faint objects found preferentially in the ecliptic plane, such as minor bodies, will be difficult to observe near the satellites. Although comets do not have ecliptic orbits, they and their tails are generally in their most favorable aspects as they near the ecliptic. Similarly, the zodiacal light is also confined to the ecliptic plane and, likewise, will be difficult to observe near the satellites. THE ORIGIN OF SPS EFFECTS ON OPTICAL ASTRONOMY The single most important point to keep in mind when considering the effects of SPS on optical astronomy and aeronomy is that the major effect, the increase of sky brightness, stems from the passive properties of the system. As such, this effect is inherent in any space-based power collection scheme. For the Reference System, the solar blanket intercepts 70 GW of solar radiation, only 6 GW of which is actually radiated toward Earth in the microwave beam. The most important portion of the remaining 64 GW of energy which has an effect on astronomy is the light reflected from the front surface of the blanket. This reflected radiation constitutes approximately 7 to 15% of the visible radiation incident on the solar blanket and is made up of both diffuse and specular reflection, as described in the Briefing Document. The diffuse reflection is responsible for the most persistent and troublesome effects on
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