SUMMARY: SPS PROGRAM REVIEW Friday, 25 April 1980 Frederick A. Koomanoff U. S. Department of Energy The basic inference or "bottom-line" of these four days of the SPS Program Review stated by the four assessment area managers - Systems Definition, Environmental, Societal and Comparative - is that no insurmountable barrier to the SPS concept have emerged. Significant technical, environmental and cost questions, however, have not been answered. There is need for "hard data" which can be obtained only through research and experimentation. The basic and applied research required to develop the knowledge which is mandatory for informed decision-making has been indicated during this review. Further, we must recognize that there is no single decision-point for a "go or no-go" decision on demonstrating a SPS. Intelligent decisions based upon unambiguous information and specification of risks must be made at many time phases: research, engineering, verification, proof of concepts, etc. The SPS program has created and produced very positive generic research results. Every dollar spent has given us increased knowledge as to SPS and has significantly increased our knowledge of basic areas of interest such as: • microwave health and ecology; • atmospheric sciences; • large space structures and space transportation; • materials; • energy plant siting; • also, learning of ways to increase the depth and breadth of participation in the decision process. This "corporate assessment" of a new, promising technology has attempted to involve many diverse groups to enhance communications, interaction and dialogue. As C. P. Snow (in Two Cultures) states — "The only weapon we have to oppose the bad effects of technology is technology itself. There is no other. We can't retreat into a non-technological Eden which never existed. ... It is only by the rational use of technology -- to control and guide what technology is doing — that we can keep any hopes of a social life more desirable than our own: or in fact of a social life which is not appalling to imagine." We must learn how to effectively talk and listen to each other, and arrive at positions based upon the best knowledge available so that informed decisions as to the SPS concept may be made.
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