Boeing studies have shown that upgrading the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for HLLV operation will require $2 to $3 billion. Assuming a cost of $60 billion for a five (5) gigawatt Solar Power Satellite (SPS) with a twenty percent (20%) transportation cost, the OSC can be shown to pay for itself with the construction of a relatively few SPS's. With ion engine cargo transportation from an orbit inclined 30 degrees, approximately five percent (5%) of the total transportation costs or $600 million could be saved per five (5) GW SPS by an equatorial launch. The cost of the development of the ion engine drive would also be eliminated. With chemical engine cargo transportation the improvement in costs is even more apparent. Approximately twenty percent (20%) of the total transportation costs or $2.4 billion could be saved per five (5) GW SPS by an equatorial launch. An OSC is the logical, cost effective choice for supporting HLLV launches when an HLLV operation is justified. Site selection studies, collection of environmental and soil data to permit design and trade-off studies between different OSC layouts, operations concepts, and specific component designs should proceed to prove the cost effectiveness of the OSC concept.
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