receiving antennas.) At the receiving antenna, the microwave energy would be reconverted to electrical energy and then fed into an electrical utility transmission system, At the outset, the following objectives were proposed for the development of the SPS concept: ® To be of global benefit; • To conserve scarce resources; o To be economically competitive with alternative power-generation methods; ® To be environmentally benign; and © To be acceptable to the nations of the world. D. EVOLUTION OF SPS REFERENCE SYSTEM Preliminary studies of the SPS concept were performed at Arthur D. Little, Inc., from 1968 to 1972. During this time, the SPS concept was discussed at scientific and professional society meetings, and presentations were made to NASA and the President's Science Advisory Committee. In 1972, the NSF/NASA Solar Energy Panel outlined a program plan for the SPS RSD program and suggested funding levels.5 In 1972, Arthur D. Little, Inc., joined with Grumman Aerospace, Raytheon Company and Spectrolab Division of Textron, to evaluate the feasibility of the SPS concept on behalf of NASA.6 In this feasibility study, a base-line design was adopted to provide a power output of 5 GW on Earth. In addition to structural design and control, RFI avoidance techniques were investigated and key technological, environmental, and economic issues were identified. The results of this study encouraged NASA's Johnson Space Center and Marshall Space Flight Center to start extensive system definition studies with the help of Boeing Aerospace7 and Rockwell International.8 In 1976 the Energy Research and Development Administration was assigned responsibility for the SPS program. A task group was formed; it recommended that the SPS concept be evaluated and outlined a program for this purpose.9 In 1977 the Department of Energy and NASA approved the SPS Concept Development and Evaluation Program Plan,10 with the objective: "to develop by the end of 1980 an initial understanding of the technical feasibility, economical practicality, and the societal and environmental acceptability of the SPS concept." (The results of the DOE/NASA SPS program are discussed in detail at this Review meeting.) E. SPS PROGRAM ISSUES The SPS program is unique in that, for the first time, a major technology program focuses not just on key technology issues but is concerned with the evaluation of environmental effects, comparative economic factors, and societal issues so as to identify program risks and uncertainties before committing to the next phase of a development program. This focus for the SPS program is appropriate at a time when public scepticism of complex, large-scale technologies has been justified by wel1-publicized failures (e.g., the Three Mile Island incident) and distrust of assurances by either industry or government that technological systems will not contribute to involuntary exposure to health and safety hazards.
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