exposure among individuals performing different tasks under varying conditions and work schedules. Ecosystems might be affected by pollutants from industrial activities supporting SPS development; these effects would be the same as those from activities supporting other energy supply endeavors. The effects of some pollutants on ecosystems are not entirely understood. Sitespecific environmental impacts undoubtedly would have some effects on species that normally would inhabit SPS rectenna sites. These impacts might include changes in habitat and natural order of succession. A study of a hypothetical rectenna site in California will quantify representative site-specific impacts. Other principal ecological effects, yet to be quantitatively assessed, might stem from light reflected from power satellites and acoustic noise near launch and landing sites. Both of these, however, can be expected to be either minor perturbations or subject to mitigation by appropriate engineering changes. SPS EFFECTS ON THE ATMOSPHERE Every level of the earth's atmosphere would be affected to some extent by the construction and operation of a satellite power system. Atmospheric effects resulting from space transportation and satellite operation are the principal considerations of this task. The effects of rectenna operation are also included. These potential atmospheric effects are illustrated in Figure 3. Estimates of the local and mesoscale weather and climate effects of waste heat from an SPS rectenna indicate that impacts would generally be small, but would be detectable in some instances. The absorption of microwave power in the troposphere is expected to be worse during rain storms, but even then would have a negligible effect on the weather. An assessment of the air quality impacts of the HLLV, if launched from Kennedy Space Center has shown that: • The sulfur dioxide concentration would not be a critical problem. • Nearly all of the carbon monoxide would be oxidized to carbon dioxide. • The amount of nitric oxide formed would probably be negligible. • Acid rain might occur near the launch site if sulfur was present in significant quantities in the fuel. Nitrogen is also a potential source for the formation of acid rain but thus far this possibility has not been evaluated. Valuable but limited information has been gathered regarding inadvertent weather modification due to rocket launches. Because there
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