2 OTHER EFFECTS ON HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT In addition to the impacts of microwaves, a number of other health and safety effects can be anticipated from the deployment of an SPS. These result from: • Mining of raw materials, • Construction of terrestrial facilities, • Processing and fabrication of finished materials, • Transport of materials and equipment, • Ground station operation, • Space vehicle launch and recovery • Orbital transfer of material and personnel, • Construction of SPS arrays, and • Operation of arrays. These activities will produce various effects on the general public, terrestrial workers, space workers, and the environment. All of the possible impacts that a satellite power system may generate must be considered in order to assess its acceptability and develop strategies for minimizing or eliminating undesirable conditions. It must be recognized that the activities indicated above produce two distinctly different types of effects. First, some of the activities are conventional processes (e.g., mining, construction, processing, transport), not unique to satellite power systems. The impacts they produce are common to any use of those processes. For example, the health effects of air pollution generated by steel-making are the same whether that steel is used for automobiles, bridges, power plants, or an SPS. An evaluation of these impacts here is significant only insofar as SPS deployment results in a substantial increase in a particular activity and its accompanying effects. Because of the extent of experience with these processes, the effects they produce, and the effectiveness of alternative control strategies, an acceptable assessment can be made of potential SPS impacts. The second type of effects results from the activities that are unique to SPS deployment (e.g., handling of large quantities of gallium arsenide for solar cells, exposure of construction workers to extended periods of space radiation, etc.). The available data are often limited in comprehensiveness,
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