the use of the space environment shall be for the benefit and in the interests of all countries and shall be the province of mankind. Responses by the LDCs, who are considered to be the beneficiaries of this commitment, have been twofold. On the one hand, some States urge the sharing of such resources. On the other hand, there have been rather insistent claims on the part of eight equatorial States that the equatorial portion of the space environment, where space objects can remain in geostationary orbit, belongs to such claimants. To most observers this claim is diametrically opposed to the language and purpose of the Treaty. Whether this difference can be resolved via negotiations, including the proposed new International Conference on Space Law remains to be seen. The ultimate success of a SPS will depend in part on the amount of good will the United States will be able to receive in connection with the endeavor. If tensions were to develop on the part of either the LDCs, which would hope to share in the benefits available through the presence of solar energy, or the equatorial States, which might become unreconciled because their claims received no attention, full success might not be obtainable. However, such outlooks would have been imaginary if the SPS were not able to demonstrate its assumed potential. Thus, a strategy on the part of the resource States could be to proceed without consulting the present interests and positions of such States in order to prove the viability of the concept. This proven, it would then be time to engage in discussions of specifics. In the process the space States might take the position that the project was going forward vigorously, that rewards were expected to be substantial, and that their ongoing commitment to the 1967 Principles Treaty would allow for the required
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