proven, Lloyd's would have no difficulty in insuring a product that will generate wealth for the foreseeable future. Summary This section has dealt with public relation issues relating to the governments, international organizations and the industrial community. To briefly summarize, governments must receive information on the space solar power program which relates to their national interests. For the developed countries, the reasons for participation may be due to the dwindling of non-sustainable energy sources, the lack of energy self-sufficiency, the cost in protecting existing sources and the increasing opposition to harmful energy sources. For the developing countries, governmental aid diverted to the space solar power program in an equitable distribution scheme will provide the incentives necessary for full participation. The UN would be an ideal forum for the exchange of ideas at the global level on the distribution of benefits and costs of the project. A possibility would be the creation of a world energy subcommittee, if not in existence already, which would address issues related to space solar power. It seems unlikely at the present moment that the G7 would publicly support the program until the commencement of the large scale solar power satellite program. Timing is important when promoting the program. The energy crisis of the 1970s, the Persian Gulf war and the environmental disasters such as the oil spill of the Exxon Valdez represent opportune times to present the benefits of the space solar power program and to raise public support. The utilities, based on non-sustainable energy sources, will be deeply interested in acquiring a path for gradual change towards a sustainable energy source. The utilities, based on sustainable energy sources, are facing increasing opposition. It is unclear at the moment if this opposition will be sufficient to convince the utilities to investigate alternative safe forms of sustainable energy. Once established, companies who are identified as crucial to the program should be addressed and possibly given an incentive to supply initial equipment for the program in exchange for preferential treatment in the later stages of program development. Finally, the program, as it stands, is far beyond the reach of the financial institutions. Once the program is proven successful, both technically and financially, participation from these institutions will occur. 5.5.2 Coordination with the Scientific Community The scientific community will have an important role to play in any solar power program. Their support would be a great asset to the program while their opposition would be a major obstacle. The scientific community must be convinced that space power is viable, affordable and safe before lending support. For any space power realization it is fundamental to have effective collaboration between the research community and industry. People involved in pure research contribute with new ideas and methods, while industrial teams work in order to realize and exploit these innovative concepts. In order to ensure a profitable technological return from space power research a good scientific basis for the development of the project is needed. The research carried out by scientists is the first brick in any space power building. They will do this work cheaply or even free but only if they are really interested. In some cases they are already involved in particular studies related to space power and would be happy to have an opportunity to test their concepts. Scientists are able to identify new problems and areas of possible interest as well as suggesting and carrying out experiments. As science is one of the justifications for spending money on space programs, it is important that any space program-funded venture have a significant science content. This means that if ISPO expects to attract funding from existing space budgets experiments with real scientific value in a wide range of areas, not all obviously related to the problem of beaming power to Earth, must be performed on any platforms launched. Another aspect to be considered is that many scientists will worry about possible loss of interest in and funding for fields of research far from space power or for studies of alternative sources of energy. This could create internal struggles within the scientific community which must be avoided if possible. The impact of space power research on the budgets of unrelated areas of science must be minimized.
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