6.4 Security and Maintenance In this section, “maintenance” means how to handle a crisis which has not been predictable such as a huge crack or destruction of the solar power satellite. The word “security” means how to protect large structures in space from misuse. If the solar power satellite will be realized, it will be one of the favorite targets for terrorists. They will be able to use the beam for the purpose of attacking and burning of distinct areas by changing the direction of the power beam. Moreover they can destroy the satellite to stop the provision of electricity. To protect human beings and the environment on the Earth, a system that can completely prevent any harm originating from the solar power satellite is required. Detailed discussion of this topic takes place in another chapter of this report. Therefore, in this section, we will only treat the basic idea. The progress in the field of military weapons in this century has been tremendous. From early 20th century, airplanes and submarines for military use were developed. In addition, bombs and torpedoes were invented. Technology to beat the enemy culminated in the use of nuclear weapons. Such an advance made it possible to kill a huge number of people at once. However, especially related to World War II., one thing that we must not forget is that both Axis and Allied powers intended to use these devastating tools to a great deal against unprotected people. In this discussion “unprotected people” refers to ordinary citizens. Quite recently, there was one evidence that this barbarous tendency in the world has decreased to some extent. That was the gulf war [Ikeda, 1992], The Iraqi troops could not persecute the captives. The UN-forces had to emphasize that they had only attacked military facilities. Why? This was mainly due to the evolution of communication systems that enabled people all over the world to watch the situation in real-time. Of course there is some criticism claiming that many people enjoyed the live war-show or most of the press were not neutral. Nevertheless, it was the fact that the communication systems could be helpful in inhibiting the indiscriminate application of military power to the unprotected people. This is the age where any politicians cannot ignore the unseen but powerful intention of the ordinary people on this planet. Besides, the influence of the United Nations can not be ignored. In order to always keep the solar power satellite safe for the Earth, we put emphasis on the existence of the UN. Needless to say, it was founded to prevent the disaster of World War II again. The solar power satellite itself must not be made for military use. However, nowadays there are many critical problems that need world-wide cooperation on this planet. The existence of the UN has been accompanied by a lot of helplessness. The problem is whether people on this planet ignore such a world-wide organization or not. The presence and influence of solar power satellites will be global. Therefore, UN will be responsible for watching and protecting the large structure in space and providing the information to the people on the Earth. Besides the previous issue, to educate people properly is the most important task. The education will have to be based on the agreement that all people related to Space Solar Power Program are responsible for the security and maintenance. If we will obtain many evidences that will show dangers in Space Solar Power Program, we will have to vigorously provide such information to the citizens all over the world so that they might not be manipulated by some governmental organizations or a large companies. Overall Considerations Nature in itself strives constantly for equilibrium. It acts in a rhythmic, compensatory, and dialectic way, always correcting itself in order to avoid extremes and excesses. This indeed may be living nature's profoundest law. Man disrupts this spontaneous compensation by exploiting and consuming the huge natural resources, reasoning with abstract principles and proceeding by deduction and logical continuity [Huyghe & Ikeda, 1992]. People today demand inexhaustible energy sources for the sake of still greater comfort than they enjoy at present. In addition, energy demands in the developing countries are now greatly increasing. As we described in section 6.1 - 6.3, there would be great deal of hazards related to the construction of huge solar power satellite and rectenna. We should know the reason why we have to plan out such dangerous program.
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