The overall schedule for the Solar Space Power Program is shown in Figure 3. The program is somewhat arbitrarily scheduled to start in September 1992. In principle the schedule is separated into four major tasklines: • Business and Management Aspects • Political and Legal Aspects • Environmental and Safety Aspects • Technological Aspects The rectangular boxes represent the several subprograms. The rounded boxes represent major milestones in the program. The Technology Aspects taskline is further separated into other tasklines, the most important of which is the Spacecraft Development taskline. This line includes several demonstration programs that have been proposed in our work and their launch dates, which represent phases in the overall development directly correlated to the tasks in the overall schedule. Because of the long duration of the whole space solar power program, it is difficult to schedule the duration of the long-term phases. Therefore the near-term phases are better defined and have a more reliable basis. The schedule represents a best-case scenario. It assumes that technological progress will proceed at a reasonable pace, and that the major financial and political problems involved can be solved.
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