transportation. Improvements in SSPS efficiency, particularly at the receiving antennas, and reduction in weight are both very significant factors in achieving and further reducing the projected unit cost. For an operational life of about 30 years the cost of power at the bus bar would be 27 mills/kWh. The expected life cycle revenues will be about $35 billion for each SSPS, while operating costs will be $140 million per year (or $4.2 billion over a 30-year life cycle). The revenues from a series of SSPSs will be used to offset the development program costs - $20 billion for the development of SSPS technology and another $24 billion for the development of the space transportation system and related technology. The SSPS development program costs could be repaid if 60 SSPSs were operational by the year 2014, assuming that alternative system generation costs average 35 mills/kWh. This number of operational SSPSs will provide at least 10 percent of incremental installed generation capacity in the United States. A larger number of operational SSPSs would be required to repay development program costs if alternative system generation costs were less than 35 mills/kWh between 1995 and 2014. g. Development Program The SSPS development program can be divided into three phases, as shown in Exhibit 7. The critical technology developments will be concerned with: • Improvements in photovoltaic conversion - including fabrication of solar cells; • The design of solar arrays and the performance analysis of large structures; • Techniques for manufacturing and assembling components in orbit; • System stability and control; • Microwave generation and transmission - including the development of DC-to-RF converters and filters, the development
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTU5NjU0Mg==