right to a portion of the power supplied by the SPS system on the grounds that such benefits are due (because the geostationary orbit and radio spectrum are part of the common heritage of all mankind), to claims that SPS development be banned to avoid interference with the established utilization of the radio frequency spectrum for telecommunications purposes. Since institutional and international legal vulnerabilities will be most critical during the formative stages of SPS development, the beneficial impact for the United States of an international agreement would necessarily take effect early in the development process. Thus, the early elimination of institutional and international legal barriers would be a tangible benefit that foreign nations could offer in return for assurances that the threats perceived from SPS will not materialize and in return for mechanical and systematic methods to verify, monitor, and enforce such assurances. Consequently, the United States would achieve the elimination of these kinds of vulnerabilities prior to the development of SPS. The result of this situation could be that the United States would have minimized institutional and international legal barriers for SPS development and would retain leverage with which to maintain, in the future, minimization of such vulnerabilities, as long as the United States demonstrates adherence to policies and procedures which reduce or eliminate perceived or real threats. The bargaining position between the United States and states which possess the capabilities of militarily affecting the SPS space segment is quite different from that between the U.S. and the majority of states. In such cases, bilateral treaties may be adopted between the space powers on the basis of their unique bargaining positions. B.2.2 Selected Provisions Two salient subjects for international agreements have been identified in the current study on military implications of Satellite Power Systems. The first involves the concept of proximity rules in space, and the second involves the concept of international resident inspection. Proximity rules are international agreements under which spacecraft belonging to one nation would not be allowed to approach within an agreed-upon distance of spacecraft belonging to another nation without the advance consent of the latter 13 nation. While parallels can be drawn between this proposal and current practice
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTU5NjU0Mg==