1 .0 INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSIONS 1.1 Background and Motivation for this Study The concept of harvesting renewable solar energy in space for transmission to Earth for terrestrial use has attracted increasing interest and study in recent years. Satellite Power Systems (*SPS) were first proposed in 1968 by Peter E. Glaser as a possible long-term solution for the world’s future energy needs. The continued advancement of solid state technology, space technology, and materials science in general, combined with more urgent attention to the energy issues in the political arena, have made the SPS concept more attractive and perhaps nearer in time than was the case in 1968. * A glossary of abbreviations and acronyms used in this report appears near the front of this volume. ** References for each section of this report are included at the end of the section. If a Satellite Power System such as is described in the NASA Reference Design R*e*port were to be undertaken to provide significant quantities of power to the United States and perhaps to other countries as well, significant military implications would ensue. These would arise, first, from the possible uses of such satellites and supporting systems (perhaps with enhanced military capabilities) as weapons or as supportive elements of other military systems (threat issues) and, second, from the necessity of ensuring the security of such important economic assets in space (vulnerability issues). Questions about the military implications of an SPS program arise regardless of which nation or group of nations deploys such satellites. The specific details of the questions raised would vary, but the underlying questions of threat, vulnerability and means of safeguarding the program would remain just as important. These questions about the military implications of an SPS program are very important domestically as well as internationally. Should power satellites prove to be economically, technologically, and environmentally desirable as new sources of power for the United States, their political acceptability would depend on satisfactory resolution of some of these questions concerning the possible mili- tary uses (or misuses) of SPS or its supporting and implementing program. The principal aim of the present study is to investigate means by which convincing
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