other nations—and I just wondered if it might be feasible for the United States to beam solar power to those customers? Dr. Keister. It would be possible to do that, yes. Senator Ford. How much funding do you receive from NASA for Powersat studies? Mr. Taylor. Of the six contracts that we now have with NASA, it is about $1.6 million. Senator Ford. Are you using any corporate funds? Mr. Taylor. The contracts I was talking about are using NASA funds, and we also use corporate funds in the way of research programs to supplement that. Senator Ford. Would you have a ball park figure on corporate funds used to supplement the NASA contracts? Mr. Taylor. I don't have them with me, but I would be pleased to bring them to you. Senator Ford. Mr. Taylor, I would appreciate it if you would show industry's interest and financial expenditure in this field. Mr. Taylor. OK. Senator Ford. If you will let us have that, we will incorporate that in the record. Are there any problems with radiating waste heat into space? And is space an inexhaustible heat sink? Mr. Taylor. I guess we could say no and yes. Senator Ford. Well, that sounds like a bureaucratic answer. I would like to have a yes or no. Dr. Keister. The answer is that space is essentially—the radiation that you would receive from the Sun and then convert to electricity and radiate back out of here, that same energy that you are radiating, the heat would be radiated from the Sun that was intercepted—and so you are really just intercepting part of the radiation, using it and then reradiating it on into space. So the answer to your question is, yes, space is an infinite source of radiation and there is no problem. Senator Ford. I think Mr. Taylor answered the question, a few minutes ago, about the projected life of Powersat being 30 to 100 years. What is the projected lifetime of our best utility turbine? Mr. Taylor. I don't believe I understand, sir. Senator Ford. Your best electrical turbine. We are talking about converting solar energy to electrical current. Do you have an idea of the projected lifetime of our best electrical turbine? I think the point here is, how far do we have to go to get the turbine you need? Dr. Keister. I could comment on that. We envision Powersat similar to a hydroelectric dam. In other words, you build a dam and you use the water running over the dam to turn turbines and every 5 or 10 years you go in and fix the bearings and upgrade it, and so forth, but the dam goes on for many years. As a matter of fact, if you look back to some of the early hydroelectric systems that are about 100 years old now, just when electricity began to be used, they are still in use and still going on. And so what we would envision is that the basic structure of the Powersat satellite would last for quite a long time, but the moving parts and the parts that would wear out would be replaced and upgraded as time went on.
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