sensitive to contamination than it is near the ground. On the basis of the history of the past ten years, there is good reason to anticipate that there may develop substantial public opposition to that rate of discharge, and that a satellite power program might be slowed substantially and its costs increased by that opposition. Economic Factors: 3 4 It has been noted that solution of the microwave transmission problem for the SSPS appears to be progressing well: tests have already demonstrated a transmission efficiency e (direct current to direct current by a microwave link) of 55 percent. The goal is an efficiency of about 63 per cent. Delay in the realization of the SSPS concept appears to be due mainly to lift costs and power plant mass. The installed cost of an SSPS would depend primarily on four factors: the capital cost per kilowatt of the powerplant for converting solar energy to electricity ($/kw); the specific mass of the power plant in kilograms per kilowatt of output (kg/kw); the cost per kilogram of lifting the power plant from the earth to geosynchronous orbit ($/kgsy); and the overall efficiency of converting electricity into microwave energy, transmitting it to the earth, and reconverting it into direct current or to a power line frequency (e). The installed capital cost of the installation, per kilowatt of power output from the antenna busbar on the earth, would be approximately
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