The third phase is at our doorstep. It will embrace the development of large global utility systems. Powersat offers this phase a focus that will allow an orderly development of space transport and oribtal assembly tools needed for a wide variety cf space applications. Boeing already has begun work, both under contracts to NASA, and within a growing research program. Our pursuits include: A study of system concepts for Space-Shuttle-derived heavy lift launch vehicles. An extensive future space transportation systems analysis. A study of the design of large spacecraft. Investigation of space-based power conversion and power relay systems. Payload utilization study for a solar-electric-propulsion stage. There are more. And we plan to expand our effort. But the overall job is too big for industry alone. Leadership and support must come from the government. Space-based solar power is an objective behind which the entire nation could rally. It may prove to be the nation's opportunity to capitalize on its investment in the Space Program. It is a prime opportunity to strike toward energy independence. Certainly, it will require a large expenditure, probably calling for a financial commitment over the next quarter century many times greater than the moon landing program. But the payoff will certainly surpass the expense. These orbiting energy producers eventually will pay their own way—even amortizing the development costs. And early into the next century these same satellites also could be producing power which, by swiveling the transmitting antenna a few degrees, allows the export of energy to receivers in other lands. That is, if power satellites are feasible. We will never know without taking the first steps. Gentlemen, you must help the Executive Branch set its options. To some, the immediacy may not be apparent. But, if we wait until the crunch is upon us, we again will find that we will pay whatever we must to obtain energy. And then, indeed, the price will be high—without any hope of amortizing the investment. The studies must begin now. If we wait until the lights go out, until the 1 ast lump of coal and the last drop of oil are gone, we—and our children—will be caught bundled in longjohns reaching for alternate sources of energy which won't be there.
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