0191-9067/85 $3.00 + .00 Copyright ® 1985 SUNSAT Energy Council LETTER TO THE EDITOR Space Solar Power Systems: Building a Mass Constituency But for the diplomatic tenacity of Christopher Columbus, the discovery of the New World might have been delayed half a century. Nonetheless, the artisans of that period were constructing ships capable of the Atlantic crossing, and the very existence of such vessels made the voyage an inevitability. Future generations may likewise view the development of Solar Power Satellites (SPS) as an historic inevitability, but will they condemn us for moving too slowly? A ten or twenty year delay in discovering the Western Hemisphere would have made scant difference to the Europeans of the sluggish 15th century, but today our species is undergoing explosive growth, and procrastinating the development of a potentially bountiful energy resource would be negligent. We have our modem versions of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria — so what is standing in the way? In a word: politics. Although space development is highly popular in an abstract sense, elected budget-makers respond only to mass constituencies, and the general public has not felt any true sense of urgency about exploring the realm above our atmosphere since the days of sputnik. Would the American Congress act more swiftly in appropriating money for SPS if the Gallup Poll showed that 76% of the electorate strongly favored development of a prototype? In the present climate of ignorance, what is the likelihood that such an opinion survey will ever be conducted? The objective of this letter, therefore, is to propose a strategy for creating a mass political awareness of — and constituency for — SPS. The method that should be used is the petition. THE PETITION Despite the arduous logistical problems that would have to be overcome, the use of a mass petition drive to promote SPS would have several advantages: First, signature gathering would have a profound educational impact, bringing pro-SPS activists into direct, one-on-one contact with individual members of the public and simultaneously offering the citizenry an opportunity to register their approval. Second, it would be a long-term effort, not susceptible to the attention span cycles that plague movements which rely on letter writing, rallies or electoral contests to demonstrate a base of support. The gathering of a mass “proxy” would continue for several years (until the signature total reached the multimillion level) and the accumulated product could then be presented en masse to the governments of the participant nations. It would become an issue.
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