public acceptance of SPS. On the other hand, the real hazards, listed second in Table 2 — like hazards to space workers of space stress and ionizing radiation, capture less public attention than the “microwave" issue. Next in Table 2 are atmospheric effects such as the possibility of disturbing the ozone layer through chemicals released in multiple shuttle flights. Extensive studies (5) have been done in this area and the problem is no more serious than that already posed by the question of fluorocarbon release to the environment. The subject is controversial and will require many years for thorough resolution but it doesn’t present a proven obstacle to SPS anymore than for other involved technologies. The next item in Table 2, that of heating of the ionosphere by the microwave beam, has been studied (6) in some detail and related to experimental results at hf frequency. There doesn’t appear to be a major problem here because the likely SPS frequency (2.45 GHz) is far above plasma frequencies of the ionosphere. The last topic in Table 2 is that of RFI and this is likely to be the major technical
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