Table 1 lists the amounts of propellant that will injected into the atmosphere per 19,000 kgs of payload to LEO. As can be seen there is a great deal of improvement that can be made in reducing the amount of pollutant per unit mass of payload. In the third phase we can finesse the rocket plume pollution problem by deriving most of the necessary construction materials from the Moon. Those which are not available from this source might be launched with a mass driver located on the equator (placing a small rocket and control unit on it for inserting the payload into orbit). The microwave issue will not be resolved by theoretical or ’paper’ studies. It needs to be researched in depth. This field of research is new enough that the lack of knowledge about the effects of microwave energy leads to great public concern. To collect the necessary data will require a test bed system. Testing must be done at all altitudes. Small scale experiments in a laboratory are necessary - but we will not be able to lay to rest public concern until test bed data are obtained. If the environmental and health impacts of SPS technology are not addressed, it will face the same problems that nuclear energy now faces. Morone and Woodhouse (1989) present an excellent set of lessons about how not to go about implementing a new technology in The Demise of Nuclear Energy? Lessons in the Democratic Control of Technology. The Environment Benefit of SPS The environmental consequences of economic policy decisions are complex and far-ranging. They typically involve conflicting interests. Air pollution produced by
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