Who would manage an SPS power system? Would it be private enterprise, public agencies, or a consortium of public and private interests (something like COMSAT)? Certainly the conditions call for new organizational structures. These new structures will generate their own politics and legislation. These developments would be similar to the railroads and their new structures, the public stock corporation, and the politics they generated (lobbying, anti-trust legislation, mail contracts, rate- regulatory commissions, etc.). The price tags for SPS equipment and the amounts of materials involved would necessarily convey political leverage to the overseers of the program. This was the case in the 19th century with the railroads, and caution should be taken that some of the regrettable results of abuse of that political leverage not be repeated. Further grounds exist for comparison. The SPS has been publicly opposed as being too expensive and too extravagant and objections are also raised about the dangerous effects of microwaves. These issues must be dealt with in order that the concept not incur the public’s animosity towards high technology. Railways met with similar objections: By 1830 it was generally admitted that the steam engine could haul a greater load at a greater speed than the horse, and that it could do it more cheaply. But numerous objections were urged such as meet any innovation. Steam engines were dangerous, being liable to explosion and accident; they caused great wear and tear, and they made more expensive construction necessary; great skill would be necessary for their operations and so on (7). Extreme skeptics argued that railroads were too crude to insure regular service, that the sparks thrown off by belching engines would set fire to buildings and fields, that speeds of twenty or thirty miles an hour could be “fatal to wagons, roads, and loading, as well as to human life” (4). Experience showed the populace that these fears concerning the railroads were unfounded, and perhaps, in time, the same will occur in connection with the SPS. However, during our time and age, a more aggressive approach is required due to past technological developments which were initially hailed as agents of good fortune, but proved to be otherwise. It is encouraging to see that part of the DOE evaluation is devoted to assessing public opposition. Technological secondary consequences (spinoffs) of railroads were a positive element in the development of technological capabilities. A list of railroad spinoffs would include bridge-building techniques and tunneling techniques; pneumatic drills and a device called a pneumatic caisson; techniques in land-clearing; and techniques for reducing the effects of gravity. Many of these developments were used either directly or indirectly in other endeavors: intraurban transport, materials-handling in factories, transportation of any large bulk (rails are even used to move space vehicles about at their launching facilities), etc. The most obvious example is intraurban transport; engineering methods developed over a half-century were transposed to the intraurban realm in the form of tramways, subways, and elevateds. Thus, the spinoff from railroad technology contributed to solutions of other technological problems. Similarly, the SPS would provide varied spinoff. One could expect contributions to microwave technology, microwave safety, solar cell technology (terrestrial solar could benefit from this), space transportation design, space construction, and navigational techniques. Another technological secondary consequence is in education. This cannot really
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