S. America (where the geostationary orbit passes over Ecuador, Peru, Columbia, and Brazil), and to the west over part of the Pacific. The longitudinal limits are approximately 225° and 315° E—yielding a total of about one-fourth of the geostationary orbit. Calculations were carried out as before, including only the longitudinal sectors falling wholly or partly within this range. The results were 237-250 slots for 0.3° spacing 117-130 slots for 0.5° spacing 27-40 slots for 1° spacing (- 18)—(—5) slots for 2° spacing. These results seem to indicate that 1° spacing is impractical for the 60 SPSs required in the reference system. A 0.5° spacing does seem to supply sufficient orbital slots to meet these requirements, however. Even this number could become critical if Central and S. American countries achieve significant orbital slot allowances, or demand sufficient SPS energy to necessitate large increases in SPS numbers within the relevant longitude range. W. EUROPEAN SLOT AVAILABILITY The complete longitudinal range for W. Europe is 336°-30° E, although the vast majority of the territory is situated between 350° and 25° E, with only Iceland further west and Greece further east. This claims a geostationary position of 35°, or 25,760 km of in-orbit distance. Possible reserves for W. Europe could be raised by longitudinal offsets over the Atlantic up to about 340° E. Eastern longitudinal offsets would not be practical due to probable conflicting claims from E. European, Africian, and some Middle East countries. In fact, such conflicting claims are likely over the whole longitude range considered here, with some 30 or so countries geographically involved. This will certainly generate complex political and legal problems associated with geostationary slot allocation. Using equivalent calculation methods as before, applied to the longitudinal sectors lying within the 340°-25° E range, the following results were yielded: 118-123 slots for 0.3° spacing 58-63 slots for 0.5° spacing 13-18 slots for 1° spacing (—9)—(—5) slots for 2° spacing. These figures are reduced by approximately 20% if the longitudinal-offset contributions from SPSs in the 340°-350° E range are discounted. Present W. European scenarios seem to quote 24 SPSs as the absolute minimum acceptable, with 70 as an upper limit (8). These figures do not include possible contributions from the 340°-350° E range. Examination of the above results reveals that orbital slots could well be at a premium, particularly when the complex legal and political situation is taken into account. As in the U.S. case, 1° spacing seems totally impractical. W. EUROPEAN ANALYSIS With the identification of specific major consumption sectors (8), a much more
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