requirements when the SSP development begins - 10 to 15 years from present. In this 10 to 15 year time frame, markets for certain SSP items may grow with or without assuming SSP production. This somewhat simplified approach has limitations. It difficult to precisely estimate SPS production costs without a detailed SSP point design. It is even more difficult to derive parametrics for estimating manufacturing requirements to accommodate the broad range of SSP concepts under evaluation. An important activity for future SSP manufacturing assessments is an in-depth check of the resulting production cost and manufacturing investment requirements focusing on the specific items to be manufactured. Past SSP studies have derived the required manufacturing investment based on specific attributes of the production facility. Because the selected approach backs into the manufacturing investment cost and does not address hardware-specific production process issues, there is a possibility of underestimating facility costs. Manufacturing experts for key SSP hardware items should review the resulting manufacturing investment costs and production levels to determine if the allocated costs appear feasible. Another important future activity would be in the area of system demonstrations. AH aspects of an SSP scenario - including system manufacture, launch, emplacement, and operation -should be tested on a significantly reduced scale to inprove confidence in system/subsystem and technology selections, manufacturability, and production unit cost estimates. It is inportant to define and conduct these types of technology demonstrations as early as possible to firm up technical and cost parametrics used for assessments of SSP manufacturing requirements and potential economic viability. 7.63. Summary Findings and Recommendations A principal objective of the 1995-1996 “fresh look” study of pace solar power was to determine whether or not - in the context of technological advances made during the past 15-20 years and using innovative new systems designs founded on those technologies - the concept of generating electrical power from sunlight in pace for wireless transmission to, an ultimate use on, the Earth was technically and economically feasible. The results of the study seem to suggest strongly that the result of this determination is definitely in the affirmative. If several key, but diverse advances in critically-needed areas of technology can be achieved, then pace solar power does appear both technically and economically feasible. Additional study is needed. In particular, the limitations of time and resources dictated that the current study make an early down-selection to a relatively few system concepts and architectures for more detailed study. A renewed effort to define new concpts should be undertaken. The current study had as a ground-rule that ground-based power production in combination with power relay satellites (PRS) would not be included. Instead, cases involving pace-based power generation in combination with PRS were considered — and found to be non-viable. Future efforts should address the use of the new technologies and concpts developed in the present study to ground-pace-ground power relay concpts. This might include the transfer of power from a renewable (hydro-power) energy rich developed nation such as Canada via a PRS to a less-developed and renewable energy poor region such as Pacific rim nations. Based on the global nature of the propective market for SSP during the next two decades, these follow-on studies might well be international in character as well, with participants from various interested nations.
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