ADVAN< I 1) 1 NERGY TE< ll\< >I.Oi,ll-s 



941 



mittee members, established a DOE program office to manage the 

 SSPS, assigned roles for both DOE and NASA, and authorized $25 

 million the first year. The concept was defined as placing into orbit 

 a series of satellites collecting energy from the Sun, transforming this 

 energy into microwaves, and beaming the power to locations on 

 Earth where it would be reconverted into electrical energy and beamed 

 directly to ground power stations. 



In announcing the hearings, Fuqua noted that the idea has been 

 treated much like a stepchild by Department of Energy officials. He 

 decried the fact that the paper studies had been insufficient to answer 

 questions on technical and economic feasibility and environmental 

 concerns. Flippo told the opening hearing that solar power satellites 

 could be demonstrated, using the Space Shuttle, for a cost of between 

 $175 to $350 million over a 5-to-6 year period. In endorsing the approach 

 taken by the bill, McCormack stated: 



To date, the present DOE/NASA study program has not uncovered any problem 

 that appears to be insurmountable and those that have been identified require tech- 

 nology verification for resolution. 



Winn gave the committee some of the hard-nosed alternatives in 

 extremes of claims and counter-claims of the supporters and opponents 

 of the SSPS. He said the most extreme advocates envisioned a space 

 colony which could generate nearly all the energy needs on Earth. 

 Winn said the strong opponents felt this way: 



The vast thought of nucrowaving energy to the Earth makes people believe they 

 will be walking around in a giant microwave oven. The passengers in airplanes flying 

 through the beam will become instant "crispy critters." And if this isn't bad enough, 

 the huge industrialists are going to be controlling this centralized power system and 

 financially ripping ofF the public. 



In his own view, the truth was somewhere in between these two 

 extremes. Winn asked the subcommittees to bear in mind that the 

 SSPS could produce only 40 percent of U.S. energy needs in the year 

 2025; that the earliest projection for a commercial satellite was 1995; 

 and that any ground-based solar power system could provide only a 

 fraction of the power requirements of the average American home. 



FLIPPO CARRIES THE BALL 



During the hearings, various committee members pushed both 

 DOE and NASA to instill greater urgency into the SSPS program. 

 Flippo remarked: 



I believe that the members of the committee have expressed time and time again 

 that we want to get a go or no-go decision on SSPS as rapidly as possible. * * * I am 

 concerned that the Department of Energy's present plans will never get us to a 

 decision point 



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