The REAL obstacle to SPSS

>
> None of the countries that currently enjoy the
> ability to launch at
> will are going to give that authority up. If Japan
> were to build,
> launch, and operate an SPS, as they say they plan to
> do, who will tell
> them "NO"?
>
There are some controls in place. Anything that beams
radio waves to Earth must first be okayed by the
International Telecommunication Union, and
additionally within the US by the FCC.

I see no reason why the ITU authority would not also
extend to this transmission from an SPS as I assume
(correct me if I am wrong) that one would need to
coordinate SPS transmissions with commsats to ensure
no one steps on each other's toes.

Also, knocking out structures in space are not that
real difficult. Just get a really big radio telescope
like Arecibo to direct some energy at it and it will
knock out most of the electronics on board a
satellite.

> > Rather than that, I'd sooner see site inspection
> by disinterested third
> > parties.
>
> There ARE no disinterested third parties.
>

The U.N.'s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer
Space (COPUOS) comes to mind as a good candidate to
regulate this too.

> > Of course the 3rd parties would have to have the
> capability of
> > sending inspection teams to GEO (or perhaps not; I
> suppose such inspections
> > could be done remotely).
>
> You'd basically have to use some kind of high-orbit
> camera to look at
> it. I suppose you could launch a monitoring vehicle
> to move up close
> (not so close as to risk damage, just within camera
> range) and have a
> look. If the climate were tense enough, however,
> that approach could
> be seen as hostile.
>
You'd be surprised at how many cameras are already up.
We put video feeds on some of our comm sats to
monitor deployments of solar arrays and the like.
Afterwards, these cameras just look at the earth for a
bit. Wouldn't be too hard to manuever some of these
to look at something else. Also, weather satellite
like GOES have good cameras on them and get parked at
a HEO orbit at their end of life a few thousand kms
above GEO. These are just a few examples of stuf
already in orbit....Not to mention observation from
the ISS can see it.

Ryan Z