Economics (was Critical time)

The problem with these total costs is that we need detailed cost
breakdowns in order to attack the component that is most costly or
for which we could get the most RTI (return on investment). I am
not surprised that these costs are so high because of my limited
experience in the way these projects are run. But without a detailed
breakdown I am just making assumptions. It would be great to have
a detailed breakdown of a number of government and commercial projects
for comparison.

Mitchell James
mejames@...
http://www.InnerTransit.net (Email distribution for multilevel organizations)
http://www.InnerTransit.org (Homebase for collaborative engineering)

>I just read today that Canadarm, the robotic arm that will be attached
to
>ISS Alpha, cost a billion dollars. The US Destiny module cost $1.4
>billion. Hubble cost a couple of billion, plus ongoing maintenance
costs.
>Cassini was a couple of billion.
>
>One or two billion dollars will not suffice to build an SPS from
lunar or
>asteroidal materials. An SPS constructed from lunar or asteroidal
>materials would be an order or magnitude or two more expensive than
that.