Power sats aabout

On Fri, Mar 6, 2009 at 9:09 AM, GARY ANSORGE

> 1) an OPEN ended power source and
> 2) a resource that can be cost effectively returned to Earth as a rationale for space settlement.
>
> SSPs fulfill that rationale.

I think we should maintain a very low profile on the space settlement
angle and let them come about naturally.

For example, in the context of a hundred ton per hour parts pipe line
to GEO, the lift cost to support a 1000 people is under half a percent
of that capacity. They are not independent of course.

But consider a project to build power sats entirely from the earth
using some low cost (per kg) method like this rocket and laser kludge.

It turns out that you want to build the structure out of Invar, a near
zero temp coefficient 35% nickel alloy. After a few years, the supply
of nickel becomes really tight. Even though the initial charter for
building power sats says no extra terrestrial material needed, with
that kind of presence in GEO, they are going to go after asteroids
just for the nickel.

So you get mining camps.

And while not independent, they do give people a toehold in space.

I will try to get up my slide presentation on this in a day or two.

Keith Henson