Robber Barons in Space

On Tuesday, March 18, 2003, at 04:37 PM, ian.woollard wrote:

>>> As I understand it; the cost of laser launch will soon (about 4-5
>>> years)
>>> cross the cost of conventional launch systems; due to semiconductor
>>> laser costs coming down at about 30% per year. When this point
>>> occurs,
>>> access to space should greatly improve.
>>>
>>> Laser launch costs as low as $100/kg seem to be possible; with
>>> comparatively simple (i.e. cheap) launch vehicles. Initial costs are
>>> more likely to be nearer $500/kg for the first few years.
>>>
>>>
>> Where does this information come from?
>>
> Dr. Jordin Kare (team leader of laser group at LLNL from 1986-1991)
>

This is pretty interesting, do you have any good references (papers or
web sites)?

Space tourism could be our ticket to the stars. Save your pennies,
suborbital flights for $100,000 may start in 2005! See
http://www.spaceadventures.com/suborbital for details.

Al Globus
CSC at NASA Ames Research Center
http://www.nas.nasa.gov/~globus/home.html

Views expressed in this email are only my opinions and are not the
position of any organization I'm familiar with.