Robber Barons in Space

From: rmenich@... [mailto:rmenich@...]

> Could a laser beam down from GEO to a laser-driven launcher? Could this
> be another app for SPSs ? There's less atmosphere above 20,000 feet
> than there is under it, and a whole lot less water vapor above 20,000 feet

> than under it. Perhaps such a launcher could be towed or dropped from a
> conventional airplane at above 20,000 feet (maybe considerably higher) and

> then get its laser boost from a GEO SPS.

For that matter, it's been proposed that passenger airplanes be propelled by
an SPS laser. O'Neill wrote a bit about this in "2081: A Hopeful View of
the Human Future".

Regards,

Mike Combs