[ExI] Millions of tons to space

[Adrian Tymes]

On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 1:13 PM, Stefano Vaj <stefano.vaj at gmail.com> wrote:
> My (unrhetorical) question is: once you have bootstrapped space-based
> solar power can you make use of its proceeds to maintain it?

Depends.  Yes, *if* you've bootstrapped enough and can get the efficiency
of your operation good enough.  Don't forget about that latter part.  Also,
this is "maintain" in the strict financial sense - dollars aren't rockets - so
you'd need a way to translate this into ability to physically maintain the
satellites (in case of space junk impacts) - for example, you'd need a
launch system that continues to be available.

> And if yes, would a series of Project Orion launches (the
> effectiveness of which I understand actually to increase with the
> scale of the launch...) enough to bootstrap it?

By themselves, no.

1) Launches aren't necessarily the most expensive part of setting up
space based solar power.  (And again, depending on how much is
needed to bootstrap, Orion might not be the cheapest way to go.)  Since
you're talking about the strict financial sense (per above), other
considerations (like the costs of developing Orion rockets) weigh in as
they inform said strict financial sense.

2) Read literally...*just* launches?  Without payload?  That won't
bootstrap SBSP.  (Of course you meant with payload, but do specify the
payload.  Just launching some SBSP satellites, that can do nothing but
beam power around, won't bootstrap much.  Even launch alternatives
that use beamed power need a lot more than just a raw power source.)

It's possible that they could play a part - but you need a more fully
developed plan, and then alternatives can be judged for applicability to
that plan (see point 1).