[ExI] Millions of tons to space

[Stefano Vaj]

On 29 March 2011 18:00, Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com> wrote:

> > 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?
>
> Sorry, no.  You need a continuous flow of materials, not a one shot or
> a small number of launches.  We are talking about at least 4 flights
> per hour for decades.


My Gedankenexperiment - which I admittedly like, but am ready to drop
against the harsh truths of arithmetics - was:

- You bring "n" tons of energy-generating solar-power stuff of the
gravitational well by making use of large-scale Project-Orion nuclear
propulsors (why a continuous flow of materials would be so different from a
small number of very large launches?);

- That "n" is calculated in a measure sufficient to send energy back to
Earth which be enough to maintain and expand your installed space-based
solar power facilities (e.g., by making use of lasers or by cheaply
synthetising chemical fuels such hydrogen or hydrocarbons) without the need
to continue resorting to nuclear propulsion.

- You end up with a permanent flow of energy in exchange for a
pre-determined, "once for ever", increase in environmental radioactivity.

-- 
Stefano Vaj
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