[ExI] Power sats and propulsion laser response

[Keith Henson]

On Sat, Dec 8, 2012 at 4:12 PM,  Adrian Tymes <atymes at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Sat, Dec 8, 2012 at 10:15 AM, Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com> wrote:
>> There is a limit on the low end because of the square/cube law.
>> Exactly where that is, I don't know.
>
> It would be useful for you to find this, because wherever that is,
> is likely the point you want to start to maximize your chance
> of implementing this.  It is much, much easier to start a $10M
> venture that grows into $1B if it is successful, than to start a
> venture that needs $1B right off the bat.

I doubt if my model that gives just short of $140 B is off by as much
as 50% in the high direction.  So the minimum is probably in the $70 B
range.  There is no way this can make any sort of profit with as
little as $10 M invested in the project, but on the other hand, it is
certain that small amounts of money will be spent to see if the very
rough model has any merit.  On the other hand, if governments decide
they have to so something to deal with climate change, this could be a
much more popular approach than the others that have been proposed.

Keith