[ExI] Engineering

[Keith Henson]

On Wed, Dec 19, 2012 at 4:00 AM,  Adrian Tymes <atymes at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 11:58 AM, Keith Henson <hkeithhenson at gmail.com> wrote:
>> You forget that I have specifically disavowed raising money.  That's
>> beyond my skill set.

snip

>> OK, if the people who can raise the money say they have to demonstrate
>> things like power beaming before they can raise the money, fine.  They
>> can raise the money to do whatever they think is needed to raise the
>> rest of the money.
>
> Now you're asking the money-raising people to do engineering:
> for them to demonstrate beam tracking and so on.

No, all they have to do is raise the money.  Engineers can demonstrate
that microwave beams can be pointed the right direction.  If it takes
a $150 B dollar demonstration before you can raise money, there is no
point in raising money at all.

> You need to demonstrate beam tracking before your project can
> have the full budget raised for it.

Given communication satellites, I don't think so.  But let me ask, how
much of a demonstration do you think is needed?  Full scale, full
power?  Reduced scale, reduced power?  Exactly how much reduction?
Because at some point the demonstration costs as much as the full
operating project.

>>>> it's cheaper to set up the parts pipeline for hundreds of them
>>>> than it is to build just one.
>>>
>>> Actually, when you factor in the cost of capital acquisition
>>> on this scale, it might prove to be cheaper to build just one.
>>
>> Let's put numbers on it.
>
> Only if you include the cost of capital acquisition.

Much unmarked sniping above, what is "the cost of capital acquisition"
that you are talking about here?

>> There I agree with you.  One high powered CEO required.  What would
>> you think of David Petraeus in that role?
>
> Not a bad first thought, but insufficient experience in technical
> projects.

I think he would be fine for this project.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Petraeus#Education_and_academia
If you don't like him, who would you suggest?

> What would you think of Keith Henson in that role?  ;)
> Upgraded with more skills, perhaps - but skills can be learned.

Not a chance.  I never been MBA material and don't have the reputation
for leading large organizations.   At 70, I am not likely to live long
enough.

Keith