Lightcraft & launch costs

Brian Atkins (brian@posthuman.com)
Fri, 14 Aug 1998 10:52:14 -0400

I saw this on tv last night:

http://www-aero.meche.rpi.edu/Research/LaserPropulsion/index.html

They claim it will reduce launch costs for small satellites by "several orders of magnitude" within something like 5 years.

But I can't find any exact figures. Does anyone have an idea of about how many dollars/pound (or kg) we are talking about here, and will this thing really make it possible for the average joe (or company) to have their own satellites?

-- 
The future has arrived; it's just not evenly distributed.
                                                       -William Gibson
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