> So, essentially, we need to do a return on risk analysis. Since if we
> were to stop the program right now, replace the RTGs with solar
> generators (which would quadruple the mass of the probe, due to the high
> quantity of solar cells needed to handle the low solar flux levels in
> Saturn orbit), we can easily expect the cost of the project to be ten
> times what it is now. Rather than a $250 million project, we can expect
> a cost of at least $2.5 billion. This will either a) annoy the AARP so
> much that they lobby congress to cancel the project, b) annoy space
> scientists so much that they push to kill the ongoing Mission to Planet
> Earth to get back at environmentalists. Figuring now that the risk of 1
> in a million odds to kill between 100-500 people to now be worth $2
> billion + means that we are valuing the average human life at between $4
> to 20 trillion. Is this correct?
I usually price them by the amount of good meat I can get off the bone.
--Wax