Re: beanstalks (was Re: Metallic hydrogen ...)

From: James Nicoll (jdnicoll_at_panix.com)
Date: 06/10/04 

Date: 9 Jun 2004 22:39:08 -0400

In article <Hz2DwM.22x@spsystems.net>,
Henry Spencer <henry@spsystems.net> wrote:
>
>There is no theoretical reason why rockets cannot get stuff into orbit for
>$5-10/kg. The only fundamental limit is that you need $3-4 worth of LOX
>plus a cheap hydrocarbon (kerosene, propane, whatever) to get a kilogram
>of dry mass into orbit, and some of the dry mass will be hardware rather
>than payload, and there will be some overhead for wear and tear on the
>hardware.
>
        I was looking at Ultimate Rockets (Rockets so advanced that
the main cost is fuel) last year. As far as I could tell, LOX is
cheap ($0.10/kg) and H is expensive ($3.60/kg). In a lot of the
systems the H2 was -the- cost-defining expendible material used.

        For some reason I never got around to pricing standard fuels
like kerosene.
        
        In any case, I don't think you will use up $3-4 worth of LOX
per kg of dry mass. Maybe of payload... 

-- 
"The keywords for tonight are Caution and Flammability."
							JFK, _Bubba Ho Tep_

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