Coal is Toxic - need SPS

"Alex Terrell" wrote in message
om...
"Mike Combs" wrote in message
...

I've got a report at home which I got from SSI that said 99% of the mass
of
a SPS could be derived from lunar materials, assuming a design optimized
for
this.

Out of interest, does the report say what the 1% is? How long before
it could be manufactured in space?

I think that report would be in a cardboard box buried in the garage
somewhere. Can't think of specifics off the top of my head, but it would be
the last few bits involving rare elements or advanced manufacturing
techniques. Probably stuff that we won't see coming out of space-based
factories for quite some number of years. But I'd say getting it down to 1%
is a pretty good accomplishment.

Also, where does the report propose building the SSPS? at L4/L5 or in
GEO?

In a High Earth Orbit about half-way to lunar orbit. Then completed
satellites would be sent down to GEO.

--


Regards,
Mike Combs
----------------------------------------------------------------------
We should ask, critically and with appeal to the numbers, whether the
best site for a growing advancing industrial society is Earth, the
Moon, Mars, some other planet, or somewhere else entirely.
Surprisingly, the answer will be inescapable - the best site is
"somewhere else entirely."

Gerard O'Neill - "The High Frontier"