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Cost to build Gerard K. O'Neill's "Island Three"



 
 
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  #1  
Old November 17th 10, 06:28 AM posted to sci.space.policy,rec.arts.sf.science
Joseph S. Powell, III
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Posts: 83
Default Cost to build Gerard K. O'Neill's "Island Three"


"Derek Lyons" wrote in message
...
Quadibloc wrote:

On Sep 26, 12:07 pm, Anne Onime wrote:

If built, one of these would provide more land than all of New York
City (roughly 314 square miles).

There's lots of information online about these things, but one key
thing is missing - the cost.

What would it cost to build one?


It would cost an absolutely insane amount of money to build directly,
with materials hauled up from Earth... which, of course, is exactly
why Gerard K. O'Neill did not advocate such a thing.


And it would also cost an absolutely insane amount of money to build
with non terrestrial materials too. In both cases, the cost comes not
from launch costs (which drop radically when the you consider the
large number required) from the absolutely insane infrastructure and
support costs.

D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.



No Government would be likely to ever support such a project.
What may be more viable would be a Space Industrialization Initiative by a
large company or group of companies, starting with (conservative) cislunar
development.
This may be contingent upon further advances in fusion technology, to the
point where it would indeed be worth it to mine the Helium 3 from the lunar
regolith.
While you're there, you could also mine the cometary ice and metals from the
moon; this could facilitate the construction of a small LaGrange point
facility.
At this stage of the game, it may not be too outlandish to speculate that we
may have the capacity for a fusion pulse drive (much like the B.I.S.
proposed Daedelus (sp?) project, utilizing inertial confinement of the
Hydrogen and Helium-3) that would supplant the majority of the chemical
rockets - this can further reduce costs and dramatically increase
performance.
At this point it may be considered potentially profitable to use the fusion
pulse drive to grab one of the near-Earth Asteroids, maneuver it to the La
Grange point facility, and begin the smelting (with solar mirrors) process
in a large, slow-moving centrifuge to seperate the elements.
Some would be used to expand the La Grange point facility, possibly to an
Island-1-type colony; much of it could be foamed (for boyancy) and fashioned
into large lifting bodies which would be tranported to Earth, enter the
atmosphere and "spalsh-land" in the Pacific, where they would float and be
towed by cargo ships to port, at which point they could be sliced-up and
delivered to other processing facilities for sale to prospective clients.


  #2  
Old November 18th 10, 06:49 PM posted to sci.space.policy,rec.arts.sf.science
[email protected]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 12
Default Cost to build Gerard K. O'Neill's "Island Three"

On Nov 16, 9:28*pm, "Joseph S. Powell, III" wrote:
"Derek Lyons" wrote in message

...









Quadibloc wrote:


On Sep 26, 12:07 pm, Anne Onime wrote:


If built, one of these would provide more land than all of New York
City (roughly 314 square miles).


There's lots of information online about these things, but one key
thing is missing - the cost.


What would it cost to build one?


It would cost an absolutely insane amount of money to build directly,
with materials hauled up from Earth... which, of course, is exactly
why Gerard K. O'Neill did not advocate such a thing.


And it would also cost an absolutely insane amount of money to build
with non terrestrial materials too. *In both cases, the cost comes not
from launch costs (which drop radically when the you consider the
large number required) from the absolutely insane infrastructure and
support costs.


D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.


No Government would be likely to ever support such a project.
What may be more viable would be a Space Industrialization Initiative by a
large company or group of companies, starting with (conservative) cislunar
development.
This may be contingent upon further advances in fusion technology, to the
point where it would indeed be worth it to mine the Helium 3 from the lunar
regolith.
While you're there, you could also mine the cometary ice and metals from the
moon; this could facilitate the construction of a small LaGrange point
facility.
At this stage of the game, it may not be too outlandish to speculate that we
may have the capacity for a fusion pulse drive (much like the B.I.S.
proposed Daedelus (sp?) project, utilizing inertial confinement of the
Hydrogen and Helium-3) that would supplant the majority of the chemical
rockets - this can further reduce costs and dramatically increase
performance.


Although the near aneutronic fusion of He-3 is a desirable means of
power production, it is much harder than D+T fusion -- which seems
unlikely to appear in any actual power plant much before the end of
the 21st Century. He-3 fusion is even farther out.

The He-3 would have some value as a breeding material for tritium in
addition to or instead of Li-6 though - it may make D+T fusion more
practical. I can imagine having a He-3 doped helium coolant for the
thermal blanket that breeds tritium.
 




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