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From: menageri@mit-eddie.UUCP (The Menagerie)
Newsgroups: net.space,net.columbia
Subject: Re: Sixty Cents a Pound?
Message-ID: <3113@mit-eddie.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 12-Nov-84 21:25:26 EST
Article-I.D.: mit-eddi.3113
Posted: Mon Nov 12 21:25:26 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 13-Nov-84 07:23:37 EST
References: <1062@inuxc.UUCP>
Reply-To: menageri@mit-eddie.UUCP (The Menagerie)
Organization: MIT, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 22

In article <1062@inuxc.UUCP> fred@inuxc.UUCP (Fred Mendenhall) writes:
>
>	I heard the end of a segment on NPR this morning where 
>someone was making the following claim:
>
>	It costs about  $1000.00 to accelerate a pound of material
>	to escape velocity today. However if we were to switch to
>	electromagnetic launchers (mass drivers?) the cost of 
>	electricity required to accelerate a pound of material to
>	escape velocity would be $0.65.
>	
>	I have no idea who was talking, but the economics, if they are
>even close to being right , are interesting. Do these numbers sound
>reasonable to the space wizards on the net or are they science fiction.
>What are the problems with electromagnet launches, i.e. payloads must
>be designed to withstand 3000000G and must be launched in a restricted
>direction, etc.etc.?
>
>					
>					Fred Mendenhall
>					
>