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From: andrew@cadomin.UUCP (Andrew Folkins)
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: spinoffs
Message-ID: <644@cadomin.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 28-Nov-85 16:10:36 EST
Article-I.D.: cadomin.644
Posted: Thu Nov 28 16:10:36 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 29-Nov-85 10:48:49 EST
References: <8511251310.AA17146@s1-b.arpa>
Reply-To: andrew@cadomin.UUCP (Andrew Folkins)
Organization: U. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
Lines: 20
Summary: 

In article <8511251310.AA17146@s1-b.arpa> dietz@SLB-DOLL.CSNET (Paul Dietz) writes:
>> The big advance coming now is direct manufacture in space.
>
>I am skeptical.  There is not one product yet identified that is a good
>bet for large scale space manufacturing.  
 
Powersats.  How much is ten gigawatts of installed electrical capacity 
worth today?  Next question, how much would it cost to fuel comparable
coal, oil, or nuclear powered generators over a twenty-plus year lifetime?
I'll admit that these things may not be feasible to build today, but
in fifty years, Powersat Inc. is going to be high up in the Fortune 500.
 
O'Neill's figures in _The High Frontier_ gave **exponentially** growing
revenues once the program got going.  For an investment of $10 billion/year
for 20 years, revenue was $100 billion/year by year 25. The initial
investment included major space stations and lunar bases. Once 
the infrastructure is in place, the powersats themselves can be built
very cheaply - the energy (solar) and materials (lunar) are free.

Now, back to the real world . . .