Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran
Fission reactors seem like an odd thing to power it with.
I'd assume such facilities would be hooked up to the planetary grid with large batteries/capacitors to handle the short term enormous power required.
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At current grid electricity prices, powering those 1TJ lasers is sufficiently expensive that it may justify having your own power planet. On the other hand, a well-managed fission-powered grid might produce electricity that's much cheaper than grid power is today. Maybe use the same math as I used above, but cut the reactor price in half? That means the facilities cost is 80% of what I originally assumed, or a little over $2000. Make the price per person or ton of cargo $2700 once fuel costs are taken into account.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl
There are political problems associated with having 1 TJ lasers with a range of 100,000 miles lying around and environmental problem associated with powering the laser and burning the plastic.
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Having 1TJ lasers lying around is indeed a big thing. Maybe the launch facilities would be government-controlled. The fission reactors are potentially a political problem, but given the way some countries today (like France) have embraced nuclear power, it seems like a possible future. And the discussions of laser lift propulsion seem to assume the plastic can be vaporized in a clean way, but maybe this is unrealistic—would be happy to have someone who knows more than I do weigh in.