From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Sun Aug 12 2001 - 09:30:32 MDT
Spike Jones wrote:
>
> "Robert J. Bradbury" wrote:
>
> > You *could* start work on it *today* using computer aided design
> > of such a probe. Once designed, something that small doesn't
> > cost much to manufacture and I'm sure you could get one of
> > the public space societies to launch it. It isn't a small
> > undertaking though. You would need a core group of good
> > engineers that really wanted to work on it. Spike or Doug
> > might be able to comment on how many are needed but I'd
> > guess perhaps 50-100 people.
>
> Sounds like a reasonable estimate for a small payload, depending
> on how fast you wanted to get it done. I would need more detail
> on what you wanted to design and a time frame to make anything
> better than an order of magnitude-ish estimate.
I'd love to work on such a project. I've been designing a small probe
for a while, the largest part being two inflatable mirrors that focus
solar flux on two small disks of GaAs/GaAnt solar cells, which primarily
powers the plasma engine and the flywheel maneuvering thrusters.
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