From:
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/airlaunch-01a.html
> Vozdushny start (Air Start) can launch satellites of up to 3-4 tonnes...
> the Ruslan plane will be very reliable and very inexpensive. Launching
> one kilo of space material will cost from $2,000-2,500.
So lets see, if we can get the Asteroid Mining Bot down to about
5-10 kilos, I ought to be able to launch one. At 50-100 kilos
I'd need a group of close friends. Solar panels are now running
about 1.5-2.5 kg/m^2. So that would give you a power budget
range of 200-2000 W. Over a year, that gives you about 15 GJ.
How much material could we mine and separate with that amount
of power? (Assume you use a high energy laser to ionize the
material for separation in a mass spec type apparatus).
The service should become operational sometime in 2003.
Can we have the AMB built by then?
Robert
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