A first‐order economic analysis is performed for a revolutionary transport technology intended for hypersonic world travel — powered by laser energy beamed from satellite solar power stations, with relay mirrors in low Earth orbit. A fleet of 1‐person to 5‐person, ‘tractor‐beam’ lightcraft will enable direct port‐to‐port (no refueling) trips, half‐way around the globe in under an hour — riding suborbital boost‐glide trajectories through space. Estimates are presented of vehicle size, ridership, revenues, fleet size, capital, operating and maintenance costs, and expected profitability for a lightcraft‐based global transportation system called G‐SATS. On a net present value basis, over a 20‐year time span, G‐SATS should have a profit margin of over 20% — implying not only the ability to be profitable, but also a potential market penetrability that goes well beyond the conservative assumptions made in this analysis.


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    Title :

    Economic Analysis of a Laser‐Powered, Global Small Aerospacecraft Transportation System (G‐SATS)


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    BEAMED ENERGY PROPULSION: Third International Symposium on Beamed Energy Propulsion ; 2004 ; Troy, New York (USA)


    Published in:

    AIP Conference Proceedings ; 766 , 1 ; 103-116


    Publication date :

    2005-04-27


    Size :

    14 pages





    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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