Lifeboat Foundation News Blog: Orbital Sciences Corp

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Oct 14, 2012

The Kline Directive: Economic Viability

Posted by Benjamin T. Solomon in categories: business, complex systems, defense, economics, education, engineering, finance, military, nuclear weapons, philosophy, physics, policy, scientific freedom, space, sustainability

To achieve interstellar travel, the Kline Directive instructs us to be bold, to explore what others have not, to seek what others will not, to change what others dare not. To extend the boundaries of our knowledge, to advocate new methods, techniques and research, to sponsor change not status quo, on 5 fronts:

1. Legal Standing. 2. Safety Awareness. 3. Economic Viability. 4. Theoretical-Empirical Relationship. 5. Technological Feasibility.

In this post I will explore Economic Viability. I have proposed the Interstellar Challenge Matrix (ICM) to guide us through the issues so that we can arrive at interstellar travel sooner, rather than later. Let us review the costs estimates of the various star drives just to reach the velocity of 0.1c, as detailed in previous blog posts:

Interstellar Challenge Matrix (Partial Matrix)

*Propulsion Mechanism*	*Legal?*	*Costs Estimates*
Conventional Fuel Rockets:	Yes	Greater than US$1.19E+14
Antimatter Propulsion:	Do Not Know.	Between US$1.25E+20 and US$6.25E+21
Atomic Bomb Pulse Detonation:	*Illegal.* This technology was illegal as of *1963* per Partial Test Ban Treaty	Between $2.6E12 and $25.6E12 . These are Project Orion original costs converted back to 2012 dollar. Requires anywhere between 300,000 and 30,000,000 bombs!!
Time Travel:	Do Not Know.	Requires Exotic Matter, therefore greater than antimatter propulsion costs of US$1.25E+20
Quantum Foam Based Propulsion:	Do Not Know.	Requires Exotic Matter, therefore greater than antimatter propulsion costs of US$1.25E+20
Small Black Hole Propulsion:	Most Probably Illegal in the Future	Using CERN to estimate. At least US$9E+9 per annual budget. CERN was founded 58 years ago in 1954. Therefore a guestimate of the total expenditure required to reach its current technological standing is US$1.4E11.

Note Atomic Bomb numbers were updated on 10/18/2012 after Robert Steinhaus commented that costs estimates “are excessively high and unrealistic”. I researched the topic and found Project Orion details the costs, of $2.6E12 to $25.6E12, which are worse than my estimates.

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Tags: Accountants, Ad Astra Rocket Company, Alone in the Void, Antimatter Drive, Antimatter Propulsion, Atomic Bomb, Atomic Bomb Pulse Detonation, CERN, CFO, Conventional Rockets, DARPA, Everly Brothers, Feasibility Matrix for Interstellar Travel, FMIT, Gallium Arsenide, high electron mobility, ICM, Interstellar Challenge Matrix, interstellar exploration, interstellar propulsion, Interstellar Travel, MIT, Orbital Sciences Corp, Planetary Resources, Prof Frank Adams, Pulse Detonation, Quantum Foam, Robert Steinhaus, SBH Propulsion, silicon wafers, Small Black Hole Propulsion, Small Black Holes, SpaceX, The Kline Directive, Theory of Everything, Time Travel, TOE, Virgin Galactic

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Oct 9, 2012

The Kline Directive: Introduction

Posted by Benjamin T. Solomon in categories: business, complex systems, defense, economics, engineering, ethics, finance, philosophy, physics, policy, space

Science and engineering are hard to do. If it wasn’t we would have a space bridge from here to the Moon by now. If you don’t have the real world practical experience doing either science or engineering you won’t understand this, or the effort and resources companies like Boeing, Lockheed, SpaceX, Orbital Sciences Corp, Scaled Composites, Virgin Galactic, and the Ad Astra Rocket Company have put into their innovations and products to get to where they are, today.

If we are to achieve interstellar travel, we have to be bold.
We have to explore what others have not.
We have to seek what others will not.
We have to change what others dare not.

The dictionary definition of a directive is, an instruction or order, tending to direct or directing, and indicating direction.

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, US Department of Defense 2005, provides three similar meanings,

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Tags: Ad Astra Rocket Company, Boeing, Economic Viability, Legal Standing, Lockheed, Mathematics: The Loss of Certainty, Morris Kline, Orbital Sciences Corp, Safety Awareness, Scaled Composites, SpaceX, Technological Feasibility, The Kline Directive, Theoretical-Empirical Relationship, Virgin Galactic