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== Tuesday May 5, 2015 700PM, Multnomah County Library == == Tuesday May 5, 2015 600pm to 800pm, Multnomah County Library ==
=== 801 SW 10th Avenue Portland, OR 97205 ===
=== US Bank Room, north end of entrance lobby ===
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Why isn't space growing? Every decade brings new disappointments followed by new claims. We were supposed to have L5 colonies in 1995, private spaceports, $100,000 suborbital trips. Why isn't space activity growing? Every decade brings new disappointments followed by new claims. We were supposed to have L5 colonies in 1995, private spaceports, $100,000 suborbital trips.  In 2013, the SpaceX Falcon Heavy was to launch "later this year".
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When Apollo went to the Moon, 8 trillion 2015 dollars had been spent worldwide developing usable rockets, and a Saturn V could put 120 tons in low earth orbit. Apollo cost $120 billion in 2015 dollars, and moonwalks cost a billion 2015 dollars per hour, per astronaut. There were 86 space launches in 1994, and 78 in 2013, with total 2010 global space revenues (including military) of 64 billion dollars. The world's largest launchers in 2014 were the 23 ton-to-LEO Russian Proton, and the similar US Delta IV. Great ideas, but Space is HARD. Costs increase, launch rockets do not. The venerable 23-ton-to-LEO Russian Proton (1965) and the US Delta (1960) are the largest, with less than 20% of the capacity of the Saturn V. Communication satellites are the main application, evolutions of the 1962 Telstar design, handwired boxes of trailing-edge electronics resembling 1960s aircraft. We launch about 300 tons to orbit per year.
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The semiconductor industry was small in the sixties, and Apollo consumed a significant fraction of global output before 1970. Global sales were 3.4 billion dollars in 1976, $295B in 2010, and $335B in 2014. The number of transistors per integrated circuit is increasing far faster, and total integrated circuit transistor production grows 70% per year, 200 times increase per decade. There are 1200 quintillion transistors in the world today (1.2E21), and Moore's Law growth shows no signs of stopping, in spite of decades of claims that the end was near. There are more transistors in my USB flash drive than existed worldwide during Apollo. Meanwhile, the global semiconductor industry grew from the first planar integrated circuit in 1960 to 335 billion dollars in 2014, five times the size of the space industry. Output is soaring - we've made 1 sextillion transistors (1E21), an amount increasing 70% a year, 200 times larger per decade. There are more transistors in a cheap USB flash drive than existed worldwide during Apollo.
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What if we bet our space future on transistors, not new rockets? What would space look like with 70% increased value per year? What if we bet our space future on new transistors, not new rockets? Server sky proposes to radically increase the value per kilogram of satellite launched to orbit. Coupled to fast growing global markets, this will rapidly expand launch rates, the only proven way to lower per-kilogram launch cost.
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MoreLater Server sky will deploy millions of 5 gram plate-sized "thinsats", aluminum foil satellites with 5 watts of solar cell on the front, and ultrathin silicon chips on the back, converting sunlight into computation and communication. 8000 thinsats deploy into stretched geodesic ellipsoids 100 meters across. Hundreds of arrays share a 6411 kilometer altitude equatorial orbit, and serve the developing world below. Thinsats are propelled and steered by light pressure, like a solar sail, and radiate heat into deep space. Arrays communicate to phased array antennas attached to cell towers below.

Since my last presentation to Oregon L5, we have built an international team, developed a business plan, and found new applications and opportunities, including the tracking, capture and reprocessing of most space debris. A 10 kilogram experimental deployment of thinsats, Hitchhiker, will test concepts and technologies, and earn the money to seek next-round investment. Our goal is to double deployment annually, provide gigabit internet to three billion underserved people, and transform their lives with education, employment, entrepreneurship, and investment opportunities.

Server Sky - Energy in Space, Information on Earth

Tuesday May 5, 2015 600pm to 800pm, Multnomah County Library

801 SW 10th Avenue Portland, OR 97205

US Bank Room, north end of entrance lobby

OrL5Abstract


Why isn't space activity growing? Every decade brings new disappointments followed by new claims. We were supposed to have L5 colonies in 1995, private spaceports, $100,000 suborbital trips. In 2013, the SpaceX Falcon Heavy was to launch "later this year".

Great ideas, but Space is HARD. Costs increase, launch rockets do not. The venerable 23-ton-to-LEO Russian Proton (1965) and the US Delta (1960) are the largest, with less than 20% of the capacity of the Saturn V. Communication satellites are the main application, evolutions of the 1962 Telstar design, handwired boxes of trailing-edge electronics resembling 1960s aircraft. We launch about 300 tons to orbit per year.

Meanwhile, the global semiconductor industry grew from the first planar integrated circuit in 1960 to 335 billion dollars in 2014, five times the size of the space industry. Output is soaring - we've made 1 sextillion transistors (1E21), an amount increasing 70% a year, 200 times larger per decade. There are more transistors in a cheap USB flash drive than existed worldwide during Apollo.

What if we bet our space future on new transistors, not new rockets? Server sky proposes to radically increase the value per kilogram of satellite launched to orbit. Coupled to fast growing global markets, this will rapidly expand launch rates, the only proven way to lower per-kilogram launch cost.

Server sky will deploy millions of 5 gram plate-sized "thinsats", aluminum foil satellites with 5 watts of solar cell on the front, and ultrathin silicon chips on the back, converting sunlight into computation and communication. 8000 thinsats deploy into stretched geodesic ellipsoids 100 meters across. Hundreds of arrays share a 6411 kilometer altitude equatorial orbit, and serve the developing world below. Thinsats are propelled and steered by light pressure, like a solar sail, and radiate heat into deep space. Arrays communicate to phased array antennas attached to cell towers below.

Since my last presentation to Oregon L5, we have built an international team, developed a business plan, and found new applications and opportunities, including the tracking, capture and reprocessing of most space debris. A 10 kilogram experimental deployment of thinsats, Hitchhiker, will test concepts and technologies, and earn the money to seek next-round investment. Our goal is to double deployment annually, provide gigabit internet to three billion underserved people, and transform their lives with education, employment, entrepreneurship, and investment opportunities.

OrL5Abstract (last edited 2015-05-03 17:02:08 by KeithLofstrom)