Re: For David Brin and the rest of you

On Sep 6, 2013, at 12:37 PM, ALBERTO VIEIRA FERREIRA MONTEIRO chided:

> Dan Minette thread-killed:
>> 
>> I don't expect to see it, ever.

I can see Alberto taking issue with this statement, except that it's just Dan
stating his expectation. Are we to judge what Dan expects?

>> But, that demo is an example of the very
>> easy baby steps that would have to be taken very early in the project.  The
>> fact that we don't have a demo of baby steps is a very good indicator of
>> where the project is.
>> 
> This is not fair-play! :-)

It's totally fair play: With all due respect to Keith, his answer to Dan's
question implied that if Dan wanted to see the thing demonstrated, he'd better
be ready to pony up the $4M.

But regardless of how completely world-changing it may be to beam energy from
geosynchronous orbit some day, there will definitely need to be numerous,
costly "baby steps" demos.

Does anyone think that SpaceX and Virgin Galactic and XCOR and the like
bypassed testing and just built ships and launched 'em?

Dave