On 11 Jan, 12:45, "John Rowland"
wrote:
It doesn't matter - no company, individual or government will pour money
into a project which will take 100 years to show a return. Just think how
many changes of government would occur in the meantime, any one of which
could cancel the project.

I don't think it would ever make a return. They cited 12 TRILLION
dollars to build. Assuming once its built it transports 10,000
passengers a day for a ticket price of $10,000 each , it'll require
10^12 / (10,000 * 10,000) = 120,000 days just to break even on
construction costs alone - thats 328 years! When you factor in
maintenance and running costs the figures would probably be laughable.
Of course that won't stop Terence Beardy-Bloke type engineers waxing
lyrical about how it could be just round the corner , along with the
space elevator and bases on Mars.
B2003