Senator Ford. Professor, is paradise all bad? [Laughter.] Dr. O'Neill. In the back of my mind, sir, I must admit that I expect if you put 10,000 hard working and highly motivated people in a situation where they have available unlimited energy and a great source of materials, they will very soon find a way to build themselves very attractive places. Senator Ford. I am looking for unlimited energy myself. What prospects do you see for the international cooperation on a venture such as you proposed? Dr. O'Neill. There has been a great deal of interest by individuals, some of them connected with governments other than our own, in this work. That is expressed in the form of some thousands of letters which I have already received, many of which come from overseas. I find that in the letters from other countries a theme which recurs again and again is, is this to be an American preserve or can we get a piece of the action ourselves? And I hope that, for many reasons, the answer will be that it would become an international program. Senator Ford. You said that you were going beyond the normal projection a while ago and injected interest into your figures. I don't believe I caught the total cost of your proposal. Do you have a ball park figure that you can give us for the total cost of your proposal? Dr. O'Neill. I think I would like to give a range. If we take the lift costs which are characteristic of the Shuttle era—these are roughly a factor of 10 higher lift costs than those which have been assumed, for example, by the gentleman from Boeing. Then we are talking about the range of $40 billion to $200 billion for an investment—that is to say, roughly 15 to 25 percent of the investment which the electric utility industry is planning to make during the next 25 years. Senator Ford. That is a pretty good range—$40 to $200 billion. Dr. O'Neill. Physicists like to give themselves lots of room. Senator Ford. And taxpayers want to know what they are going to pay, you know, and we need to make a judgment. And if it is that wide a range, $40 to $200 billion—it seems to me you could narrow it down just a little bit with all your expertise. Dr. O'Neill. I disclaim the expertise, sir, but I should say as far as the range is concerned----- Senator Ford. You are modest—go ahead. Dr. O'Neill. It depends a lot on the constraints that were given. I think that if I were able to do it my way, I would be able to come in at the low end of that figure. If we are forced to do it, carrying along a lot of extra programs, which may or may not be really necessary, then it could push up toward the upper end. Senator Ford. I think your offer is an attractive proposal and I think NASA should take a hard look at your idea, especially for the economic projections. You have described the electric pitcher that will hurl rocks from the Moon at thousands of miles per hour, but I am wondering what your catcher looks like on the other end? Dr. O'Neill. It depends a lot on the properties of the pitcher. If our numbers so far are correct, the circular error probability, in military terms, at which the lunar material would arrive would be only a few
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