My guess is that the hurdle that this, and all other speculative projects here face, is our remoteness, far more than anything else.
I understand our, Hawaii's, favorable attributes, but imagine our isolation, which in some ways is to the benefit of the industry, in other ways presents insurmountable obstacles.
The history of astronomy here is in some ways the same. A lot of tech thrown at something a gazillion miles from the center of the technological developments, and into a seriously demanding environment. Thrown for an admirable cause that excuses the extra expense. But the telescopes are the end product, not something needing to be endlessly renewed. A successful launch facility would have a serious supply chain of materials that once in place we could manage. But initially? that investment would be substantially higher here than elsewhere.
And then there is talent. It's not like we have the trained manpower, or the infrastructure they need to do their thing, just laying around for a budding young enterprise to tap into. Nor do we have the university programs training future employees.. or the housing.. sheesh we might not even generate enough electricity.
In other words, our nearness to the equator may be worth gazillions, and the fact we have isolated lands ideally situated to take advantage of it makes the whole idea that much more enticing, but I suspect a railroad line, or at least a good highway, that's connected to the real world would be of far greater value.
And somehow.. in a convoluted way.. that excuses state its untenable regulatory practices. After all, if it wasn't for them we'd have far more failed attempts to overcome the extra burdens we bare for being the most remote place on Earth dotting our countryside.
I understand our, Hawaii's, favorable attributes, but imagine our isolation, which in some ways is to the benefit of the industry, in other ways presents insurmountable obstacles.
The history of astronomy here is in some ways the same. A lot of tech thrown at something a gazillion miles from the center of the technological developments, and into a seriously demanding environment. Thrown for an admirable cause that excuses the extra expense. But the telescopes are the end product, not something needing to be endlessly renewed. A successful launch facility would have a serious supply chain of materials that once in place we could manage. But initially? that investment would be substantially higher here than elsewhere.
And then there is talent. It's not like we have the trained manpower, or the infrastructure they need to do their thing, just laying around for a budding young enterprise to tap into. Nor do we have the university programs training future employees.. or the housing.. sheesh we might not even generate enough electricity.
In other words, our nearness to the equator may be worth gazillions, and the fact we have isolated lands ideally situated to take advantage of it makes the whole idea that much more enticing, but I suspect a railroad line, or at least a good highway, that's connected to the real world would be of far greater value.
And somehow.. in a convoluted way.. that excuses state its untenable regulatory practices. After all, if it wasn't for them we'd have far more failed attempts to overcome the extra burdens we bare for being the most remote place on Earth dotting our countryside.