Hi Scott, it is very difficult to pin point timings and cost for a project of this scale. While the materials and technology exist to build it, the logistics of manfucature and operation are all unproven. Making it near impossible to estimate the cost and timings accurately.

I used to work as an engineer, and all large concept ideas have this issue.

In this article I am talking about a hypethetical technology that could in theory be a lot more efficient than our current rockets. Unless someone starts building protoypes I can't answer your questions because I have no data to go off.

This article was mearly to show people that this is an alternative to our rockets that could make space travel even cheaper.

If you read some of my other articles you will see that I regularly site papers and figures where possible. But I apreciate your advice