if this is true ($100K to launch) I'd help defray some of this cost just as a mechanism to distribute/manage my own keys. but i suspect the satellite itself is pretty expensive. when I looked into this a few years back the annual management of a satellite was about $250K. I assume it's less expensive now? also key management can be handled from the ground pretty well. i wouldn't use the satellite as the source of the key, i'd use it as a kind of reflector instead. instead of launching a dedicated satellite why not rent time on several existing satellites and use them as reflectors? it's a lot less expensive and key management can be handled from the ground. phillip -----Original Message----- From: owner-cypherpunks@Algebra.COM [mailto:owner-cypherpunks@Algebra.COM]On Behalf Of Jim Choate Sent: Tuesday, February 20, 2001 5:46 PM To: cypherpunks@einstein.ssz.com Subject: Re: The Key Vanishes: Scientist Outlines Unbreakable Code On Tue, 20 Feb 2001, Ray Dillinger wrote:
The rest of your post, I agree with.
First, your orbital random number server can only be put there by someone with enough bucks to launch a rocket -- whom you have to trust implicitly. None of the twenty or thirty people whom I trust implicitly has that much money. Heck, I don't even think I personally *know* anyone who has that much money.
Look into experimental rocketry and 'can satellites' (there's a link on /. about the later). The cost to put a bird in space is probably around $100k right now. ____________________________________________________________________ Before a larger group can see the virtue of an idea, a smaller group must first understand it. "Stranger Suns" George Zebrowski The Armadillo Group ,::////;::-. James Choate Austin, Tx /:'///// ``::>/|/ ravage@ssz.com www.ssz.com .', |||| `/( e\ 512-451-7087 -====~~mm-'`-```-mm --'- --------------------------------------------------------------------