I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your conclusions here, but I'd like to discuss this a little more if that's ok with you. > It's too expensive to get enoug

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with your conclusions here, but I'd like to discuss this a little more if that's ok with you. > It's too expensive to get enough payload in space Full disclosure: I'm a pretty big SpaceX fan. At first glance, SpaceX is currently charging about $1000USD/kg to LEO. It's widely believed that SpaceX's internal cost is a fairly small fraction of that; let's assume it's $500USD/kg to LEO. The Big One will be Starship + Superheavy, assuming it flies. That stack will be entirely reusable, so its base cost (ignoring build amortization of the build) will be fuel + operational expenses. Musk said that he hopes that Starship + Superheavy will be able to deliver 120 metric tons to low earth orbit for 4x the price of a 747 flight, or about $2 million USD, which yields a cost of less than $20USD/kg to LEO. A lot of speculation there, and $20/kg is still a lot more expensive than mirrors on the ground...maybe. How much more effective would mirrors be stationed at Lagrange Point 1? I suspect your overall conclusion is correct though.