Its certainly true that the final curtain will be expensive. 

But we start with simulations, water tank tests, small scale field deployments and work up.

We have budgets for 100 k, 1 and 2 million that cover modelling regional ocean scale impacts, governance and finance issues and the fluid dynamics of water – curtain interactions. 

We are looking for funding and have some interest from universities and engineering firms plus some philanthropic sources. We certainly need more.

We have made elementary models of the static and dynamic forces involved, these are based on actual field data on water salinity, temperature – depth profiles in the Amundsen Sea and current speeds plus real-world mechanical properties of curtain materials – No exotic forces are expected nor materials needed. It’s certainly do-able from materials engineering perspectives. Vibrationary modes are likely a serious concern especially during construction, but those issues are why engineers are involved.

We have a detailed but highly preliminary budget of the full scale 80 km deployment, but that would be a decade down the line from here.