Re: The Planetary Society should still look into it.
Only if it actually worked; & the total price range - assuming a Russian booster like Satan; which the Planetary Society can access but NASA chooses not to - would still be in the US$20-25m range minimum. I don't currently think that TPS - with whom i admit to having had some brawls in the past - should be expected to take one such an expensive (by its standards) throw of the dice on such a speculative long-term technology.
Robert