It's a great idea, but there's a lot of stuff that needs to happen before this can be made to work. This guy's shading the truth, which is too bad.
And you claim to have as much or more knowledge than Bradley Edwards who has been researching the project for years. BTW, he won't need government funding as there are more than enough venture capitalists which is what Edwards is counting on. That said, venture capitalists don't waste money like governments though they do risk capital. For the vast majority they're not fool hardy, lacking due diligence. Least wise not since the dot com bubble burst.
Heck, I'm just a humble satellite guy who understands orbits and can do a bit of math....
It's pretty easy to tell that the guy's not telling the truth.