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Hopefully someone can support/refute this: my off the cuff guess why this happened is because the discount on the launch price is about equal to the cost of bu
by johnm1019 10y ago
Hopefully someone can support/refute this: my off the cuff guess why this happened is because the discount on the launch price is about equal to the cost of building the satellite. So if it works, everyone is happy. If it explodes, they can build another one and aren't out any money (but are out time), and the launch costs for the next one are covered by SpaceX or insurance - however they have it set up.
- gliptic 10y agoPayloads are insured and the insurance cost in this case is reportedly more or less the same as on a new rocket. That makes it a no-brainer.
- weaksauce 10y agoAre the opportunity costs of not having the satellite up there for the duration of however long it takes to build and launch a replacement insured as well?
- Symmetry 10y agoMy sense is that satellites range in price from $100 million or so for the sort of standard commsat that it's going to be launching this time to $10 billion for custom government spysats or top tier research satellites. But the really expensive ones usually go up on something like the Atlas V which is now at ~100 launches without a failure.