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MOM and MAVEN were just about simultaneous (arriving at Mars two days apart), but they weren't comparable. MOM's primary mission objectives were things like "na
by danielweber 10y ago
MOM and MAVEN were just about simultaneous (arriving at Mars two days apart), but they weren't comparable. MOM's primary mission objectives were things like "navigation." MAVEN would be NASA's 3rd orbiter at the time, to say nothing of the 4 or so previous orbiters, and so they weren't trying to just repeat earlier things.
Now, if you compare launch costs, you get a better feel for the differences. Those were about $43 million (MOM) to $187 million (MAVEN). But MAVEN was almost twice the mass.
SpaceX will give you a Falcon 9 Full Thrust launch, fixed price, for $62 million, which can launch something twice as big as MAVEN to Mars.
So SpaceX and India are price competitive on a kilogram-to-GTO basis.
- kchoudhu 10y agoThe difference being, of course, that the Falcon 9 Full Thrust hasn't actually left Earth orbit yet. Mark to market applies as much to space technology as it does to credit default swaps.
- jakub_h 10y agoFalcon already delivered DSCOVR to Sun-Earth L1, while PSLV only flew MOM to a highly elliptical Earth orbit and MOM had to use its own propulsion for TMI.
- lukealization 10y agoSun-Earth L1, while not in Earth's orbit, is still within the Earth's Sphere Of Influence as it has a negative Characteristic Energy value.
- greglindahl 10y agoCite?
- kchoudhu 10y agoI don't object to the respondent: it's true, SpaceX has broken out of earth orbit -- but that's still a far cry from deploying to Mars. My point stands: SpaceX needs to get to Mars once before we can start calling them serious interplanetary contenders.
- greglindahl 10y agoI'm not sure why it's important to debate whether or not a company is a "serious interplanetary contender", but I do think it's important to get the facts correct.
- swatkat 10y ago>> Falcon already delivered DSCOVR to Sun-Earth L1, while PSLV only flew MOM to a highly elliptical Earth orbit and MOM had to use its own propulsion for TMI. Wait till PSLV delivers Aditya-1[1][2] to L1. [1] http://www.isro.gov.in/aditya-l1-first-indian-mission-to-study-sun http://www.isro.gov.in/aditya-l1-first-indian-mission-to-stu... [2] http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/aditya-1.htm http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/aditya-1.htm
- lukealization 10y agoThe price you quote for a SpaceX launch covers the reusable portion of the payload only, not the full unlocked capability of the launch vehicle. That's an Apple's to Oranges comparison.