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Not much, because SpaceX is currently the cheapest launch provider in its category (except perhaps the Russians). And their capacity is maxed out. If anything t
by srssays 10y ago
Not much, because SpaceX is currently the cheapest launch provider in its category (except perhaps the Russians). And their capacity is maxed out. If anything they should put the price up.
- curtis 10y ago> And their capacity is maxed out. Re-usable rockets should increase their capacity...
- blackguardx 10y agoIs their capacity limited by rocket construction or pad operations?
- jessriedel 10y agoIt's a bit a both right now, but I think the constraints from launch sites become much more relaxed in a couple of years when Boca Chica opens up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_South_Texas_Launch_Site https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX_South_Texas_Launch_Site
- artursapek 10y agoIs there a reason launch pads tend to be on a shore?
- zaphoyd 10y agoRockets generally want to fly over unpopulated areas to avoid raining debris on people should they explode. They get a boost as well when flying east due to the earths rotation. As a result, launch pads are located in areas where the rocket will be able to fly east over an ocean or unpopulated area.
- WalterBright 10y ago> a boost as well when flying east due to the earths rotation This will slow the earth's rotation slightly. Future generations will rue our profligate wastage of earth's angular momentum.
- bashinator 10y agoIf that's a problem, then I'll be a happy ancestor
- dotancohen 10y agoIf the hardware comes back down then it's returning the angular momentum on burn-up or landing. Only interplanetary hardware is robbing posterity of angular momentum.
- snowwrestler 10y agoStop Global Slowing!
- TeMPOraL 10y agoOr at least #SlowGlobalSlowing!
- AstralStorm 10y agoWe can always launch more rockets the other way.
- schoen 10y agoMy understanding is to make it less likely to hit populated areas in case of a launch failure: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Range_safety https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Range_safety https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelsat_708 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelsat_708 There's an energy benefit for some launches at lower latitudes, but that's separate from being near an ocean: https://www.quora.com/Why-do-most-launches-to-orbit-take-place-at-low-latitudes https://www.quora.com/Why-do-most-launches-to-orbit-take-pla...
- benzofuran 10y agotypically it's for if things go poorly - a lot less mess to clean up if it's on the bottom of the sea
- nickik 10y agoCurrently pad operations. Soon, building of second stages.
- zzalpha 10y agoI don't think that's the question. You're speaking of what they charge. I'm curious (and fwiw I'm not the OP, so I have no idea if they were asking this... :) what it costs. Put another way, I wonder what this does to their margins?
- agildehaus 10y agoAnother thing to think about is SpaceX's customers don't buy the rockets, they buy the launch. So every first stage a customer pays SpaceX to build, once it completes it main mission, is now a stage SpaceX can use for their own purpose ... like building a LEO constellation of 11,943 satellites.
- AstralStorm 10y agoWhy would you want that much trash in LEO?
- justinjlynn 10y agoBecause it doesn't have to stay there.
- Kubuxu 10y agoLEO in most cases decay by themselves as for small amounts of air still being present. This means that LEO trash will burn in the atmosphere sooner or later.
- gnode 10y agoTrash in LEO goes away; trash in GEO doesn't. The LEO satellite constellation replaces (with much lower latency, and greater locality) a bunch of GEO satellites.
- Tuna-Fish 10y agoDepends on how many times they can re-use a core. The upper limit comes from the fact that they are currently only reusing the first stage, and that the first stage core is ~75% of the cost of a launch. So, if they can use a core n times, they get a % discount: 2 38% 3 50% 4 56% 5 60% 10 68% They are planning on additional future reuse, the next portion is probably recovering the fairings.
- Diederich 10y agoYes. One of Elon Musk's core goals is to make humanity a multi-planetary species. To do that, he needs to make a lot of money. At this point, the other commercial orbital lift companies are basically cooked, it's a matter of time. Blue Origin could be an interesting player, but who knows. The question is this: can he drive even more demand by lowering the price somewhat? That's an interesting question, and one I'm sure being discussed at SpaceX.
- ams6110 10y agoChina is reportedly poised to challenge SpaceX in the next decade or two.
- GauntletWizard 10y agoAll the more reason Musk should be printing money with his launch-price advantage now.
- valuearb 10y ago"poised" and "a decade or so" aren't very congruent.
- wayn3 10y agoElon Musk wants to be on mars in "a decade or two".