3 ms·
No they're not? SpaceX launch prices are in the range of $60M, while Ariane 5 prices are around double to triple that. Ariane was competitive back when Falcon
by azernik 9y ago
No they're not? SpaceX launch prices are in the range of $60M, while Ariane 5 prices are around double to triple that.
Ariane was competitive back when Falcon 9 performance was lower, and splitting capacity 50/50 in an Ariane 5 rideshare gave you similar payload to orbit; these days, it's a very different story.
- kuschku 9y agoFalcon 9 launches are only around 60MM if the first stage can be recovered, which limits performance. A dual Ariane 5 launch provides the same performance for the same price. I agree that the reused prices are starting to significantly affect the market, but otherwise it's pretty much the same, for pretty much the same cost.
- azernik 9y agoFalcon 9 was already charging in that range for its early (lower-performance) versions before it got reusability working; customers have talked about the reusability discount being in the 30% range. $90-100M for 22T to orbit is still quite an advantage.
- nickik 9y agoDual deployment also increases your cost. It requires that you have two cosutmers who want to go to the same place at the same time. This often causes significant delayes and increases the planning effort of all the companies innvolved. Another problem is that this model does not work for many costumers because there simply is no other cosutmer who wants to go to the same place at the same time. Arianespace had many problems with this and in their new rocket they are moving away from that idea because of that. > Falcon 9 launches are only around 60MM if the first stage can be recovered I'm pretty sure that is false. I think all cosumters pay 60MM no matter what SpaceX does with the booster. Their early reusable rockets gave costumers a 10% discount from that 60MM but it seems that this is no longer the case.