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> about the same price as competitors Um, no? The competitors have had to drop their prices very substantially in recent years, due to competition from SpaceX.
by nkoren 9y ago
> about the same price as competitors
Um, no? The competitors have had to drop their prices very substantially in recent years, due to competition from SpaceX. Yet they're still somewhere between 50%-300% more expensive. That's far from "about the same price".
- kuschku 9y agoI suggest taking a look at launch prices for a single satellite in an Ariane 5 dual launch, which is cheaper than any non-reused launches SpaceX offers.
- nkoren 9y agoA whole Ariane5 launch costs between $165M and $220M. Divide that by two satellites and it's still more expensive, per satellite, than a Falcon 9 (at $63M) -- and the satellites can't be nearly as heavy. There are instances of the lower berth being sold for as little as $60M, but that is for fairly modest satellites (relative to what an F9 can carry), and is only possible because it's being heavily subsidized by the upper berth. There's no comparison.