3 ms·

Building a satellite constellation with 42,000 satellites comes to mind.

• mrtksn 6y ago
  Is this possible due to the rocket re-use? Do you have the numbers? I want to understand the economics of this. I know the talking points but I’m septic because nobody seems to know the specifics.
  • wongarsu 6y ago
    Since the satellites are mass produced each one is comparatively cheap. That means losing them is an option and SpaceX can launch them using parts that no other customer would want (first stage boosters that have been flown 4 or more times already). Their main costs are the second stage ($20 million), payload adapter and fairings (which are simpler than the normal $10 million version), fuel ($300k) and ground support etc ($1M?). That puts you in the range of $30 million. A regular launch would cost twice that, and any competitor easily twice of that again. So it's a 4x launch cost reduction, and a lot of the remaining cost can be written off as R&D as it's exploring the failure points of reused boosters, eventually allowing them to put regular customers on more heavily used boosters with confidence.