3 ms·
Hard to tell in detail, but not as much. The primary cost factors are instrument development, ground segments, staff (over years, e.g. 5-10 years development p
by qayxc 6y ago
Hard to tell in detail, but not as much.
The primary cost factors are instrument development, ground segments, staff (over years, e.g. 5-10 years development plus ~5 years primary mission plus extensions), testing, and building (no economy of scale here).
The most counter-intuitive observations is that the cheaper your launch-costs, the higher the portion they represent w.r.t. total mission cost. A "cheap" (e.g. sub-50 million dollar) telescope for example would have launch costs come in at up to 50% of the total cost when launched on a medium-sized launcher or with a second payload.
It's a multivariable optimisation problem and the best solution depends on the variables that you want to optimise for.