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Falcon 9 payload is way more than that of Ariane 6. Ariane 62 (smaller variant, the one which costs 75M) has an LEO delivery capacity of ~10,000kg. Falcon 9 has
by AdamJacobMuller 3y ago
Falcon 9 payload is way more than that of Ariane 6. Ariane 62 (smaller variant, the one which costs 75M) has an LEO delivery capacity of ~10,000kg. Falcon 9 has a fully expended capacity of ~23,000kg and a reusable capacity of ~19,000 kg.
Cost per kg on Ariane is unfortunately going to be more than double Falcon 9.
- manquer 3y agoShouldn't we be comparing Ariane 6 with Starship not falcon 9? Starship is in similar stage of development and by the time A6 comes online it will compete with Starship not falcon .
- AdamJacobMuller 3y agoThat's difficult since I don't think anyone at SpaceX has talked about Starship launch costs and it's even more difficult because the comparison will be even worse for Ariane.
- solarkraft 3y agoWell, Elon has been making crazy claims, of course. "Orders of magnitude" and so on.
- AdamJacobMuller 3y agoFor Falcon 9, the costs and payloads aren't just claims. You can go to SpaceX today and buy a flight. For Starship, it's an in-development rocket with a focus on novel technology as well as cost engineering. Orders of magnitude cheaper is a great goal but it's impossible to know if or when SpaceX can achieve it.