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That same space company said that they'd do point to point commercial travel using rockets. As for significantly outperforming: Ask NASA, price per launch has g

That same space company said that they'd do point to point commercial travel using rockets. As for significantly outperforming: Ask NASA, price per launch has gone UP not DOWN. What's the point of reusability if it doesn't affect the bottom line in a positive way?

catigula 2y ago
NASA contracted two companies to perform space launches, Boeing and SpaceX. Due to massively inflating costs and a recent catastrophic failure, Boeing has a very uncertain future in the program. I hope this helps!
- lesuorac 2y ago
  I mean once Boeing is out of the picture SpaceX is just going to raise its rates. Tesla sells EVs much cheaper in China than the US due to actual competition.
  - catigula 2y ago
    That's Boeing's problem, not SpaceX's. Boeing used to be a great American company.
    - lesuorac 2y ago
      Well, SpaceX's price increases are going to also be a NASA problem and by extension US taxpayer.
CuriousCosmic 2y ago
Gonna need a source on that one. As much as I despise Elon Musk, the cost per kg to LEO has gone down a lot in recent years thanks to spacex.
arandomusername 2y ago
> The development of commercial launch systems has substantially reduced the cost of space launch. NASA’s space shuttle had a cost of about $1.5 billion to launch 27,500 kg to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), $54,500/kg. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 now advertises a cost of $62 million to launch 22,800 kg to LEO, $2,720/kg. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20200001093 https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20200001093 Why do you lie?
- travisporter 2y ago
  Even if true no need to attack a poster
- _yb2s 2y ago
  It is required to assume good faith in you HN replies… which imo makes it a nicer place to discuss things. People can be wrong about things or be referring to different information without intentionally lying.
  - kulahan 2y ago
    This is pretty egregious, but I agree that assuming noble intent is the way to maintain civil discussion. No need to call him a liar - just downvote.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
the_duke 2y ago
The price for austronaut launches to the ISS. I'd wager mainly because there is no competition, and there is no motivation for SpaceX to charge less. The cost for regular launches has gone down a lot. But, to be fair, it has not gone down nearly as far as it could. SpaceX still has big margins there. I assume because again there is too little competition, and because going from 60 to 25 Million doesn't increase the potential market by all that much, so no huge motivation to drop prices. Starship might allow them to go so much lower that entirely new markets can emerge, but I'm skeptical. It's a bit of a different story for rideshare missions, those do make it way, way cheaper to launch small satelites.
- arandomusername 2y ago
  > SpaceX still has big margins there Probably to fuel the R&D cost
skissane 2y ago
> That same space company said that they'd do point to point commercial travel using rockets. I think they still hope to achieve that in the future. It is just there are a lot of more critical milestones they need to hit first before they try to tackle that.
- pantalaimon 2y ago
  The Department of Defence is already very interested in that capability

catigula 2y ago

NASA contracted two companies to perform space launches, Boeing and SpaceX. Due to massively inflating costs and a recent catastrophic failure, Boeing has a very uncertain future in the program. I hope this helps!

lesuorac 2y ago
I mean once Boeing is out of the picture SpaceX is just going to raise its rates. Tesla sells EVs much cheaper in China than the US due to actual competition.
- catigula 2y ago
  That's Boeing's problem, not SpaceX's. Boeing used to be a great American company.
  - lesuorac 2y ago
    Well, SpaceX's price increases are going to also be a NASA problem and by extension US taxpayer.

CuriousCosmic 2y ago

Gonna need a source on that one. As much as I despise Elon Musk, the cost per kg to LEO has gone down a lot in recent years thanks to spacex.

arandomusername 2y ago

> The development of commercial launch systems has substantially reduced the cost of space launch. NASA’s space shuttle had a cost of about $1.5 billion to launch 27,500 kg to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), $54,500/kg. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 now advertises a cost of $62 million to launch 22,800 kg to LEO, $2,720/kg. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20200001093 https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20200001093 Why do you lie?

travisporter 2y ago
Even if true no need to attack a poster
_yb2s 2y ago
It is required to assume good faith in you HN replies… which imo makes it a nicer place to discuss things. People can be wrong about things or be referring to different information without intentionally lying.
- kulahan 2y ago
  This is pretty egregious, but I agree that assuming noble intent is the way to maintain civil discussion. No need to call him a liar - just downvote.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

the_duke 2y ago

The price for austronaut launches to the ISS. I'd wager mainly because there is no competition, and there is no motivation for SpaceX to charge less. The cost for regular launches has gone down a lot. But, to be fair, it has not gone down nearly as far as it could. SpaceX still has big margins there. I assume because again there is too little competition, and because going from 60 to 25 Million doesn't increase the potential market by all that much, so no huge motivation to drop prices. Starship might allow them to go so much lower that entirely new markets can emerge, but I'm skeptical. It's a bit of a different story for rideshare missions, those do make it way, way cheaper to launch small satelites.

arandomusername 2y ago
> SpaceX still has big margins there Probably to fuel the R&D cost

skissane 2y ago

> That same space company said that they'd do point to point commercial travel using rockets. I think they still hope to achieve that in the future. It is just there are a lot of more critical milestones they need to hit first before they try to tackle that.

pantalaimon 2y ago
The Department of Defence is already very interested in that capability