3 ms·

Free in the sense of astronomical capital and operational costs.

• dilyevsky 1y ago
  r&d sure, not sure about ops as you can probably just detach a faulty module and launch a replacement.
  • richardwhiuk 1y ago
    Relaunching is effectively operational cost.
  • SahAssar 1y ago
    Stationkeeping is not free, satellite monitoring is not free, and any replacement to any component is now a multi-year, at least 1+ million dollar affair (or most likely a complete replacement, since not many satellites have done in-situ repairs).
  • GTP 1y ago
    Not an expert in this area, but I think that that "just" is hiding a lot of complexity. Plus you also need some remotely operated robots to mount the replacement.