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What's the breakdown of costs... my intuition is that the biggest number is from launch (especially fuel) but am I wrong?
by brentpenman 18y ago
What's the breakdown of costs... my intuition is that the biggest number is from launch (especially fuel) but am I wrong?
- mindviews 18y agoYes, the launch is the real cost driver for space economics. Launch costs alone are in the neighborhood of $10,000/kg for large American providers and somewhat less in other providers/countries. I believe no one has come close to the $1,000/kg mark yet. Because launch is so expensive, people then spend a lot more money making sure the payloads are ultra-reliable (launching a replacement is just too expensive). Because costs are so high, there isn't enough business to really get good economies of scale (yet...go SpaceX!) - so a lot of money goes into design and testing of new rockets that will only see 10-100 units built. As for launch itself, fuel is pretty cheap - turbopumps are expensive. It is the high-precision machining of parts that ends up costing you. If you can reuse the hardware, then you get savings for future launches and everyone is happy.
- gravitycop 18y agothe breakdown of costs... my intuition is that the biggest number is from launch (especially fuel) The fuel cost for any given launch is virtually zero. http://yarchive.net/space/rocket/fuels/fuel_costs.html http://yarchive.net/space/rocket/fuels/fuel_costs.html