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> I just don't see how the fuel costs of getting things up to space winning out unless production is located up there. Starship's in theory targeting something
by ceejayoz 4mo ago
> I just don't see how the fuel costs of getting things up to space winning out unless production is located up there.
Starship's in theory targeting something like a million bucks in fuel for a launch. For a military that spends more than that on individual missiles, that's peanuts.
- tsimionescu 4mo agoStarship is also in theory targetting to reach Mars in 2022.
- ceejayoz 4mo agoThere's an unavoidable physical cap here. It's fueled with methane and oxygen, and its size is known. It can't be, say, $50m/flight in fuel for the same reason a 747's flight can't be; there's not enough space for that much fuel.
- tsimionescu 3mo agoSure, but that's true of Saturn V as well, and of Falcon 9, and Soyuz and any other rocket you want. That didn't make space deployment a viable military strategy so far, and I think we should be skeptical of any such claim about Starship. Also, fuel is just part of the cost of a rocket.
- ceejayoz 3mo ago> Also, fuel is just part of the cost of a rocket. Sure. But if you blew up a 747 at the end of every trip, it'd be a small part of the total cost, not a major part. Starship's reusability makes it very clearly not like the other examples you cite, yeah? There are lots of scenarios where the US government would pay, say, $10M to deliver a payload somewhere fast, but not $250M.
- dredmorbius 3mo agoCo-development of the SpaceX Tardis makes deadlines irrelevant.