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You make a good point. Falcon 9 pretty much launches at will; they go up almost monthly. In that case, it's just a matter of someone coughing up the $80M to sch

You make a good point. Falcon 9 pretty much launches at will; they go up almost monthly. In that case, it's just a matter of someone coughing up the $80M to schedule a launch. I imagine there is much more lead time necessary to build a Falcon 9 than there is to build an Electron. Dneppr could go up more frequently, since they have a stockpile of about 150 ICBMs to convert into launch vehicles, but for whatever reason, they don't go up more often. Maybe the $30M price tag? PSLV is much more about advancing the Indian space agency's interests than than pure commercialization, so that's why they don't go up more often. But your point still stands, if someone had the cash, they could commission anything to launch--though manufacturing lead time also plays an important part.

rplnt 12y ago
> they go up almost monthly Not even close really. Ten launches in four years, constant delays, ...
- syedkarim 12y ago
  You're right. What I meant to say is that their launch schedule for the next two years has a lot more regularity. Whether it actually plays out the way it's posted is a different story.
swatkat 12y ago
Yes, PSLV launches are not as prolific as Dnepr or Ariane. With current infra, I think ISRO can pull off 3 launches per year[1]. There were two launches this year, and a next one is planned in October for IRNSS-1D. PSLV is indeed available for dedicated commercial launches[2] :) I've heard a dedicated launch costs around $15M; so ridesharing much be cheaper. ISRO has two operational launch pads. One of the pads doubles up as Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), so a rocket that's going to be launched from this pad holds up the pad. The other pad has a separate VAB with rail track to transfer assembled rocket[4]. Another VAB is being planned as of now, so that should improve frequency of launches (parallel assembly of rockets). [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_Satellite_Launch_Vehicle#Launch_history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_Satellite_Launch_Vehicle#... [2] http://www.antrix.gov.in/pslv.html http://www.antrix.gov.in/pslv.html ; http://www.isro.org/publications/pdf/114%20missions%20Brochure.pdf http://www.isro.org/publications/pdf/114%20missions%20Brochu...

rplnt 12y ago

> they go up almost monthly Not even close really. Ten launches in four years, constant delays, ...

syedkarim 12y ago
You're right. What I meant to say is that their launch schedule for the next two years has a lot more regularity. Whether it actually plays out the way it's posted is a different story.

swatkat 12y ago

Yes, PSLV launches are not as prolific as Dnepr or Ariane. With current infra, I think ISRO can pull off 3 launches per year[1]. There were two launches this year, and a next one is planned in October for IRNSS-1D. PSLV is indeed available for dedicated commercial launches[2] :) I've heard a dedicated launch costs around $15M; so ridesharing much be cheaper. ISRO has two operational launch pads. One of the pads doubles up as Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), so a rocket that's going to be launched from this pad holds up the pad. The other pad has a separate VAB with rail track to transfer assembled rocket[4]. Another VAB is being planned as of now, so that should improve frequency of launches (parallel assembly of rockets). [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_Satellite_Launch_Vehicle#Launch_history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_Satellite_Launch_Vehicle#... [2] http://www.antrix.gov.in/pslv.html http://www.antrix.gov.in/pslv.html ; http://www.isro.org/publications/pdf/114%20missions%20Brochure.pdf http://www.isro.org/publications/pdf/114%20missions%20Brochu...