How much will it cost to launch a rocket?
Historically, satellite launches conducted by NASA’s prime contractor, the United Launch Alliance (ULA), cost taxpayers $ 400 million per launch. But ever since Elon Musk entered the space race with his wrestling space company SpaceX, he has been working to reduce costs by 75% – or more.
Already, the launches conducted by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy Rockets, valued at million 62 million and 90 90 million, respectively, have severely cut ULA prices. Musk’s challenge now is to push those costs forward. The more success it has with this, the harder it will be for a publicly traded space company Lockheed Martin And Boeing (Joint owners of ULA) to compete with SpaceX.
And last week the CEO of SpaceX told us how it is doing Plan to succeed.
Image Source: Getty Images.
Base case
According to a statement from SpaceX’s “Capabilities and Services”, a single Falcon 9 rocket, fully loaded with fuel and capable of carrying a lower orbit (22.8 metric tons), launches the largest payload, valued at 62 62 million. What ULA is used to charge is more than 75% discount.
How reusable rockets cost less …
That is the base price for launching a Falcon 9 rocket. But what is reusable? SpaceX argues that firing a rocket only once and igniting its two phases into the atmosphere is like flying a full load of passengers across the Atlantic – and then junk the plane upon arrival. To get back home, you have to buy a whole new plane.
From SpaceX’s point of view, it makes more sense to design rockets so that they can be reused.
Now, to reuse the rocket, you must take out the extra fuel, so that you have the fuel back. While carrying that extra fuel, Kasturi said, in comments related to Twitter, the Falcon 9 replaces the payload that can carry about 40%. And once the rocket has been recovered, it must be inspected and refurbished to prepare for re-launch – which will probably add 10% to the cost of building a new rocket.
As a result, Kasturi says that between the reduction in capacity (~ 40%) and the cost of recovery and renewal (~ 10%), the cost of reusing a rocket halves its efficiency compared to the rocket’s carrying capacity – and approximately doubles the cost per kilogram.
… and how little for re-utility to make sense
But it’s only at the first launch, the CEO says: “You’re almost the same, too [on cost] With 2 flights [and] Definitely ahead with 3. ”
Payload reduction due to reusability of booster and ferring is <40% for F9 and recovery recovery and urb installation is <10%, so you are also with about 2 flights, ahead with 3
– Elon Musk (elonmusk) August 19, 2020
So the third time is the charm. And here’s the thing: Last month, one of SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9s completed its sixth launch and landing.
Mathematically speaking, launching and landing a single Falcon six times should be about half as expensive as building, launching, but not landing six brand new rocketships, enabling SpaceX to cut its competition by at least half, and still be profitable itself. . Moreover, according to Musk, “there is no clear limit” to how often the Falcon 9 should be able to be reused. “100+ flights are possible” on a single rocket, although it covers the cost of replacing spaceX parts as soon as they are finished.
The cost of driving comes down further
And there may be scope for further improvement. SpaceX works to reuse more and more rocket parts, so costs can be drastically reduced. Consider, on a single million 62 million rocket launch:
- The first phase accounts for 60% of the total expenditure (.2 37.2 million).
- The second phase covers 20% ($ 12.4 million) of the total cost
- Fair costs are 10% (.2 6.2 million), and
- Expenses “associated with the launch” (infrastructure, launch. ૨ 5 million in fuel, $ 2.5 million more land, and other overhead costs) contribute the final 10% – .2.2.5 million.
The ultimate goal
Ultimately, Musk hopes to re-use every part of the rocket – below the “marginal cost for the Falcon 9 launch … 5 5 million or 6 6 million” – that is, only those costs “associated with the launch”. Approved, if you add costs Reconditioning Those parts for reuse, it probably adds another 10% (62 million). But even so, this might push the cost below ખર્ચ 12 million per launch for a fully reusable rocketship.
Mind you, all the numbers mentioned above are in flux. They seem to change a bit every time Musk pays attention to the question of its price structure. According to a recent column on Inverse.com, for example, Musk says the “best case” for a fully reusable rocketship would be ખર્ચ 15 million. But whether the final answer is 12 12 million or 15 15 million – or indeed, anything in that neighborhood – the end result is clear.
Not used to charge hundreds of millions of dollars for any busy rocket launch, it would match the price of SpaceX at a low price of millions. And that’s the most important thing to know about the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket: it’s easy to beat.
