How much money does space company SpaceX save if it reuses a Falcon 9 booster? This week, CEO Elon Musk shared some details about the economy of rocket storage, and revealed why it makes sense in the long run.
SpaceX has gradually perfected the techniques that help land a Falcon 9 booster after missions, moving from landing two boosters in 2014 to landing 15 boosters in 2017. Designing a rocket to land means it’s less in space can carry because the remaining fuel is needed for the return trip. SpaceX must also spend money on renovations.
This week, NASASpaceflight reporter Michael Baylor laid out on Twitter that United Launch Alliance, another player in the new space race, claims that a company must reuse a rocket 10 times for the economy to make sense. SpaceX, listed Baylor, is up to six landings with a single booster.
In response, Musk wrote:
“Payload reduction due to booster reusability & fairing is <40% for F9 & recovery & refit is <10%, so you are roughly even with 2 flights, definitely ahead with 3."
The remarks shed some light on the finances behind the use of rockets, suggesting that the payload that can fly on a single rocket is reduced by less than 40 percent with a reusable configuration and that the cost of repair and refurbishment is less than 10 percent. percent of the initial production cost.
The concept makes sense on paper: If you can reuse a rocket, use your resources more efficiently. Musk has compared it to flying for single use.
But the actual costs have remained relatively obscure. In 2013, at the All Things Digital Conference in California, Musk claimed that the first-stage booster accounts for 75 percent of the total price tag, reported at the time to be around $ 60 million, SpaceNews reports. The SpaceX website shows the standard payment plan for a Falcon 9 launch at $ 62 million.
In 2018, ahead of a Falcon 9 Block 5 launch, Musk cut costs again. The boost phase, he stated, costs about 60 percent of the total cost, with the top stage 20 percent, the fairing 10 percent, and the final 10 percent associated with the launch itself. This, CNBC noted, would instead put the cost of a booster at around $ 37 million.
However, the final price tag may vary. CNBC reported in April that the U.S. Air Force launches cost $ 95 million because of the extra security involved. SpaceX Director of Integration for Automobiles Christopher Couluris said during a briefing this year that the reuse of rockets could bring prices down, adding that it “costs $ 28 million to launch it, that’s with everything.”
As for the marginal cost, the cost associated with producing just one additional rocket, Musk also recently shed some more light on the figures. In an interview with Aviation Week in May, Musk reported at best the marginal cost of a Falcon 9 at $ 15 million. He also mentioned the cost of repairing a booster at $ 1 million. This would be in line with Musk’s most recent claim that the cost of conversion is less than 10 percent of the booster cost.
Assuming Musk’s last claim is correct, the cost of re-using an impulse after three flights will increase. How many flights could SpaceX do with a single booster? Musk, in response, claimed that there may not have been a limit:
“I do not want to be cavalier, but there is no obvious limit. 100+ flights are possible. Some parts will need to be replaced or upgraded. All 9 Merlin clean up [Falcon 9 engine] turbines is difficult. Raptor [the engine for the upcoming Starship] is way easier in this regard, despite a much more complex engine. “
De Inverse analysis – SpaceX’s rocket reusability program is a long term investment, and it can be difficult to quantify the total savings due to the myriad of factors at play. Musk noted in March 2017 that the company has spent more than $ 1 billion on reusable launch technologies, which means that the company must also recoup the development costs of the giant program instead of directly passing on these savings to the consumer.
But SpaceX’s investment does not stop with the Falcon 9. The Starship, SpaceX’s in-development rocket produced in Texas, is designed to offer full reusability. As Musk noted, the ship’s Raptor engine is much easier to use. If it keeps its promise, it may raise the question of whether it is wise to fly a booster two or three times for the most part irrelevant.
