Monday, May 09, 2011

The costs for putting a rocket into space

Elon Musk may be the first of New Space to make serious money putting cargo into space.  As the price for putting objects into space continues to drop there will be new possibilities for business in space. 

He explains why the US Can Beat China as he details the costs of a standard Flacon 9 flight:

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The price of a standard flight on a Falcon 9 rocket is $54 million. We are the only launch company that publicly posts this information on our website (www.spacex.com). We have signed many legally binding contracts with both government and commercial customers for this price (or less). Because SpaceX is so vertically integrated, we know and can control the overwhelming majority of our costs. This is why I am so confident that our performance will increase and our prices will decline over time, as is the case with every other technology.
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I am looking forward to the day when the prices drop enough that I can afford to take a flight into space.  I am told the view is breath taking.

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