Re: Could Falcon 9 compete with the Stick?

lou@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Ed Kyle wrote:
>
> > Please then, Rand, explain to me how the inventors
> > and investors from the same land that created and
> > made billions off of the [PC, uP, ...],
> > the Sport Utility Vehicle,
> > the Big Mac, etc and etc, could not after almost 50 years have
> > figured out how to launch stuff into low earth orbit
> > for Less Than the Going Rate.
> >
> > What I want to know why no one *has* done it in all
> > this time - the same time span during which all of
> > the above ideas *have* been exploited.
> >
>
> The SUV as mentioned above is an interesting case. There is an SUV,
> built to government specs, and sold to the government. It's called a
> Hummer, and has a list price of about $115K. According to AutoByTel,
> "The 2004 HUMMER H1 is a 4-door, 4-passenger sport-utility, available
> in two trims, the Open Top 4 Door and the Wagon 4 Door. The 2004 HUMMER
> H1's competitors include the Chevrolet Tahoe, the Infiniti QX56, and
> the Volkswagen Touareg." The Chevy Tahoe has a list price of about
> $35K, the Toureg about $37K, and the QX56 about $50K.

Unlike the HMMVW, the H1 cannot ford 60 inch deep
water. It also lacks a 24 volt electrical system,
ballistic protection, a turret with a machine gun
mount, an M16 rifle mount, a black out lighting
mode, a chemical agent resistant coating, etc.

- Ed KYle

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