Re: Is Crew Launch Vehicle Too Big?


Jake McGuire wrote:
> Ed Kyle wrote:
> >
> > The cost difference would have little to do with the
> > CEV propellant loading. It would have very much to
> > do with the scale of the overall launch vehicle -
> > and the launch vehicle difference could be as much as
> > 250 tonnes of propellant and tankage and extra
> > propulsion to move the mass, etc..
>
> The $200M mission cost difference was above and beyond the $100M launch
> cost difference, based on a "launch costs are typically only one third
> of mission costs" rule of thumb. Since the only mission difference was
> going to be empty CEV propellant tanks, I was asking where that $200M
> would go.

You can't decouple the spacecraft from the launch vehicle
from the mission costs. Spacecraft mass affects launch
vehicle scale, which affects the complexity of production,
test, assembly, and processing. Vehicle scale affects
ground infrastructure in the same way. Scale affects
man hours. Man hours equals time. Time equals money,
except at NASA where time equals 2-3 times as much money
because of the redundant layering of engineering, quality
control, and safety.

Given that China's 8 tonne Shenzhou 6 mission cost
$111 million total, NASA shouldn't have to pay out
$900 million for a CEV mission.

These days, people are trading in cash-devouring SUVs for
mid-size sedans. NASA should consider doing the same.

- Ed Kyle

.

Relevant Pages

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