Re: Delta 4 Costs

Ed Kyle wrote:
Boeing was awarded an EELV "Launch Capability Contract" on November 17,
2006.

"http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-11-18T000342Z_01_N17180075_RTRIDST_0_ARMS-BOEING-UPDATE-1.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna";

The $674 million award reportedly covers the period 6-1-06 to 9-30-07,
during
which time Boeing is expected to fly only four Delta IV launchers.
That is an
average of $168.5 million per launch. The award only covers fixed
costs, so
the marginal launch costs will be added to this figure. In other
words, Boeing
is being paid $674 million only to provide and support the
infrastructure needed
to build and launch Delta 4s.

This information is entirely consistent with the GAO prediction that an
average
EELV launch would cost $234 million.

Atlas V appears to be costing substantially less than Delta IV.
Lockheed
is being paid $815 million for a similar Launch Capability Contract
that runs
from 10-1-05 to 9-30-07, during which time it is expected to fly 6-8
Atlas V
rockets - an average of $101.9 to $135.8 million per launch (again, for

fixed costs only), 20-40% less than Delta IV.

Altogether, the two EELV programs are costing an average of $913
million
per year just for the fixed costs, which are being funded to be able to

support a grand total of only eight launches per year. To date,
however,
no more than five EELVs have flown in a given year.

Looks like either we need another new, more advanced launch vehicle, and/or we need to human rate both those vehicles and start flying them like crazy. I propose we should do both. In fact, I have proposed a stage and a half SSTO/RLV orbital testbed with GEM-60s, a single SSME and a pair of pad ignited RL-10s for roll control and orbit transition.

In either case, we get off the space shuttle SRB tit. The biggest problem with both the Atlas and Delta are flight rates, which can only be solved by human rating them and flying them regularly, once a month.

http://cosmic.lifeform.org
.