Re: Price creep at SpaceX?
- From: Len <len@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 1 Dec 2007 12:18:51 -0800 (PST)
On Dec 1, 6:04 am, "Jim Relsh" <jrel...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Am I the only one is noticing the price creep for SpaceX launchers? TheAll this is not so surprising.
Falcon 9 5 ton to GTO is listed as $55m, which is cheaper than ULA's (United
Launch Alliance) Delta or Atlas but not *that* much cheaper.
When they started out it seemed their prices were dramatically lower than
the competition (90% less) but it now seems economics are hitting Elon
Musk's company on the head. Or is he trying to recuperate his investment
early?
Anyway, with these kind of prices I don't see anything revolutionary about
SpaceX's offerings. Yes, it's somewhat cheaper but certainly not a 'game
changer.' OK, SpaceX has the Dragon but I'm pretty sure that the people at
Boeing could scratch together a capsule and put it on top of a Delta without
breaking a sweat.
Following the basic design approach of the
last 45 years can permit some improvements,
but is not likely to be revolutionary.
"Revolutionary" is likely to require a basically
different design approach, which, in turn, does
NOT have to involve any new technology or
engines. But, IMO, not much of the basically
different design approach is going to use
expendable hardware. Moreover, IMO, the
basically different design approach is likely
to depend as much on aviation knowledge as
rocket science.
Len
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