launch cost per kg comparison

double flywheel of technology development. While many point to NASAs Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program as what enabled SpaceX to keep going during the early years, its worth noting that SpaceX did compete with ULA for launching DOD payloads too. We may expect prices per kg lowered to 250 - 500 USD/kg (SpaceX claims to decrease their prices by order of magnitude when re-usability is applied. This is a transformative change for humanity be because it makes access to space cheap and relatively easy. My wild guess on initial pricing is something around 30 to 40,000,000 per flight which is about what the F9 sells for minus the manufacturing costs. All other columns in the table will also sort alphabetically. Click a launch If one needed repair, it was done by hand. (For comparison, the Shuttles turn-around time was 24 months.) Comcast per-month average user data usage is about 300GB/month. Browse Google Shopping to find the products you're looking for, track & compare prices, and decide where to buy online or in store. Some examples of standard units are: Beef: price per kilogram Figure 1. Do you see missing data for your company? And costs to LEO aren't much more expensive than delivering packages across the country or around the world. Arianespace intends to slash the cost of launching the Ariane 6 by around 40 percent . GTO payload with enhanced engines, as of GSLV version 2A, A suborbital test flight was conducted in 2014 (designated LVM-3/, 5,100 kg to a 500-km Sun-synchronous orbit; 3,300 kg to 800 km. Weve also provided a considerable amount of additional data gathered during our research. How were they able to make an affordable reusable launch vehicle? Space Launch System launch cost to LEO: $200,000,000/140,000 kg = 14,286 $/kg Starship's fuel alone probably costs $200,000 let alone anything else. Please check back frequently to view new sub-sector databases, andsign up to receive our emailsto be notified of each new release. In the coming months we will post SFR ratings for companies from all of these sectors, providing a robust overview of the state of frontier-enabling companies across the industry. The Falcon Heavy rocket, with reusable side boosters, costs $90 million. This plan is a few years down the line, as NASA is gearing up to test the inflatable heat shield in 2022. These innovations for very small and very large payload vehicles have led to lower costs for the launch industry as a whole. A useful analogy is to buying a car, where the advertised price is for the no-frills base model, while theres the option of add-ons for additional fees (say, extra boosters to launch a heavier payload). ". People are more expensive since they demand annoy things like "breathable air" and what not. Links Fuel. Transport & Infrastructure, Artwork Jiang Jie, a rocket scientist with the rocket's developer, the. It can lift a 200 kg payload to a 500 km altitude (under 1000 km is considered Low Earth Orbit) or 300 kg payload to lower orbits. Examples of Space for Space include on-orbit refueling, in-situ resource utilization, and the establishment of a human far-off-world permanent presence. The new rocket is designed to be at least as capable as the Ariane 5, but at half the launch cost. A more fair comparison will be available in a few years once both have flown payloads to orbit operationally and when SpaceX has released charges for its launch services on Starship. Forum This comparison shows the huge technological gap between them. Reusable orbital launch vehicles. Launch cost per kilogram to LEO versus first launch date. In addition to being an avid blogger, Michael is particularly For comparison, SpaceX sells a commercial version of its Falcon 9 rocket for $62 million, according to the company's website, although the price climbs to more than $90 million a copy for . The cost per kilogram in delivering payloads safely to orbit lay at the heart of the friction that prevented private industry from commercializing space. Damn I know what I'm spending my stimulus on. In fact, as announced earlier this week, RocketLab plans to catch Electron first stages with helicopters soon! It was never designed or intended to be used as a LEO vehicle. Developing PROTEUS, an innovative hybrid and autonomous launcher for small sats, Providing launch services via HABs and sounding rockets, Long range heavy lift aircraft horizontal launches, Developing Infinity, a small reusable rocket, Developing high-performance, low carbon micro launch vehicles, Developing electromagnetic launch systems to change how we launch payloads into space, Developing a proposed "railway" to space that is safer, cheaper, and greener than rockets, Building a ballooning platform to offer novel access to the mesosphere, Aiming to provide affordable space tourism and rocket launch services, Dedicated to providing frequent and reliable space access, Disrupting space launch with a new kinetic launch system, Vertically launching low-cost orbital payloads from the UK, Designer of low-weight, low-cost satellites and small launching vehicles, SpaceBox is a suborbital launch and recovery platform designed to enable affordable access to space for educational, professional, consumer and hobbyist payloads, Making access to space widely available, less constrained and more efficient, Developing technology for cost effective, reliable, and frequent access to space, Developing the Otis electric vehicle for civil space transportation, Developing a solution for quick missions to LEO, Designing a single stage to orbit hypersonic vehicle of revolutionary design and propulsion capability, Building a single-stage to orbit launch system dedicated to small payloads, Developing an eco friendly, electromagnetic space launch system, Developing the Cheetah small launch vehicle, Aiming to provide orbital launches of small satellites for the most affordable prices, Rocketsan is developing a micro-satellite launch system for the Turkish government, Developing a reusable launch vehicle named Tianmeng, Working on a very low-cost Launcher to LEO, Building low cost, single stage and highly reusable launch vehicles, Customized launch services for sub-orbital and orbital payloads, Launching small satellites into space using high altitude balloons, Creating a dedicated, reusable, and low-cost suborbital rocket, Developing the UKs first commercially operated horizontal launch company for small to medium size satellites, Developing a hybrid, modular, affordable & air-launched rocket system that uses electric landing for reusability, Developing SOL ASPIRET, a suborbital spaceplane, Bringing about the next generation of low-cost, reusable launch vehicles, Developing a balloon-launched vehicle for smallsat payloads, Developing a unique seaborne launch system, Personalized engineering support and dedicated airborne orbital launch platform, Ultra low-cost rockets and satellite deployment, Revolutionizing near space tourism and opening it to a greater audience, Developing a reliable tow-glider launch system, Affordable and reliable small satellite launch system for LEO, SSO, and GEO missions, Developing a fleet of hybrid rockets for micro launch, Aiming to innovate space exploration technologies to deliver efficient and cost effective solutions for humanity, Developing single stage to orbit, fixed wing, hypersonic aircraft, Creating the small-sat launch vehicle of the future, Building light, two-stage rockets for small satellite launch, Cheaper access to space for nanosatellite payloads, Developing a novel, reusable hypersonic and space launch system, Developing exciting new space technologies, Developing a three-stage solid-propellant launch vehicle, Developing a reusable two-stage orbital-class launch vehicle, Striving to design, build, and launch rockets, in and from Canada, Developing the Phoenix small launch vehicle, Developing the Trans-Atmospheric Flight Vehicle (TAV 1), Hypersonic Delivery Systems: Suborbital & Orbital Missions, Developing suborbital and orbital launch vehicles, Developing a series of Launch Vehicles based on high-altitude air launch, Building a hypersonic space plane that can takeoff from anywhere in any weather, Developing the Space Jet air-launch platform, Developing a unique launch vehicle and propulsion system, Building a space launch system for sending hardened satellites and bulk cargo into space, Designing the Montenegro nanolauncher for launches at a very competitive price, The Dynamics Enhanced Launch Vehicle is designed for a life of over 400 reuses with very minimal maintenance and rapid turnarounds, Single Stage to Orbit (SSTO) rocket leveraging aerospike engine technology launching to low earth orbit, Providing rapid response small satellite launch vehicles for government and commercial customers, Provding dedicated launch services for cube and nanosatellites, Developing the Horizontal Takeoff Horizontal Landing (HTHL) AstroClipper for the future of commercial space transportation, Developing the Advanced Cryognic Expendable (ACE) launch vehicle, Developing a next generation of reusable launch vehicles for microgravity research. The costs for launching a chemical rocket have been reduced somewhat through innovation (private spaceflight) as well as equatorial launch services (such as Sea Launch). Journey through the history of rocket technology to build excitement for the future of the space economy. We recommend Old Reddit with r/SpaceXLounge. Backing breakthrough scientific inventions transforming billions of lives. Using a more capable rocket would be overkill even if the theoretical price per kilogram cost is cheaper on a larger rocket: for a 200 kg small sat a $5 million small sat launch is cheaper than a $50 million dedicated Falcon 9 flight. A Falcon Heavy launch vehicle from SpaceX. An investigation of the performance potential of a liquid oxygen expander cycle rocket engine, by Dylan Thomas Stapp, Article from 2006: "A Falcon 1 launch costs US$6.7 million for up to 570 kilogrammes of payload delivered to orbit." Launch costs have been pretty much the same since the earliest days of space exploration, mostly due to an unchanging underlying technology: chemical rockets. Anything below this price and we're in the range of "sci-fi" launch systems life space elevators and launch loops. Aerospace professionals were skeptical of SpaceXs cost numbers because the only reusable launch vehicle they had data for was the space shuttle as seen in the chart below, reusable rockets werent always cheap! All current spacecraft use conventional chemical rockets (bipropellant or solid-fuel) for launch, though some[note 3] have used air-breathing engines on their first stage. To view and interact with our full dataset, please view on a desktop Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. You can also print the table. Methodology: The LEO payload and cost-per-launch estimates shown in the first graphic represent the lower end of any ranges provided in the FAA's "The Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation: 2018." Launch Vehicles Capability Comparison: ISRO: As we previously described, . At a $90 million per launch, payload delivery cost by Falcon Heavy to LEO is $1,410/kg. Prime Movers Lab invests in breakthrough scientific startups founded by Prime Movers, the inventors who transform billions of lives. As Elon says. The first Energy Earthshot, launched June 7, 2021Hydrogen Shotseeks to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by 80% to $1 per 1 kilogram in 1 decade ("1 1 1"). This is much less likely now than it was even a year ago though, It only works about as well as F9. The cost estimates for transportation to Mars cover a large span. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 143 small satellites into orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape. We begin with a sub-sector of the Transportation sector, specifically transportation between Earth and Space, commonly referred to as the launch industry. When deciding on a launch vehicle, one should also consider other factors such as volumetric constraints, launch sites, and the availability of ride-sharing services. Not including Orion, that's another billion. They miss most of the goals by 50% or so: it flies regularly, is less expensive to make, is fully reusable with occasional refurbishment, etc. Among geostationary or geosynchronous transfer (GTO) missions, which need to achieve a specific orbit of around 36,000 kilometers and are therefore better suited for direct comparisons, average launch costs are down about 20 percent from five years ago, according to Carolyn Belle, a senior analyst at space consultancy Northern Sky Research. They charge on the order of $60/month. The key innovation that enabled the space shuttle to be reusable was also the reason it was so complex to maintain. In 1996, the DC-XA demonstrated a 26-hour turn-around time. Is SpaceXs next launch vehicle, a fully reusable super heavy-lift, poised to become the dominant business model framework? Which is still a major improvement, but not nearly enough to hit Spacex's goals. star. (If you missed it last week, my partner Christie had an amazing post on Orbital Debris. Then the price would reduce from there as the flight rate increases. Despite the higher launch costs per payload kilogram of ULAs Delta IV and Atlas V, both rockets have been a mainstay of U.S. government launch contracts. A team on a 10-year journey to deliver small satellites to orbit. The agency has also speculated that a space elevator (requiring 15 years to construct) would lower this cost even further, to just a few dollars per kilogram. The following chart shows the number of launch systems developed in each country, and broken down by operational status. Since space travel began with the launch of Sputnik in 1957, scientists have been looking at ways to exploit some method other than chemical rocketry to reach space. But CNBC noted in 2020 that the United States Air Force contracts paid around $95 million per Falcon 9. If you made it through all that rocket history, you might be asking yourself the following how did SpaceX do it? (Larger payloads can cost more per kilogram because there are fewer alternatives for the harder launches.) Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. An industry analysis by Citigroup forecasts launch costs for operators of $100 per kg to LEO by 2040, which would be reflected in significantly lower launch prices for customers . star. The first mover in the commercial habitat space is Axiom, which will be able to leverage the substantial capabilities of the International Space Station while they build out their own. The figures provided here, adjusted for inflation, are for U.S. launch vehicles delivering 1 kg (2.2 lb) into low Earth orbit (LEO). Bringing back the "sea-launch" concept with full-force! the Apollo program had a cost per seat of $390 million while the Space Shuttle's figure was $170 . Is further launch cost reduction worth sitting in a holding pattern for many months while enough ride-share partners join? The cost of launching a satellite varies depending on the satellite mass, the orbital altitude, and the orbital inclination of the final satellite orbit. Neglect the cost of the extension cord. Imagine the missions you could assemble in low earth orbit. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. kilogram of payload to low Earth orbit (LEO). So, for example, if a company is listed to have a launch cost of 0 this simply means that this information is not publicly available and the 0 acts as a replacement for N/A. There are several nascent segments gaining recent momentum, such as in-space manufacturing with several startups pursuing approaches from manufacturing ZBLAN fiber optic cables (e.g. Latest blogs Starship does the opposite, it drops operational costs to almost just the cost of fuel, and construction costs end up being almost nothing in comparison. (Hot fire is the vernacular for lighting a rocket engine combustor. If youre a micro-satellite operator who cant sit around waiting for a larger launch vehicle to sell all its payload slots to other customers, this is a game-changer. No, both $ numbers are internal costs, SLS is not for sale, it's owned by NASA and the cost # is what NASA has to pay to launch it, so it's entirely appropriate to compare it to what SpaceX has to pay to launch a Starship. The Saturn V made 13 launches, 12 of which reached the correct orbits, and the other (, There are many different methods. A suborbital test flight was conducted in May 2018. Typical launch costs today are $10,000 US Dollars (USD) to $25,000 USD per kilogram ($4,500 to $11,000 USD per pound), though some countries subsidize space launches, occasionally reducing cost as low as $4,000 USD per kilogram ($1,800 USD per pound). Each bubble is The usual approach is to compare launch costs per kilogram by dividing the total cost per flight by the maximum payload delivered to LEO. Developing reusable launch vehicle technology for orbital payloads in China, Building up Canada's NewSpace industry as the first private launch provider in Canso, Nova Scotia, Launch services for small, micro and nano satellites, Developing the sea-launched Gravity-1 vehicle, Developing a fully-reusable suborbital spacecraft, Developing Blue Whale 1, a micro launch vehicle, Developing the re-usable Skylon spaceplane powered by SABRE propulsion, Offering hassle-free space transportation to dedicated orbits, Building technologies for responsive, reliable and economic access to space, Building a reusable three-person rocket ship for space tourism, Sugarhouse Aerospace is built on a simple idea - space shouldn't be reserved for governments and billionaires, Offering flexible launch capability with a cycle of less than thirty days to build, integrate, and launch, Developing scalable and sustainable space transportation technology to become the backbone of the near space economy, Committed to reducing the cost of entering space via reusable launch products, Providing passengers with a trip into the stratosphere, Selling reusable launch vehicles for small, sub-orbital scientific/experimental payloads, Developing the ERIS launch vehicles to provide reliable and cost-effective access to space, Applying autonomous technology to develop a resuable small rocket, Lowering the entry barriers to space and making space access affordable and sustainable, Buildig the Xogdor rocket to test payloads at supersonic speeds and at the edge of space, Building a private 3-stage nanosatellite launch vehicle in China, A Euro startup developing tech for suborbital & orbital launch services, dedicated to small payloads and nanosatellites, Integrated launch services for the Zenit Launch Vehicle via a mobile sea platform, Cost effective small satellite launch services from the United Kingdom, Commercializing new suborbital rocket technologies, Small satellite space launch via a kinetic launch system, Developing a zero-emission space tourism platform, Building rockets to launch small satellites, Commercial launch vehicle manufacturer and space launch provider in China, Developinig the world's first 100% reusable rocket, Developing the Firefly Alpha launch vehicle; highest payload performance with the lowest cost per kg to orbit in its vehicle class, Launching sratospheric balloons for research and promotional purposes, Offering commercial suborbital platforms for scientific research, commercial applications, and defense, Developing the Vega & Ariane launch vehicles, Providing routine launch access to Earth orbit for entrepreneurs and enterprises, Offers a range of sounding rockets, capable of flights up to 300km in multistage configurations, Lowering the cost of access to space with reusable launch vehicles, Balloons that lift anything from a few kilograms to several tons and are able to operate at an altitude as low as a few hundred metres or as high as 40 km, Developing the Ceres-1 and Pallas-1 launch vehicles, Designs, manufactures, and operates launch vehicles, propulsion systems, and satellites and related components, Developing suborbital rockets to proide access and research for traditional and New-Space markets, The first rocket company and launch site for cubesat payloads in New Zealand, SpaceX designs, manufactures, and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft, SSC designs sounding rocket vehicles, stratospheric balloon systems, and payloads, A joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, ULA produces the Vulcan, Atlas and Delta Launch Vehicle Families, UP Aerospace is a suborbital space launch and flight test service provider, Building a fleet of WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft and SpaceShipTwo reusable spaceships, The small payload orbital launch sister company to Virgin Galactic, The Stratollite is a remotely operated, navigable vehicle that can remain aloft for days, weeks, and months on end, iSpace is a Chinese private space launch company developing the Hyperbola rocket family, Launch vehicle manufacturer and launch services provider, Designing orbital-class launch vehicles that are autonomously constructed, Developing Dream Chaser, a multi-mission space utility vehicle designed to transport crew and cargo to low-Earth orbit, Formal press announcement confirming the company is no longer active, Website and all other media/materials are removed from the internet, Company re-classified (moved to a different SFR database), Website copyright has not been updated for 2+ years, No new company news/updates/press/social activity for 2+ years, No response after 2 weeks when contacted by SpaceFund via multiple channels. Data & trends Amazon, with $55.4 billion on hand, is the only large tech player with an announced constellation, but Facebook ($54.9 billion) has reportedly filed preliminary LEO-satellite plans through a proxy. The main cost parameter for launch systems cost is the number of flights per vehicle. The Ariane 5 is to be succeeded by the Ariane 6 in 2020 or 2021. (The space shuttle cost about $1.5 billion per mission, including development,. Not all booster stage reusability concepts require vertically landing the rocket. Each bubble represents a launch vehicle and is sized according to That reliability is why the US government continued to pay handsomely for ULAs services. A conventional solid rocket or a conventional solid-fuel rocket is a rocket with a motor that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). Below, Ive taken the data from the launch cost chart and included a new point estimating Starships cost [Ref]. Definitely not more than one flight. From extremely expensive (200 000$/kg) for one way scientific missions, to a more recent estimate of 130$/kg for the SpaceX Mars plans, and even less for future transportation systems (link). Bold of you to assume SLS will ever launch. to provide additional information about your technology, management team, funding history, and company progress. It's all hypothetical right now, but we can imagine a few different scenarios for starship, going from worst case up: It doesn't work: There's some fundamental flaw in the design, maybe they can get it flying, but full reusability never happens without a full redesign. Where in the space economy ecosystem does one draw the line to think about Space for Space? Additionally, one rocket exploded on the launch pad in 2016. Other advances in the future may include lighter materials, the use of inflatable modules, new fuel types, space planes and/or more efficient engines. Approximately fifteen years ago this great debate manifested itself into one partnership (United Launch Alliance) born to service one government program (Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle) vs. one scrappy startup (SpaceX). It's like operating a current day air transport business like fedex. In comparison to where we are now we've reduced the cost by over 90%, it would be a transformative step in human history. The cost of each launch is in absolute terms low, at $7.5 million, but is expensive next to SpaceX's offerings when normalized by mass:) Falcon 9 (SpaceX): $2,720 per kg ($62 million per launch, 22,800 kg to LEO) What we know is $800 million for a SLS core stage without engines. There are three other changes: Ive included medium-lift launch vehicles, made the y-axis a log-scale, and changed the SpaceX-related data points to orange. you are comparing internal SpaceX costs estimates vs external SLS charges. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Retrieved 16 November 2022. Manage Settings Whether its a U.S.-based GPS company hiring SpaceX to launch satellites or European scientists piggybacking experiments on an Arianespace rocket, the true cost is ultimately negotiated based on the payload, launch site (closer to the equator is better), launch angle, and other factors. I saw that number and looked it up thinking there was no way it could be that low but it is correct. In 2021, there are three companies that have successfully flown vertical landing rockets: SpaceX (orbital), Blue Origin (suborbital), and Masten Space Systems (winner of lunar lander XPRIZE). "NASA's goal is to reduce the cost of getting to space to hundreds of dollars per pound within 25 years and tens of dollars per pound within 40 years. Clearly, this makes activities in space expensive. A suborbital test flight was conducted in April 2018. The Hydrogen Shot establishes a framework and foundation for clean hydrogen deployment in the American Jobs Plan, which includes support for demonstration projects. A suborbital test flight failed in 2006. SLS will cost close to $2 billion marginal cost. Why? Handbook of Space Engineering, Archaeology, and Heritage by Ann Darrin, Beth L. O'Leary, page 116, Comparison of solid-fueled orbital launch systems, NASA, Saturn V News Reference, Appendix: Saturn V Flight History (1968), Comparison of space station cargo vehicles, "Mass of initial SN ships will be a little high & Isp a little low, but, over time, it will be ~150t to LEO fully reusable", Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, "Russia launches first orbital Angara 1.2 rocket with military payload", "Ariane 5 sets new record on latest launch", "We are calling the config N22. The company has dropped launch prices by something around 25 percent, Christensen says, saving customers as much as $10 million to $20 million, and putting pressure on rivals. While vehicle launch cost is a metric utilized when comparing vehicles, the cost per lb/kg launched is also an important factor that is not always directly correlated with the overall launch vehicle cost. Additionally, two rockets exploded on the launch pad, one in 2012 and one in 2019. Two decades ago, vigorous discussion abounded regarding the performance hit of designing for reusability, canceling any cost benefits. Can anyone find a pie chart showing what part of this is so expensive? I know not to underestimate Elon but Ill believe that when I see it. Plus the solid boosters and the second stage. Humankind has been flinging scientific equipment, satellites, and even living things (including the occasional astronaut) into orbit for more than 50 years, often for eye-watering sums of money that only governments could afford. This probably drops launch prices in to the $500-$1,000/kg range, maybe lower as operations and infrastructure get more efficient? To be fair you are comparing hypothetical payload costs to LEO (since neither rocket has flowna mission yet) and you are comparing internal SpaceX costs estimates vs external SLS charges. Seattle-based startup STOKE Space Technologies thinks so. Colonizing Mars is a real possibility. Do you see missing data for your company? Of those, 32 launches were American and 26 belonged to SpaceX's Falcon 9 . The performance hit of optimizing a design for reusability translates into less payload and/or a lower orbit.