launch cost per kg comparison launch cost per kg comparison

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. The cost of launching a satellite varies depending on the satellite mass, the orbital altitude, and the orbital inclination of the final satellite orbit. In fact, as announced earlier this week, RocketLab plans to catch Electron first stages with helicopters soon! Damn I know what I'm spending my stimulus on. This would reduce launch costs by half? The Hydrogen Shot establishes a framework and foundation for clean hydrogen deployment in the American Jobs Plan, which includes support for demonstration projects. And instead of developing the Merlin engines from clean-sheet, SpaceX leveraged an existing NASA design: the Fastrac engine. 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. Download: You can download this table as an Excel or CSV file by using the icons at the top of the table. After subtracting the amount of European Space Agency subsidies to Arianespace, the per . The heat shield tiles required meticulously detailed inspection, taking hundreds of hours to complete. Units may be by weight, volume, length, area or number. The performance hit of optimizing a design for reusability translates into less payload and/or a lower orbit. Physics United Launch Alliance Atlas V 541 at US $ 27,063 per kg to GTO Comparing it with prices per kilogram to LEO given in the @PearsonArtPhoto's answer, this seems to suggest a roughly double and higher the price to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) than to LEO. Keeping in mind that hydrogen is quite expensive than these two, a typical rocket with 1000 rocket propellant of fuel and oxygen is likely to cost about $100,000. Larger launchers, such as SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, are able to provider cheaper costs per kilogram with high reliability which explains their positioning as cheaper producers and improved value. It should be noted that not all rocket prices are publicly available, in fact, most aren't. Falcon Heavy: \$2200 Falcon 9 v 1.1- \$4,109 DNEPR- \$3,784 Ariane 5- \$10,476 Delta IV- \$13,072 LV Performance", "Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft and its challenges", "ABL Space Systems maiden flight fails after liftoff", https://www.theguardian.com/science/live/2022/nov/16/artemis-1-nasa-rocket-launch-moon-mission-space-live-updates, "Japanese sounding rocket claims record-breaking orbital launch", "Experimental Launch of World's Smallest Orbital Space Rocket ends in Failure", "India's new SSLV rocket fails in first launch", "Commercial Chinese companies set sights on methalox rockets, first orbital launches", "Looks like Zhuque-2 second stage failed to reach orbital velocity. We also hosted a lively webinar on the topic, summarized here.) A first list contains rockets that are operational or in development as of 2022; a second list includes all retired rockets. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain. But it did fire its rocket engines many times without maintenance and it demonstrated the controls algorithms necessary for vertical landing. The Ariane 5 is to be succeeded by the Ariane 6 in 2020 or 2021. Its only got to hot fire 4 times in its life! Is SpaceXs next launch vehicle, a fully reusable super heavy-lift, poised to become the dominant business model framework? ULA is also considering a modular reusable design for Vulcan. In 2019, Ars Technica reported that it could cost over $2 billion to launch the rocket once in a given year. . $400 million for 4 engines. It's fully reusable, but ends up being relatively expensive to make, and requires somewhat regular refurbishment. The usual approach is to compare launch costs per kilogram by dividing the total cost per flight by the maximum payload delivered to LEO. Retrieved 16 November 2022. 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. 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. Space Transportation Costs: Trends in Price Per Pound to Orbit 1990-2000, "As of 2003, the average launch cost/lb of payload in the U.S for small, medium, and heavy launches was $8,445, $4,994, and $4,440 respectively." The rapid development of NewSpace and the expansion of the small satellite market have increased the demand for private launcher companies capable of providing a full range of launch services at an affordable price. 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. But unlike during the early days of NASA preeminence, the rocket launch business over the past few years has matured into one where dozens of private companies around the globe are racing to see how cheaply they can send material into space. For launching the Space Shuttle, which weighs about 2,000 tonnes, the cost is about $800 million USD, or nearly a billion dollars. passionate about stem cell research, regenerative medicine, and life extension therapies. The shuttle was a performance-oriented design. SpaceX chose to minimize that risk so they could focus all of its R&D on developing the technology necessary to vertically land the booster stage. In contrast, it costs some $170 million (150 million) to launch a commercial satellite on an Ariane 5. According to Le Gall, launching a satellite on an Ariane 5 costs around 100 million euros ($137 million). Space We offer rideshare and dedicated launch opportunities at severe discounts to other launch providers, and can go from first conversation to launch in 18 months or less, Developing a range of sustainable, reusable launchers dedicated to the launch of small satellites, Developing vertical launch systems to provide the ability for the United Kingdom to effectively, reliably and affordably deliver satellites into orbit from the planned major UK vertical launch spaceports, Joint venture between Canon Electronics, IHI Aerospace, Shimizu, and Development Bank of Japan, SpaceRyde offers affordable, on-schedule, dedicated launch for small sats, Enabling the mass commercialization of space by moving beyond chemical rockets, Provides earth-to-space space delivery services for small payloads, Developing a cost-effective space launch system using cutting-edge, non-explosive hybrid rocket technologies, Developing a reactive, reliable and cost-efficient nano-launcher, Designing, manufacturing, and launching orbital-class launch vehicles, Orbital launch vehicles (rockets) and electric propulsion systems, Developing a unique line of rockets powered by bio-derived fuels to launch tiny satellites into space, Creating a reusable suborbital space complex for tourist flights into space, Providing launch services to LEO at an affordable cost, Green Launch is a technology created to revolutionize and expand our access to space, Bringing increased efficiency and flexibility to space launch through the use of cutting edge aerodynamic technology, Using clean tech to develop a sustainable and cheap rocket called Haribon SLS, Enabling Low cost access to space with the Aerospike engined reusable Small satellite launch vehicle "MESO", Using RAM-accelerators to change the economics of space launch, Pythom is creating a custom-built, two-person craft to explore Mars, Developing the Radian One spaceplane to carry people and cargo to and from orbit, Mass production of on-demand launchers for small sats, Designing a reusable, single-stage-to-orbit cruise vehicle, Developing reusable, medium and heavy orbital launch vehicles, Launcher manufacturer aimed at developing reusable vehicles for small payloads, Space Vector has launched 37 vehicles to date with program turnaround times as short as 8 months, Developing a sub-orbital spaceplane for scientific missions, Developing Black Ice, a fully reusable space plane initially optimized for cargo launch, Developng a revolutionarily light small launch vehicle, Developing Volanis, a series of hybrid small-launch vehicles operated from an ocean platform, WAGNER is a simple, reliable, low-cost launch systems company, Dedicated to providing affordable access to orbit for commercial and government payloads, Developing a small satellite launcher in cooperation with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, Developing an orbital small launcher, powered by a unique, green hybrid propulsion technology, Developing hybrid small satellite launch vehicles, Privately developing rocket engines and suborbital launch vehicles in Japan. SpaceX increased the cost of additional. To view and interact with our full dataset, please view on a desktop 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. Betting on Starship is a bet the space industry will move further towards the ride-share model. Answer (1 of 17): The cost of launching a kilogram depends on what orbit you want it in, and how big a payload it is part of. For example, the cost per launch of a PSLV rocket is $18 million to $28 million, the cost per launch of GSLV is $47 million, and GSLV Mark III is $51 million. The figures provided here, adjusted for inflation, are for U.S. launch vehicles delivering 1 kg (2.2 lb) into low Earth orbit (LEO). Links Technically considered a stage and a half design thanks to the solid rocket boosters, the shuttle was supposed to be an evolutionary step towards the ultimate goal of a single-stage-to-orbit space plane. For a typical five tonne communications satellite, this adds up to between $20 million USD and $125 million USD. Posted: 1st September 2018. In 2017, the addition of a small third stage enabled orbital launches of ultra-light. It also uses only around $1 per kg on launch energy - significantly less than a traditional rocket launch, and can be operated at high-frequency, with over 10 launches per day. 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. The far future To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. Anything below this price and we're in the range of "sci-fi" launch systems life space elevators and launch loops. And costs to LEO aren't much more expensive than delivering packages across the country or around the world. Saturday's SpaceX launch finally removed NASA's dependence on Russia to get its astronauts into . But launch services aren't produce, and the conventional way of assessing launch costs on a dollars-per-kilogram basis isn't a good measure of the cost of launch. Landing legs. b. Designed by NASA to be low-cost and reusable, BryceTechs 2020 Orbital Launch Year in Review report, Shuttles turn-around time was 24 months, RocketLab plans to catch Electron first stages with helicopters soon, NASA is gearing up to test the inflatable heat shield in 2022, Quilty Analytics report on Emerging Technologies for DIU. In addition to being an avid blogger, Michael is particularly SpaceX's website previously listed the cost of a Falcon 9 launch at $62 million. Neglect the cost of the extension cord. They are technically correct, but one of the real goals of the program was demonstrating a quick turn-around-time and aircraft-like operability. 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. Launch costs have been pretty much the same since the earliest days of space exploration, mostly due to an unchanging underlying technology: chemical rockets. Seattle-based startup STOKE Space Technologies thinks so. Between 1970 and 2000, the cost to launch a kilogram to space remained fairly steady, with an average of US$18,500 per kilogram. Answer (1 of 8): How much cheaper are SpaceX reusable rockets? TL;DR God bless Elon for being the driving catalyst behind the New Space Renaissance. you are comparing internal SpaceX costs estimates vs external SLS charges. We believe the next decade will catalyze the tipping point to grow the Space for Space economy beyond the realm of governments and science missions. physics, biology, astronomy, chemistry, and futurism. If the overall trend continues, access to space may become relatively affordable to most people during the second half of this century. Click on a bubble to learn more about a vehicle. (A comment on the growing earth observation market its 1/10th the size of the opportunity in telecommunications.). Want to save up to 30% on your monthly bills? A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 143 small satellites into orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape. For more information on the different vehicles being manufactured and their corresponding data, please see the individual companies websites. charts background to return to these instructions. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. star. NASAs LEO Opportunities: In-Space Production Applications outlines other application areas. On top of all those design considerations, many doubted the lower cost projections for reusable rockets were real. 9. PRICE DROP. Important Note (Companies not Vehicles): This database, and the SpaceFund Reality ratings, are based on COMPANIES, not launch vehicles. A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral carrying the Deep Space Climate Observatory satellite on SpaceXs first deep space mission on Feb. 11, 2015. Methuselah Foundation, the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, and the Lifeboat Foundation. If you have a very small satellite - like a Cubesat - there are. Launch costs refer to the cost of sending a payload from the ground to outer space, specifically low Earth orbit (LEO). at around $130 per kilogram, composites are . ". Click on theblackbuttons below to view the available SFR databases. GTO payload is 8,000 kg when the core first-stage booster lands downrange on a drone ship (ASDS) and the side boosters return to the launch site (RTLS). Reusable orbital launch vehicles. Falcon 9's first stage incorporates nine Merlin engines and aluminum-lithium alloy tanks containing liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene (RP-1) propellant. 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. Screen Size: The database is too big to fit on most screens, so youll need to use the scroll bar at the bottom of your screen to scroll right to see additional columns, and continuing scrolling down to see all 100+ companies. If apples are $.99/lb at one store, and $.79/lb at another, it's an easy choice. The cost per kilogram of Starship for low-earth orbit is $10 compared to $65,400 for the 1981-debuted Space Shuttle Columbia, which was the most expensive among the five launch vehicles Science . Join me as we walk through the history, the science and current technologies, and finally the interesting bets to make in an expansive future on the final frontier. Subscribe to our newsletter and learn something new every day. Bold of you to assume SLS will ever launch. The Jielong-3 or Smart Dragon-3 is a small-lift rocket that will operate at a competitive cost per mass of $10,000 a kilogram. Whats exciting is that they are working to do that again! the vehicle's number of successful orbital launches. The standard unit of measurement used depends on the type of product. Suborbital flight tests and on-pad explosions are excluded, but launches failing en route to orbit are included. Among the 10 most-launched rockets, the most affordable on a per-kilogram basis are SpaceXs Falcon 9 and Roscosmos Proton M, both able to lift 20,000 kilograms (44,092 pounds) or more, according to a recent Federal Aviation Administration report. 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." Latest blogs Hell, I'm 6' tall and weighed more than 62kg even when i was pretty underweight for my height. Choosing a Launch Vehicle Cost per kilogram to orbit is one means of comparing launch vehicles. Home & Leisure A Falcon Heavy launch vehicle from SpaceX. 134,501. Launch Vehicles Capability Comparison: ISRO: As we previously described, . Harbaugh, Jennifer (9 July 2018). This tool helps you do just that. if we look at the price of comparable launch systems, we can see that in terms of kg delivered to LEO, the Falcon 9 is pretty good. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Those flights will now start at $1.1 million to fly a payload weighing 200 kilograms to a sun-synchronous orbit, up from a base price of $1 million. 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. menu. NASAs LEO Opportunities: In-Space Production Applications, in-space manufacturing of large carbon fiber structures. Fuel. SpaceX's currently advertised prices come out to as low as $4,700/kg for the existing Falcon 9 and $1,700 for the future Falcon Heavy. Have we missed your company? 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) The first two orbital missions failed in 2009 and 2012, and the rocket finally reached orbit in late 2012. provides the first stage, including engines, First suborbital test in 1969, first orbital launch attempt in 1970, Without Buran, and assuming payload providing orbital insertion. Business & Politics Do you see missing data for your company? In-space manufacturing is another segment with both short and longer-term applications. $13/kg works out to about $2,000,000/flight for a 150kg 150,000kg payload. Like the shuttle, Starships tiles will require detailed inspection before each launch. A reusable rocket engine design will carry more safety margin. 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. Still, these very technical big-dollar issues are increasingly being impacted by the changing economics and new generation of commercial space titans that are quickly transforming the launch industry. Budget Rocket Airlines 11. 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. The energy per kg at the equator is 3.25 x 10 7 J/kg compared to 3.26 x 10 7 J/kg at the North Pole. Its annual budget allocation this year is $1.4 billion. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Subsidised LPG is currently priced at Rs 29.4 a kg or Rs 25.5 per million calories (considering LPG's calorific value of 11,500 kilocalorie per kg). Photo credit: Space-X Transporter-1 mission (SXRS-3) lifts off in January 2021. The old design paradigm for satellites was multi-year, billion-dollar, school bus-sized projects going to geosynchronous orbit. Continue with Recommended Cookies, Launch costs to low Earth orbit, 1980-2100. For the sake of comparison, here's how ISRO's GSLV Mk III compares to some of the world's best launch vehicles. Like any great entrepreneur, Elon prioritized where to focus R&D spend to get to a minimal viable product. Each bubble represents a launch vehicle and is sized according to the vehicle's number of successful orbital launches. Additionally, two suborbital missions were conducted in 2010 and 2011. How were they able to make an affordable reusable launch vehicle? 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). We begin with a sub-sector of the Transportation sector, specifically transportation between Earth and Space, commonly referred to as the launch industry. However, before being judgmental and dismissive, one must look at what ISRO has achieved with its shoestring budget. Whats striking is that SpaceX is the only rocket company thus far to appreciably drop the cost of launch by over an order of magnitude. The best way to update your information in this database is to reach out to us directly to provide additional information about your technology, management team, funding history, and company progress. For a typical five tonne communications satellite, this adds up to between $20 . Vega-C is a single body rocket nearly 35 m high with a mass at liftoff of 210 tonnes. 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). For 30 years, NASA flew an expensive (high maintenance) marvel. [note 4]. 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 . It has been determined that a sufficiently long cannon could be used to launch acceleration-resistant payloads into space, but no country has yet tried to build one, though a few companies are trying. Not including Orion, that's another billion. Some examples of standard units are: Beef: price per kilogram