Re:How much does it cost to send 1kg to lower earth orbit?
by dgacmu on Friday December 18, 2020 @04:13PM
(#25472116)
Thanks for asking this, it's super-important to understand it. If they're not infation-adjusted, then there's already been a (very slow) exponential reduction in the cost.
I think they are inflation-adjusted. Here's an inflation-adjusted source that explicitly lets you pick FY2021 dollars as the reference:
It puts the Saturn V at $5k USD/kg, the same as this article.
What's interesting is that it shows a general downward trend a little more clearly than this one does, but the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are still very shocking outliers.
I think they are inflation-adjusted. Here's an inflation-adjusted source that explicitly lets you pick FY2021 dollars as the reference:
https://aerospace.csis.org/data/space-launch-to-low-earth-or...
It puts the Saturn V at $5k USD/kg, the same as this article.
What's interesting is that it shows a general downward trend a little more clearly than this one does, but the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are still very shocking outliers.