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A comment on Russian Proton Rocket crashes Seconds after Launch. Parent comment

Re:Russian Proton Rocket crashes Seconds after Launch by nawitus on Tuesday July 02, 2013 @09:26AM (#5977587)
That's interesting, I thought SpaceX was cheaper than even the Russian launch vehicles. By the way, are insurance costs taken into consideration? (Although the proper insurance rate might be difficult to estimate for SpaceX since they don't have that many launches behind them).
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Re:Russian Proton Rocket crashes Seconds after Launch by leoedin on Tuesday July 02, 2013 @09:49AM (#5977709)
The cost of a SpaceX launch reflects not only manufacturing costs but also the cost of development. The cost of a Proton launch (and similarly for other low cost ICBM based Russian launchers) doesn't reflect the developmment cost because it was designed a long time ago and borne by the russian government. The true cost of a Proton launch is much higher than what a user would pay to International Launch Services.
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Re:Russian Proton Rocket crashes Seconds after Launch by solomatov on Tuesday July 02, 2013 @10:43AM (#5978079)
The true cost is adequate because there was a very large number of total launches (around 400). What is the reason for launching a rocket if it leads to a loss.
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Re:Russian Proton Rocket crashes Seconds after Launch by danmaz74 on Tuesday July 02, 2013 @03:37PM (#5980214)
The cost of a Proton launch reflects the fact that development costs were amortized long ago.
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Re:Russian Proton Rocket crashes Seconds after Launch by reeses on Tuesday July 02, 2013 @09:49AM (#5977711)
Silly Internet person of irrelevant gender, insurance can be bought for anything. Actuaries will calculate the risk of not knowing as well.

Whether someone can afford the premiums and abide by the term and conditions presented is another matter.

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