I’ve heard numbers such as $200/kg to LEO for Starship. I’m trying to understand this.
I figure that the Falcon Heavy is already about 96.5% reusable (at least 27 of 28 engines are reused). Based on the recent Roman telescope deal ($255M), Falcon Heavy costs $4000/kg.
How is Starship, which is basically only 3.5% “more reusable”, going to cost 20X less? Is methane massively better than RP5? Is stainless steel way better than aluminum? Is it because it’s taller? Fatter? Is it the tower catch? Is it because the booster returns to the launch pad instead of landing on a drone ship?
In: 3
It reduces costs through economy of scale. It is a very large rocket, with a smaller cost to turn around and launch again. It’s like comparing to cost to drive a car across country against riding in a bus/train/plane. Getting 300 other people to agree to go with you on the train is a huge economy of scale impact.
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