Questions tagged [cost]
Questions regarding the amount of money required to perform or sustain space exploration.
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Are there any scientific or technical reasons for defunding WFIRST?
This week, the White House announced its proposed budget for fiscal year 2020, which of course includes NASA's budget for the same time period. Notably, for the second year in a row, it proposes ...
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2answers
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How to get experiments to space?
How would a person get an experiment done in space? What is the chain of command on something like that?
I would like to drop some inflated balloons from space to reenter the atmosphere to see which ...
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1answer
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How much fuel does the Falcon Heavy use? What is the price RP-1?
Does anyone know how much fuel the Falcon Heavy can hold, the RP-1 fuel and liquid oxygen as oxidizer, and how much of that will it use to get to a certain point?
I don't know how i would calculate ...
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2answers
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What would it cost to bring a 1 gram payload to the CMBR rest frame (i.e. Δv 368 km/s ?)
Suppose we wanted to do a very small experiment in (or very close to) the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation rest frame, which we are travelling at 368 ± 2 km/s relative to. Without considering the ...
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Split cost of bringing 1 kg to LEO
Historically seen, space logistics prices decrease, as shown here, from $20K/kg to expected 1.7K/kg thanks to reusable rockets.
But, how does the cost split look like and vary in detail? i.e. "fuel - ...
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1answer
149 views
Funding for Government Run Space Organizations
Do government run space organizations make any money from services they provide (for example NASA's data about the Earth or their services for aviation companies)?
Or do they provide all their ...
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How much more expensive are scientific instruments for space use?
The discussion on How cold is the Martian sky at night? Or the day for that matter? made me wonder. How much more expensive are scientific instruments on spacecraft or landers, compared to their ...
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Why is Falcon 9's fairing so big?
The Falcon 9 fairing costs millions of dollars. It is 5.2 meters wide while the rocket itself is only 3.7 meters wide. There is no aerodynamic reason that the fairing has to be so big, since Dragon ...
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What is the cost of the propulsion system and thrusters as a % of the total satellite?
Small (nano) satellites and cubesats are between \$100k and \$500k. What percentage of the total is the cost of the propulsion system?
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Cost Estimation of Satellite propulsion systems
As part of my research project, i am evaluating various satellite propulsion systems. Are there any databases or forums where the ROM cost of a Satellite propulsion system is listed.
A few new space ...
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3answers
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Why is space fuel cheap compared to rocket cost?
I have been pondering on this question for some time now. I've searched the web and realized that fuel for Falcon 9 (SpaceX) costs around 200 000 dollars per launch, while the launch itself costs 62 ...
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1answer
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How much did the fuel for the space shuttle missions cost?
I'm looking for a rough estimate on how much it costs. I understand that it is a propellant mix, and that NASA contracts a company to produce it, but I am yet to come across a figure per kg of the ...
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Cost-effective Space Shuttle: was it feasible?
As far as I understand, NASA's Space Shuttle was initially conceived as a cheap way of launching people and cargo into orbit, with one-week vehicle turnaround time and dozens of missions per year. ...
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1answer
750 views
How much do solar cells for space cost? [closed]
There is a lot of discussion about refueling rockets in deep space. This is to be managed by electrolysis of water powered by solar cells. This requires a lot of energy so one needs a lot of solar ...
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2answers
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With today's technology, how much would it cost to put a man on the Moon again? [closed]
Has there been any current estimates for the cost of putting a man on the moon, today? I'm curious how much the price has dropped with the improvement of technology, compared to the original moon ...
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Zenit Launch Costs
I am compiling a table of data on price-mass ratios of various modern rockets, and I have been unable to find any information on how much it costs to launch a Zenit rocket. Does anybody know how much ...
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Are fission thermal engines more expensive to develop than chemical engines?
Is there something inherent in the technology of a fission thermal rocket engine that makes it a more expensive endeavour than developing yet another chemical engine? For example because of the ...
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1answer
369 views
How much did the Apollo boilerplate rockets cost?
The point of a boilerplate is to test out the features of a system at a reduced cost. I would like to know what it cost to build the Apollo boilerplates. There was a series of such rockets so I would ...
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1answer
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How much does a launch scrub cost?
SpaceX (among others) does a series of final automated checks 10 seconds before launch, and aborts the launch if any of them fail. Yesterday and today, one of them did (each time), causing the launch ...
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What's the marginal cost of a second interplanetary space probe copy, like Voyager 2 or Viking 2?
During the old space race days, launching double or multiple scientific probe copies seems to have been the standard. It should have the advantage of sharing the one time fixed development costs while ...
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1answer
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What makes time on the DSN so expensive?
David Hammen wrote in a comment on Why there is not a single orbiter for Uranus or Neptune? that:
The two Voyager satellites still receive multiple Deep Space Network contacts per week, each of ...
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1answer
3k views
How much will SpaceX's constellation of Internet satellites cost?
SpaceX has a plan to launch up to 4K satellites to provide global Internet access. Is there a reasonable estimate of how much this constellation would cost to launch? Also, as the minimum number of ...
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1answer
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Why is the cubesat structure so expensive?
The 1U cubesat structure is a 10*10*10 cm metal cube with frames. But it costs around 2000-3000€, which is really expensive.
I've found it for example on these sites:
https://www.isispace.nl/product/...
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How much in revenue did NASA report for the US fiscal 2016?
In US dollars, how much revenue did NASA project in 2015 for its fiscal 2016 budget and what percentage was manifested during or before Q4 2016?
The answer may include departmental, management or ...
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1answer
539 views
Comparison between solid rocket fuels. Which are better by performance and cost? [closed]
I am interested for a comparison of solid rocket fuels by their performance and cost. Comparison by specific impulse (Isp), energy that gives (which one is more energitic), density, cost to ...
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Average cost of SpaceWalk [duplicate]
How much does it costs NASA for an astronaut to perform a single spacewalk? Not including salary just the cost of actually sending someone into space.
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Building a ultra-small almost space vehicle
I'm quite interested in small rockets-balloons that can reach more than 50km,
thus I want to build one myself (With my school financial support). I just want it to carry like a 350g-450g equipment. ...
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1answer
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How will the BE-4 engine “Save taxpayer money”?
In this explanation of the Blue Origin BE-4 engine, the text says:
LOWEST COST
Blue Origin’s BE-4 requires NO taxpayer dollars.
Fully funded
The BE-4 is fully paid for by the private ...
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3answers
5k views
What is the rough breakdown of rocket costs?
What is the breakdown of a typical rocket- say, a Delta IV? From what I've heard 99% of the cost is engineering labor but I haven't seen any source for that. I just need the manufacturing cost of the ...
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1answer
807 views
Why does a Falcon Heavy cost more with a heavier payload?
While trying to find the priceof a Falcon Heavy launch, I noticed the following:
\$90M (<8.0mT), [\$130M (>8.0mT)]
Why is there a $40 million difference in price for the heavier payload? Also, ...
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2answers
306 views
What exactly makes Red Dragon costly
Red Dragon is currently in the news again. Except for its enormous amount of ambition and its relatively large risk of failure (e.g. Falcon Heavy RUD, a SuperDraco failure on Mars, mixing imperial and ...
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Do 3D printers in space stations mean a significant cost reduction?
I just watched a VSauce2 video, at the end of which certain NASA animations were shown about some of their recent innovations. One of them included use of printers in the ISS.
Do they actually mean a ...
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ISS business venture cost?
How much would it cost for a business to place some self-maintaining electronic equipment aboard the ISS? Would it be a monthly fee, or a one-time transportation and installation fee? Would that ...
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Juno to Jupiter Budget
Would the Juno program be more cost effective if the spacecraft took a direct flight to Jupiter rather than using gravitational pull from planets, which took nearly 5 years instead of say, 2 years? ...
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1answer
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Why do we always only launch one probe? [duplicate]
Juno got me thinking again about scaling and maximizing the output of space exploration missions. It seems weird that (with the notable exception of Mars rovers) we (as in humanity) always only start ...
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How will the UK leaving the EU affect ESA?
Now that the UK has voted to leave the European Union, how is that going to affect the European Space Agency? How much funding and participation does ESA receive from the UK based on the EU ...
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1answer
487 views
What makes SLS (Space Launch System) \$10 Billion (or \$36 Billion) project?
The SLS development budget is \$18 billion (currently \$10 billion are spent for SLS rocket), although another site shows even \$35B.
If I am not mistaken SLS is a new & improved version of ...
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Any interest in crewed mission to Mars without landing?
Would there be any interest in a manned mission to Mars without landing?
This could consists of none (just a flyby) to many revolution(s) around the planet.
Would it cut a consequent part of the cost ...
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365 views
How does NASA compare with other space agencies in terms of RoI (in terms of science: papers published per $ invested) [closed]
How does NASA's funding compare to other space agencies' funding? How many papers are they publishing and how many US patents do they have? Compare different space agencies in terms of
number of ...
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1answer
907 views
Cost of an EVA on the ISS?
What does it cost for an astronaut to spend an hour outside the ISS, in terms of
astronaut time
mission preparation time
ground support personnel
space suit "rent" (?)
Does this cost vary for a ...
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1answer
116 views
What do the gravitational wave findings mean for Evolved Laser Interferometer Space Antenna satellite
Being announced as the discovery of the decade (sucks to work in science for the next 4 years I guess) the recent announcement of the discovery of gravitational waves from the collision of two black ...
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2answers
148 views
What factors hinder establishing a moon-base mission? Enterprise or scientific value? [closed]
Given recent advances in both engineering achievements - reusable rockets technology, launch frequency, fabrication/3D printing; and the growth in the general public awareness of space exploration due ...
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1answer
245 views
Are NASA Space Programs Government funded only or at times financed by publishing books as well?
NASA and other space exploration programs are funded by respective Governments as we know. Are funds also raised by publishing books on space exploration and related subjects?
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1answer
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“Culberson's” Europa mission: How can mission proritization be done so unilaterally?
According to Marcia S. Smith of SpacePolicyOnline.com in "NASA Gets Big Boost in Final FY2016 Appropriations Bill" news article:
Planetary Science. Funding for planetary missions is \$1.631 billion,...
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1answer
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Roughly what percentage (by cost) of a Rocket Launch does stage 1 of the Falcon 9 Rocket represent? [duplicate]
As of a short time ago, SpaceX made history as the first entity *ever* to successfully re-land the initial stage of an orbital rocket.
Up until this point, the dominating factor in the cost of Rocket ...
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1answer
165 views
Do government space agencies capitalise on selling intellectual property/patents etc
This questions is purely about government agencies, not private companies.
Typically the massive reams of data that must be produced to design and qualify a satellite or rocket aren't openly shared ...
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Are any ISEE-3 like returns expected in the foreseeable future?
The crowdsourced effort to re-establish communication with ISEE-3 was a spectacular event enabled, amongst all, by serendipitous trajectory, that brought the probe near Earth after 35 years travel, ...
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1answer
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Why do ULA vehicles cost so much more than European?
Right now, the cost of a Delta or Atlas is significantly higher than anything else on the market. I could see them being higher than the Soyuz or Long March, as they are made in countries with cheap ...
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1answer
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Why design new rocket engines instead of using the existing types?
Already in the 1960s rocket engines seem to have achieved near maximum chemical efficiency. What are the reasons for new designs being in demand?
How much better could a new engine design be than the ...
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1answer
208 views
How can new LEO manned launch vehicle development costs be reduced?
I was looking through the historical record and found that over time the money input into rocket development has yielded more performance benefits. I imagine that the development cost has reduced ...
