Has any western organization made liquids work for less than $16 million? SpaceX abandoned the Falcon 1 concept after a few launches, Antonio a while back mentioned that Pegasus was in the $20 million range (Wiki sites has an out of date 1994 number)... Wiki numbers give Vega costing some 1 billion euro's to develop (700 million euro to develop, 400 million euro for the test flights) and 32 million euro's per flight. Using those numbers, $16 million for access to space sounds like a fair price. The only thing currently cheaper is the subsidized Dnepr which uses refurbished ICBM's and may or not be breaking even.Sometimes it is about a payload to a given orbit, and not about the mass to orbit.
Launch cost is mentioned at $16M per mission, which might eventually become $12M per mission. This is for a 300 kg payload. That works out to $53K/kg initially and $40K/kg later. That's not very cheap.
First launch slipping into next January: http://spacenews.com/article/military-space/41923ors-4-launch-from-hawaii-delayed-until-january
Quote from: Galactic Penguin SST on 09/20/2014 07:56 amFirst launch slipping into next January: http://spacenews.com/article/military-space/41923ors-4-launch-from-hawaii-delayed-until-januaryBump.
Quote from: Danderman on 01/14/2015 10:25 pmQuote from: Galactic Penguin SST on 09/20/2014 07:56 amFirst launch slipping into next January: http://spacenews.com/article/military-space/41923ors-4-launch-from-hawaii-delayed-until-januaryBump.It has definitely slipped deeper into 2015, but is there any news around about this project?
I haven't seen the "Super Strypi 2" designator before. But during development, the first version was to use the Spark-30 (a.k.a. Star-30BP) stage 3, which was later to be replaced with the LEO-1 (Orbus-1A) stage 3. In the current plan, the 1st vehicle will also fly with an LEO-1 upper stage, i.e. in the second configuration, which is possibly dubbed "Super Strypi 2".
Mid-2016, according to the FY 2016 budget request. Apparently there are issues with the first stage motor.http://www.saffm.hq.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-150130-013.pdfLook under FY 2015 plans on page 226.
GEM 46 is an ATK product, what does that have to do with Aerojet?
Who provides the TVC on the GEM-46?
Quote from: Danderman on 02/14/2015 02:38 pmGEM 46 is an ATK product, what does that have to do with Aerojet?That is a very good question. All I know is that "LEO-46 a.k.a. GEM-46" is listed in numerous sources. The numerous sources might be mistaken, or ATK might supply the core solid motor to Aerojet, or some other arrangement might have been involved. - Ed Kyle
Mid-2016, according to the FY 2016 budget request. Apparently there are issues with the first stage motor.