The official price is $62m for the reusable F9 (up to 5.5t to GTO) and $90m for the reusable FH (up to 8t to GTO).http://www.spacex.com/about/capabilities...
Quote from: Oli on 05/20/2018 02:04 pmThe official price is $62m for the reusable F9 (up to 5.5t to GTO) and $90m for the reusable FH (up to 8t to GTO).http://www.spacex.com/about/capabilities...They have never publicly revealed the price of an expendable F9, have they?
Side boosters landing on droneships & center expended is only ~10% performance penalty vs fully expended. Cost is only slightly higher than an expended F9, so around $95M.
What payload is too big for a reusable Falcon 9 that can't fly on the much more capable reusable Falcon Heavy?That's the job of the Falcon Heavy, to take payloads too big for a reusable Falcon 9, so I don't think we'll ever see a need for an expendable Falcon 9 unless it's an end-of-life opportunity for SpaceX (i.e. lots of flights done, & not worth refurbishing).
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=45033 makes the estimate that a FH with triple reuse has slightly lower payload to LEO (by 10%) than a F9 expendable.I'm not sure how much I believe that number.But 20 ton LEO payloads are not very common.
Quote from: Coastal Ron on 05/20/2018 07:33 pmWhat payload is too big for a reusable Falcon 9 that can't fly on the much more capable reusable Falcon Heavy?That's the job of the Falcon Heavy, to take payloads too big for a reusable Falcon 9, so I don't think we'll ever see a need for an expendable Falcon 9 unless it's an end-of-life opportunity for SpaceX (i.e. lots of flights done, & not worth refurbishing).https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=45033 makes the estimate that a FH with triple reuse has slightly lower payload to LEO (by 10%) than a F9 expendable.I'm not sure how much I believe that number.But 20 ton LEO payloads are not very common.
In reality fully 3-stick-reusable FH has at least 10% more capacity than fully expendable F9, but the difference slightly depends in the target orbit.
Where does the first stage get more wear? Launch or re-entry and landing? If the latter is the case, there may come a time in a Block 5's career that it might be sold as an expendable rather than a re-furbish. If it's a draw or the launch imparts more stress, then I don't think a customer would want to buy. I doubt if we have enough knowledge to answer this question (yet)!
Cost of the upper stages is the same regardless of F9 vs FH. And I’ll be shocked if the price for expended F9 is lower than recoverable FH. It is in the hands of the customer, but SpaceX will price their options such that there is only one obvious choice.
The official price is $62m for the reusable F9 (up to 5.5t to GTO) and $90m for the reusable FH (up to 8t to GTO).
Quote from: Oli on 05/20/2018 02:04 pmThe official price is $62m for the reusable F9 (up to 5.5t to GTO) and $90m for the reusable FH (up to 8t to GTO).Reused F9 price is now down to $50m for NASA's IXPE:https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=48510.0
Quote from: Kabloona on 07/09/2019 11:53 amQuote from: Oli on 05/20/2018 02:04 pmThe official price is $62m for the reusable F9 (up to 5.5t to GTO) and $90m for the reusable FH (up to 8t to GTO).Reused F9 price is now down to $50m for NASA's IXPE:https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=48510.0And that's a one-off NASA mission. It's possible someone with lower overhead and a need for a bunch more launches may be able to swing a better deal.
Quote from: Robotbeat on 07/10/2019 03:24 amQuote from: Kabloona on 07/09/2019 11:53 amQuote from: Oli on 05/20/2018 02:04 pmThe official price is $62m for the reusable F9 (up to 5.5t to GTO) and $90m for the reusable FH (up to 8t to GTO).Reused F9 price is now down to $50m for NASA's IXPE:https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=48510.0And that's a one-off NASA mission. It's possible someone with lower overhead and a need for a bunch more launches may be able to swing a better deal.At some point in the nearish future, they have to start transitioning over from marginal cost of launch to 'what the market will bear' - if things do not go wrong.Encouraging growth in Mars-related stuff, and space in general. With a vast capability overcapacity in your launcher, charging $5M for 150 tons and 1.5 tons seems unlikely.Pricing is such a fun part of this, as will justifying it be.I could see them desiring to price multiply retanked launches of cargo (including refuelling) to the moon surface at below the cost of one launch to GTO, for example, if it was to hardware they had the rights to later reproduce, and was appropriate for their ongoing goals.
---------------------- UPDATE -----------------Now that the first year of block 5 is done, we can re-look at this bet. Here's how it would have gone so far. I'd start by sending you the amount listed after each mission:[....]1056.1 SpX-17 -$301049.3 Starlink -$401051.2 Radarsat -$501057.2 STP-2 -$40 Core expended; not enough fuel for landing1052.2 STP-2 -$601053.2 STP-2 -$70
Also, Musk says he thinks 10 flights of a single booster are possible next year:QuoteMusk: The first #Falcon9 Block 5 to achieve 10 flights will probably happen next year. "I think that's really a key milestone," he sayshttps://twitter.com/EmreKelly/status/994653260547088384Of course, that doesn't cover what happens with all the other boosters. Several others could have multiple flights, though I think his forecast that any of them will reach 10 flights next year is overly optimistic.
Musk: The first #Falcon9 Block 5 to achieve 10 flights will probably happen next year. "I think that's really a key milestone," he says
Quote from: Kabloona on 05/10/2018 09:05 pmAlso, Musk says he thinks 10 flights of a single booster are possible next year:QuoteMusk: The first #Falcon9 Block 5 to achieve 10 flights will probably happen next year. "I think that's really a key milestone," he sayshttps://twitter.com/EmreKelly/status/994653260547088384Of course, that doesn't cover what happens with all the other boosters. Several others could have multiple flights, though I think his forecast that any of them will reach 10 flights next year is overly optimistic.Tangential... I am a huge reuse proponent and SpaceX amazing people but I am willing to bet that we do not see 10 flights of the same booster this year. ("next year" in a quote from last year). 5 maybe, but there probably are not enough flights on the manifest for 2019 even with the max starlink flights possible, unless they deliberately used the same booster over and over and over while letting others lie fallow.
OK, Elon over predicted. Hmmm .... Let's just leave it at that.I'm willing to bet that Elon's 10 flight prediction happens, but later than he guessed.
Perhaps not the best thread for this, but is this a reflection of change in Starlink timeline? Without Starlink launches, I'm not sure how he would have arrived at that number in the 2019 timeframe (or even close to it). Somewhere along the way they have to start launching at an unprecedented cadence if they are going to get Starlink operational. But aside from Starlink, the manifest doesn't seem to support getting to 10 in any sort of near future.