Author Topic: SpaceX customers' views on reuse  (Read 344863 times)

Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« on: 04/06/2017 05:28 pm »
I don't think we have a thread on different SpaceX customers' (and potential customers) views on reuse?

Obviously SES have been very supportive and publicly vocal in that support for some time. NASA too, although less vocally?

SpaceX plan/hope to reuse more and more boosters, but not clear who for (beyond SES and FH demo). Let's capture others views (pro or anti) in this thread.

Here's one to kick things off:

Quote
Gen. Raymond, head of Space Command, praises SpaceX's use of AFSS and says USAF would be comfortable flying on reused Falcon rocket. #33SS

https://twitter.com/flatoday_jdean/status/850034744087777280


Edit Dec 1, 2017:

Here’s an attempt to summarise customer views on reuse over time, plus dates of reuse launches. Corrections/additions welcome in this thread or by DM.

Key
Green  1st reuse launch by listed customer
Purple  2nd or subsequent reuse by listed customer

UTC Date  CustomerEvent
2015/06/17SESM. Halliwell says SES want to reuse F9 booster
2016/05/24USAFClaire Leon: could be long time before govt agrees reuse for NatSec payload
2016/08/30SES1st booster reuse agreement announced (SES-10)
2017/01NASANASA & SpaceX start working on booster reuse (not known publicly)
2017/03/15USAFClaire Leon: no plans for reuse, might consider in future
2017/03/30SESSES-10 GTO launch: 1st F9 booster reuse
2017/03/30SESM Halliwell@post SES-10 launch press conf: 2 other SES 2017 launches likely to reuse
2017/03/30SpaceXElon confirms FH demo booster reuse @ post SES-10 launch press conference
2017/04/06USAFGen Raymond (Head of Space Command) says USAF would be comfortable with reuse
2017/04/11NASAD Hartmann (Dep Mngr ISS Program): discussing reuse; may not be 2017, shortly after
2017/05/05BulsatcomAnnouncement that BulgariaSat-1 will launch on a reused booster
2017/05/15InmarsatCEO post I-5 F4 launch: look fwd to future reuse once reuse more proven
2017/06/15IridiumMatt Desch says Iridium would reuse in 2018 (for big discount/schedule improvement)
2017/06/15SpaceXVP Sales Hofeller says many customers interested in converting to flown stages
2017/06/22HASCHouse Armed Services Committee endorses RLV use by govt (AF, DOD)
2017/06/23BulsatcomBulgariaSat-1 GTO launch: 2nd F9 booster reuse
2017/07/15IntelsatPost Intelsat 35e launch, VP Ken Lee says will definitely consider reuse in future
2017/08/04SESReuse of booster for SES-11 launch confirmed
2017/09/21USAFGen Raymond: need review to make sure reuse safe, then all in for reuse
2017/10/11SESSES-11 GTO launch: 3rd F9 booster reuse
2017/10/12SESFirst explicit mention that SES-16 launch may reuse booster
2017/10/16USAFGen Raymond: “absolutely foolish” not to begin using pre-flown rockets
2017/10/18SpacecomBooster reuse for AMOS-17 launch announced
2017/10/19IridiumAnnouncement that Iridium NEXT 4 & 5 flights will reuse boosters
2017/10/24NASA1st press report that NASA will reuse booster on next CRS flights
2017/11/29NASAGerst makes official long-rumoured booster reuse for CRS-13
2017/12/15NASACRS-13 LEO launch: 4th F9 booster reuse
2017/12/15MDAAnnouncement of F9 reuse for RADARSAT constellation
2017/12/22HisdesatAnnouncement of F9 reuse for PAZ launch
2017/12/23IridiumIridium NEXT 4 LEO launch: 5th F9 booster reuse
2018/01/11SESConfirmation of SES-16 on flight-proven booster
2018/01/31SESSES-16/GovSat1 LEO launch: 6th F9 booster reuse
2018/02/01-WIRED claims 50% of 2018 manifest of 30 flights will reuse boosters
2018/02/06SpaceXFH demo BEO launch: 7th & 8th F9 booster reuse
2018/02/1?-Gwynne Shotwell confirms around half of 2018 manifest will reuse boosters
2018/02/22HisdesatPAZ LEO launch: 9th F9 booster reuse
2018/03/14DigitalGlobeAnnouncement of 2 DigitialGlobe LEO flights for 2021 re-using boosters
2018/03/16NASAPublic confirmation of booster reuse for CRS-14
2018/03/21IridiumConfirmation that Iridium NEXT 6 flight will reuse booster
2018/03/30IridiumIridium NEXT 5 LEO launch: 10th F9 booster reuse
2018/04/02NASACRS-14 LEO launch: 11th F9 booster reuse
2018/04/05SESConfirmation of SES-12 on flight-proven booster
2018/04/15NASASpaceX says plan to reuse TESS booster for CRS-15 (if NASA approves)
2018/05/22Iridium/NASAIridium NEXT 6/GRACE-FO LEO launch: 12th F9 booster reuse
2018/06/04SESSES-12 GTO launch: 13th F9 booster reuse
2018/06/29NASACRS-15 LEO launch: 14th F9 booster reuse (last non-block 5 orbital launch)
2018/08/01CONAENSF publishes that only recently agreed SAOCOM 1A launch will use booster 1048.2
2018/08/02PerseroMerah Putih launch static fire shows 1st flight-proven block 5 booster
2018/08/07PerseroMerah Putih GTO launch: 15th F9 booster reuse, 1st with block 5
2018/10/03SpaceflightHans Koenigsmann: possible SSO-A launch first to use a booster for 3rd time
2018/10/07CONAESAOCOM 1A SSO launch: 16th F9 booster reuse, 1st VAFB landing
2018/10/18IridiumMatt Desch (Iridium CEO) confirms booster reuse (1049.2) for Iridium 8 launch
2018/11/15SpaceflightSpaceX confirms Spaceflight SSO-A launch 1st to use booster (1046) for 3rd time
2018/11/15Es’hailSatEs’hail-2 GTO launch: 17th F9 booster reuse
2018/12/03SpaceflightSSO-A SSO launch: 18th F9 booster reuse & 1st booster to fly 3 times
2018/12/18USAFNASA director says USAF STP-2 FH mission to reuse boosters
2019/01/11IridiumIridium NEXT 8 LEO launch: 19th F9 booster reuse
2019/02/22PSN/SpaceILNusantara Satu (PSN VI)/GTO-1/SpaceIL GTO launch: 20th F9 booster reuse
2019/05/23SpaceXStarlink 1 LEO launch: 21st F9 booster reuse
2019/06/12MDARCM RADARSAT Constellation SSO launch: 22nd F9 booster reuse
2019/06/24USAFFH STP-2 MEO launch: 23rd & 24th F9 booster reuse
2019/07/25NASACRS-18 LEO launch: 25th F9 booster reuse
2019/08/06SpacecomAMOS-17 GTO launch: 26th F9 booster reuse
2019/11/11SpaceXStarlink 2 (v1.0 L1) LEO launch: 1st fairing reuse & 1st booster (1048) to fly 4 times
2019/12/17JSAT/KacificJCSAT-18/Kacific-1 launch: 28th F9 booster reuse
2020/01/06SpaceXStarlink 3 (v1.0 L2) LEO launch: 29th booster reuse
2020/01/19 SpaceX Dragon 2 CCiCAP in-flight abort SUB launch: 30th booster reuse
2020/01/29SpaceXStarlink 4 (v1.0 L3) LEO launch: 31st booster reuse
2020/02/17SpaceXStarlink 5 (v1.0 L4) LEO launch: 32nd booster reuse
2020/03/07NASACRS-20 LEO launch: final Dragon 1 launch, 33rd booster reuse & 50th successful landing
Planned:
2020/03/15SpaceXStarlink 6 (v1.0 L5) LEO launch: 2nd fairing reuse & 1st booster (1048) to fly 5 times
2021 DigitalGlobe First SpaceX WorldView satellite LEO launch
2021 DigitalGlobe Second SpaceX WorldView satellite LEO launch
« Last Edit: 03/14/2020 08:18 pm by FutureSpaceTourist »

Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« Reply #1 on: 04/06/2017 05:57 pm »
Slightly varying reports of what the Gen said:

Quote
Gen Jay Raymond, head of Air Force Space Command, says he's "open" to using previously flown rockets for launches of military assets. #33SS
https://twitter.com/pfswarts/status/850038411910148100

Quote
Gen Raymond says he's ready to fly a military payload on a used booster. #SpaceSymposium #33ss
https://twitter.com/pat_defdaily/status/850034233477394432

Offline FutureSpaceTourist

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Re: SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« Reply #2 on: 04/07/2017 01:28 pm »
Here's a write-up by Irene Klotz of the general's remarks:

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-spacex-military-idUSKBN1782ZS

Quote
"I would be comfortable if we were to fly on a reused booster,” General John "Jay" Raymond told reporters at the U.S. Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. “They’ve proven they can do it. ... It’s going to get us to lower cost.”

Offline deruch

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Re: SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« Reply #3 on: 04/09/2017 02:05 am »
Cross posting from the GPS-IIIA-3 thread with quoted comments post that award announcement.  I don't believe that Ms. Leon's comments (reported 2017-03-15) are substantially different from Gen. Raymond's (reported 2017-04-06) in the previous post.  Her's highlight the work still to be done before the AF would actually buy a launch using a pre-flown core while the General's are more big picture about their general willingness to consider doing so.

SpaceNews has a follow-up article on this contract award.

You won't be suprised to know that SpaceX won on price, but this quote is interesting on AF's view of re-use:

Quote
Meanwhile, [Claire] Leon said that the Air Force has no plans to fly payloads on Falcon 9 rockets with previously-flown first stages. The service has specifically requested SpaceX not to fly re-used hardware.

“We would have to certify flight hardware that had been used which is more qualification, more analysis, so we’re not taking that on quite yet,” she said. “If it proves to be successful for commercial, we might consider that in the future.”

http://spacenews.com/spacexs-low-cost-won-gps-3-launch-air-force-says/

Claire Leon is the launch enterprise director for the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center
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Offline Hotblack Desiato

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Re: SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« Reply #4 on: 04/09/2017 08:21 am »
Cross posting from the GPS-IIIA-3 thread with quoted comments post that award announcement.  I don't believe that Ms. Leon's comments (reported 2017-03-15) are substantially different from Gen. Raymond's (reported 2017-04-06) in the previous post.  Her's highlight the work still to be done before the AF would actually buy a launch using a pre-flown core while the General's are more big picture about their general willingness to consider doing so.

SpaceNews has a follow-up article on this contract award.

You won't be suprised to know that SpaceX won on price, but this quote is interesting on AF's view of re-use:

Quote
Meanwhile, [Claire] Leon said that the Air Force has no plans to fly payloads on Falcon 9 rockets with previously-flown first stages. The service has specifically requested SpaceX not to fly re-used hardware.

“We would have to certify flight hardware that had been used which is more qualification, more analysis, so we’re not taking that on quite yet,” she said. “If it proves to be successful for commercial, we might consider that in the future.”

http://spacenews.com/spacexs-low-cost-won-gps-3-launch-air-force-says/

Claire Leon is the launch enterprise director for the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center

Economically, that is the (second)best case vor SpaceX: a customer who demands new rockets and who is willing to pay the price of those. This adds fresh rocket-stages to the pool of available rockets without having to worry about when the rockets will amortise their construction costs (the actuall best case is NASA, who is willing to pay the price-tag of the new rockets without actually demanding that they need to be pristine).

The worst case scenario would be customers, who demand the reused rockets so much, that none of them is willing to pay the fee for a fresh rocket (Similar to airplanes, where the first flight of a plane isn't ridiculously expensive just to cover the production costs).

I think, as soon as a few reused flights happened successfully, most private customers will be happy to use already used rockets, it lowers the launch price.

Offline macpacheco

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Re: SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« Reply #5 on: 04/09/2017 12:57 pm »
Economically the best thing is all customers signing reuse launch contracts without restrictions.
Boosters get flown 100 times, new boosters are made when needed.
The extra profit on a new booster launch contract money unlikely pays for the extra cost of building and testing it. The reflight flow for newly recovered boosters skips McGregor, so the savings isn't just manufacturing. I wouldn't be surprised if by the 3rd or 4th reflight refurb already costs about the same as McGregor resources alone.
NASA will likely require a ton of paperwork on reflown boosters, which might actually make it double logical to use new boosters on CRS/crew launches. Low thermal stress/lots of spare fuel on CRS launches.
NASA CRS missions pay a lot more but there's the Dragon costs, the mountain of additional paperwork and several extra requirements. The big $$$ advantage of serving NASA is on the development contracts where NASA paid for Crew/Cargo Dragon and part of F9 R&D costs.
« Last Edit: 04/10/2017 07:48 pm by macpacheco »
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Offline AncientU

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Re: SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« Reply #6 on: 04/09/2017 02:22 pm »
It would be nice to let the customers' views be presented here -- they are the ones shelling out tens of millions for launch services, not us.  As a 'guideline' I suggest that if you are not buying rocket rides, then you are OT.

For example:
Quote
Martin Halliwell(SES): You've got to decouple the engineering from the emotion.  Engineering team at SpaceX is second to none.

or

Quote
Irene Klotz: Do you have other costumers that weren't as brave as SES that are now signed up?  What is life-limiting factor?

Musk: NASA has been supportive.  Commercial, SES has been most supportive.  Next thing is how to achieve rapid reuse without major hardware changeouts.  Aspirations of zero hardware changes and 24hrs reflight.
« Last Edit: 04/09/2017 02:29 pm by AncientU »
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Offline faramund

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Re: SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« Reply #7 on: 04/09/2017 10:10 pm »
But SpaceX sets the prices - say if customer's decide that reused stages are safer than new stages. Then SpaceX would set a cost for a reused stage higher than a new one, and if people really, really didn't want a new one, and SpaceX wanted a new stage for every 10 launches, and a new stage cost $60m. They could always just add $6m to the cost of every reused stage, and then just scrap each stage after its done 10 launches. If necessary, and assuming a reused launch cost $30m, they could always add another $3m to each launch's cost, and do a dummy launch to certify the new rocket.

Offline ChrisWilson68

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Re: SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« Reply #8 on: 04/10/2017 01:23 am »
I think customer views on reuse will change very quickly if SpaceX can get a few customer payloads successfully flown on reused boosters.

Also, I think SES's words will change a lot of minds.  They were very clear that they have people embedded with SpaceX so they have a huge amount of insight into the internals at SpaceX and SES was not concerned at all that they were taking a significant risk with their payload.  It makes the people who were concerned look ignorant.  Nobody wants to feel ignorant, and nobody wants to see a competitor getting a better deal.

Offline faramund

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Re: SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« Reply #9 on: 04/10/2017 10:57 pm »
I'm very interested in seeing what the insurance difference will be for forthcoming launches. I wonder if it will be announced?

Offline john smith 19

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Re: SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« Reply #10 on: 04/10/2017 11:19 pm »
Economically the best thing is all customers signing reuse launch contracts without restrictions.
Boosters get flown 100 times, new boosters are made when needed.
"Best" for who exactly? SX or the customer?
Quote from: macpacheco
The extra profit on a new booster launch contract money unlikely pays for the extra cost of building and testing it. The reflight flow for newly recovered boosters skips McGregor, so the savings isn't just manufacturing. I wouldn't be surprised if by the 3rd or 4th reflight refurb already costs about the same as McGregor resources alone.
So what do think the implications for your line of reasoning are?
Quote from: macpacheco
NASA will likely require a ton of paperwork on reflown boosters, which might actually make it double logical to use new boosters on CRS/crew launches. Low thermal stress/lots of spare fuel on CRS launches.
NASA CRS missions pay a lot more but there's the Dragon costs, the mountain of additional paperwork and several extra requirements. The big $$$ advantage of serving NASA is on the development contracts where NASA paid for Crew/Cargo Dragon and part of F9 R&D costs.
As Jim has pointed out NASA asked for a New Dragon price because they did not feel SX had a strong handle on refurb prices for the capsules. I think that's now changed.

In the same way I would expect as statistics accumulate on booster reuse NASA will revisit what they think are reasonable prices for refurbed Dragons, Dragon 2's and S1's.
« Last Edit: 04/10/2017 11:21 pm by john smith 19 »
MCT ITS BFR SS. The worlds first Methane fueled FFSC engined CFRP SS structure A380 sized aerospaceplane tail sitter capable of Earth & Mars atmospheric flight.First flight to Mars by end of 2022 2027?. T&C apply. Trust nothing. Run your own #s "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof" R. Simberg."Competitve" means cheaper ¬cheap SCramjet proposed 1956. First +ve thrust 2004. US R&D spend to date > $10Bn. #deployed designs. Zero.

Offline john smith 19

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Re: SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« Reply #11 on: 04/10/2017 11:25 pm »
But SpaceX sets the prices - say if customer's decide that reused stages are safer than new stages. Then SpaceX would set a cost for a reused stage higher than a new one, and if people really, really didn't want a new one, and SpaceX wanted a new stage for every 10 launches, and a new stage cost $60m. They could always just add $6m to the cost of every reused stage, and then just scrap each stage after its done 10 launches. If necessary, and assuming a reused launch cost $30m, they could always add another $3m to each launch's cost, and do a dummy launch to certify the new rocket.
Quite correct.

Worst case is that reuse substantially lowers SpaceX's costs, but raises prices to customers.

That's worst case because it gives the customer basically nothing and will result in zero market growth.  since I don't think the benefits to the customer are that clear cut I expect SX to offer re-flowns at less than new prices (which is both fair and what every other transportation system does).

You can investigate this further by downloading my reusability cost game and setting the parameters for either 10 reuses (with no refurb costs) or dialing in what  you refurb costs will be per flight.
MCT ITS BFR SS. The worlds first Methane fueled FFSC engined CFRP SS structure A380 sized aerospaceplane tail sitter capable of Earth & Mars atmospheric flight.First flight to Mars by end of 2022 2027?. T&C apply. Trust nothing. Run your own #s "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof" R. Simberg."Competitve" means cheaper ¬cheap SCramjet proposed 1956. First +ve thrust 2004. US R&D spend to date > $10Bn. #deployed designs. Zero.

Offline deruch

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Re: SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« Reply #12 on: 04/11/2017 02:33 am »
Back on topic.  In NASA's pre-launch briefing for CRS-10, Dan Hartman--Deputy Manager, ISS Program--addressed NASA's near term plans for reusing the Dragon capsule and future plans for reuse of the Falcon 9 boosters in response to a question from Stephen Clark from SFN.

Quote from: Dan Hartman, NASA Dep. Manager ISS Program
Our plan for CRS-11, it's going to be the Dragon [that will be reused].  Not the Falcon, not a reused booster.  We've done a lot of work with SpaceX, over the last year and a half or two, looking at delta-verification requirements that we need to be comfortable to satisfy ourselves that Dragon can approach the ISS, get within the ellipsoid, and be done safely.  So, a lot of technical work is happening.  I'll tell you, everything is leaning good.  That the next dragon mission that we'll launch will be reused. 
     As far as the booster, we've just started those discussions.  We've got some teams off generating how we'll even go about requesting information from SpaceX.  Laying out our plan.  I imagine we'll have some sort of preliminary review on that in the April/May time period.   I think planning-wise, it may not happen this year.  But shortly thereafter.

The exchange can be found at time mark 22m:25s in the below youtube video.


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Offline AncientU

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Re: SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« Reply #13 on: 04/11/2017 12:47 pm »
A couple more data points were added by Blue Origin... Two customers (Eutelsat and OneWeb) already signed up for what will likely be 'flight proven' rockets.  Not a certainty, but Blue has never even mentioned expendable and NG development in the same sentence.

SpaceX also has a few other customers signed up for such launches... and SES gave the nod for a couple of the next launches to be on reused boosters during the presser.  EM acted surprised (in a positive way).

With Air Force, NASA, and several commercial ventures all moving in this direction, the rest of the commercial market should start stepping up very soon.
« Last Edit: 04/11/2017 12:53 pm by AncientU »
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Offline oldAtlas_Eguy

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Re: SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« Reply #14 on: 04/11/2017 03:45 pm »
This article has a wealth of customer veiw statements. But one of the more significant is the underwriter comment. https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/03/31/spacex-flies-rocket-for-second-time-in-historic-test-of-cost-cutting-technology/
Quote
“I think a bunch of companies are waiting to see (what happens),” an insurance underwriter who works in the satellite and launch markets said before the SES 10 mission. “A lot of it does have to do with the insurance market. If this goes successfully, then a lot of customers are going to assume that the insurance community is OK with reused stages, which will be the case.”

“The bottom line is reused rockets are here to stay,” the underwriter said.

If the underwriters do not charge more for a reused booster and SpaceX charges less then the commercial sat world will accept use of the reused boosters with only a slight hesitation at first but letting the drive to cost cutting make their mind up for them.

Offline AncientU

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Re: SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« Reply #15 on: 04/11/2017 05:53 pm »
Note: SES was charged 0.01% more for the reflight by their underwriter according to Martin Halliwell.
« Last Edit: 04/11/2017 05:53 pm by AncientU »
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Offline oldAtlas_Eguy

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Re: SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« Reply #16 on: 04/11/2017 06:06 pm »
Note: SES was charged 0.01% more for the reflight by their underwriter according to Martin Halliwell.
If your value is correct that is an increase of $50K in premiums on a premium that costs $40M on a $500M (sat +launch value) for a launch insurance. Not much of a risk factor change.

Risk factors from insurance rates of underwriters:
New - 1 failure in every 12.5 launches
Used - 1 failure in every 12.4844 launches
« Last Edit: 04/11/2017 06:12 pm by oldAtlas_Eguy »

Offline envy887

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Re: SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« Reply #17 on: 04/11/2017 06:29 pm »
Note: SES was charged 0.01% more for the reflight by their underwriter according to Martin Halliwell.
If your value is correct that is an increase of $50K in premiums on a premium that costs $40M on a $500M (sat +launch value) for a launch insurance. Not much of a risk factor change.

The value is a direct quote from the CTO at SES, I don't think you'll find a better source. According to a recent SpaceNews article, insurance for a flight on Ariane 5 could be purchased for 4% of insured value, and rates for Falcon 9 were similar: http://spacenews.com/space-insurers-warn-that-current-low-rates-are-not-sustainable/

Of course, if SES is also are insuring the cost of the launch, the cheaper flight rate on a used booster also factors in: at 4% premiums, the (approximately) $18.6M reflight discount should result in a premium $746k lower. A slightly higher rate will quickly eat this savings, but not at the 0.01% rate increase levels.

Offline oldAtlas_Eguy

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Re: SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« Reply #18 on: 04/11/2017 06:42 pm »
Note: SES was charged 0.01% more for the reflight by their underwriter according to Martin Halliwell.
If your value is correct that is an increase of $50K in premiums on a premium that costs $40M on a $500M (sat +launch value) for a launch insurance. Not much of a risk factor change.

The value is a direct quote from the CTO at SES, I don't think you'll find a better source. According to a recent SpaceNews article, insurance for a flight on Ariane 5 could be purchased for 4% of insured value, and rates for Falcon 9 were similar: http://spacenews.com/space-insurers-warn-that-current-low-rates-are-not-sustainable/

Of course, if SES is also are insuring the cost of the launch, the cheaper flight rate on a used booster also factors in: at 4% premiums, the (approximately) $18.6M reflight discount should result in a premium $746k lower. A slightly higher rate will quickly eat this savings, but not at the 0.01% rate increase levels.
Thanks about that. So not only is the launch costs going down, but because the risk factor has little change the premiums are going down too because the amount of insurance required went down. 

So the underwriter statement is just a matter of a short amount of time before commercial does not care about new or used status of the booster coming true.

Offline AncientU

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Re: SpaceX customers' views on reuse
« Reply #19 on: 04/11/2017 07:44 pm »
...
The value is a direct quote from the CTO at SES, I don't think you'll find a better source. According to a recent SpaceNews article, insurance for a flight on Ariane 5 could be purchased for 4% of insured value, and rates for Falcon 9 were similar: http://spacenews.com/space-insurers-warn-that-current-low-rates-are-not-sustainable/
...

Worthwhile to include the full text:

Quote
“Ariane 5 insurance rates are around the 4 percent mark,” said Russell Sawyer, executive director of Willis Towers Watson’s Inspace brokerage. “If you had talked about launch and in-orbit rates being that low 15 years ago, everybody would have thought you were crazy.”

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket can be insured for only slightly higher rates than Ariane 5. Russia’s Proton vehicle, which has suffered multiple failures in the past five years, is insured at around triple the rate for Ariane 5, according to figures produced by underwriter SCOR Global.

Proton's rate is shocking... customers will certainly notice this surcharge (as well as the basis for it) that wipes out the cost advantage of going with Proton -- 8% increase on a $500M satellite would be $40M of increased premium.  On the other hand, the 'slightly higher' rates for Falcon 9 would be more than compensated by lower launch costs.
"If we shared everything [we are working on] people would think we are insane!"
-- SpaceX friend of mlindner

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