Falcon 9 reaches a flight rate 30 times higher than shuttle at 1/100th the cost

https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/12/spacex-has-set-all-kinds-of-records-with-its-falcon-9-rocket-this-year/

by rbanffy • 2 years ago

27 5 2 years ago

colinng• 2 years ago

It is an amazing feat and can put the US on excellent footing.

But I’m not sure it is a fair comparison because the Space Shuttle also returned a crew with each launch. Starlink can afford to pay the cost of lost cargo, or diminished fuel reserves for sub-optimal launch altitude, on launch failure.

Still, I hope it continues on this excellent path and doesn’t fall into the complacency trap that skydivers have to watch for. It would be great if the Falcon 9 launches can fund the eventual completion of Starship, and that Starship goes on to become the first fully and rapidly reusable - and hopefully safest - ship.

jqpabc123• 2 years ago

The space shuttle was the worst possible launch vehicle because the majority of the expense was directed toward safe guarding the obligatory crew.

Science fiction fans always point to the fact that only the space shuttle could have saved Hubble. Yes --- but at a cost that was far greater than simply replacing it with a better, more modern telescope.

Nothing about the Space Shuttle made any sense from a cost perspective.

xnx• 2 years ago

Nothing about the Space Shuttle made any sense from a cost perspective.

Definitely not from a payload or scientific perspective. Is there some national security and/or jobs program angle where it makes sense?

Zigurd• 2 years ago

It's an odd comparison because Starship is more of a "Shuttle done right" than Falcon 9:

Vertical take and return vs a vertical takeoff spaceplane

Methalox in both stages vs liquid hydrogen + solid fuel boosters

Lower build cost

Etc.

Falcon 9 reaches a flight rate 30 times higher than shuttle at 1/100th the cost

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