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SpaceX's giant Starship Mars rocket nails critical 10th test flight

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Re: SpaceX's giant Starship Mars rocket nails critical 10th test flight

#11

Post by ralfd »

voidUpdate wrote: post #4
fluoridation wrote: post #2

How much money did it cost to orbit Saturn V (including R&D of course)?

According to wikipedia, the entire cost of the saturn v project was US$185 million, equivalent to US$33.6 billion today. That's from R&D to all launches

You mis-copied the numbers for one launch. Wiki says:

> Project cost US$6.417 billion (equivalent to $33.6 billion in 2023)

> Cost per launch US$185 million (equivalent to $969 million in 2023)

That a manned Apollo mission would/did cost under a billion dollars (todays money) is surprisingly cheap. A single Artemis launch using the Space Launch System (SLS) costs an eye watering $4 billions.

Different metric:

> [1966] NASA received its largest total budget of $4.5 billion, about 0.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States at that time.

Using that metric NASA yearly budget would with todays GDP be $150 billion dollars.

Re: SpaceX's giant Starship Mars rocket nails critical 10th test flight

#14

Post by nashashmi »

ralfd wrote: post #11
voidUpdate wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to wikipedia, the entire cost of the saturn v project was US$185 million, equivalent to US$33.6 billion today. That's from R&D to all launches

You mis-copied the numbers for one launch. Wiki says: > Project cost US$6.417 billion (equivalent to $33.6 billion in 2023) > Cost per launch US$185 million (equivalent to $969 million in 2023) That a manned Apollo mission would/did cost under a billion dollars (todays money) is surprisingly cheap. A single Artemis launch using the Space Launch System (SLS) costs an eye watering $4 billions. Different metric: > [1966…

In recent years, NASA’s budget has hovered around $25–27 billion.

This represents less than 0.5% of the total U.S. federal budget, though it’s one of the most visible and impactful science agencies

Re: SpaceX's giant Starship Mars rocket nails critical 10th test flight

#16

Post by loeg »

boxed wrote: post #6
fluoridation wrote: post #2

How much money did it cost to orbit Saturn V (including R&D of course)?

Adding to previous comment, looks like the cost per launch when the system was up and running was ~1billion USD inflation adjusted. I'm going to assume Starship will beat that easily.

Looks like Starship test flights are already beating that $1 billion per-launch cost (I'm seeing estimates in the $100-500 million range), and they'd like to get the marginal cost down to ~$10 million.

Re: SpaceX's giant Starship Mars rocket nails critical 10th test flight

#17

Post by voidUpdate »

ralfd wrote: post #11
voidUpdate wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to wikipedia, the entire cost of the saturn v project was US$185 million, equivalent to US$33.6 billion today. That's from R&D to all launches

You mis-copied the numbers for one launch. Wiki says: > Project cost US$6.417 billion (equivalent to $33.6 billion in 2023) > Cost per launch US$185 million (equivalent to $969 million in 2023) That a manned Apollo mission would/did cost under a billion dollars (todays money) is surprisingly cheap. A single Artemis launch using the Space Launch System (SLS) costs an eye watering $4 billions. Different metric: > [1966…

facepalm not sure how I misread that

Re: SpaceX's giant Starship Mars rocket nails critical 10th test flight

#18

Post by Romario77 »

It was a significant progress, but I won't call it "nailed it". As there was an damage or explosion on re-entry where the skirt of the starship got damaged. And we could see pretty significant damage on one of the fins.

Nailing it would be without the things above.

Re: SpaceX's giant Starship Mars rocket nails critical 10th test flight

#20

Post by enraged_camel »

Incredible achievement, but what is more incredible is how many people (including almost all of my friends circle) have started rooting for SpaceX to fail due to the shenanigans of its founder.

I think as a culture we've lost the ability to compartmentalize. We should be able to criticize and even despise the head of a company, and at the same time celebrate when the intelligence and hard work of the countless smart and hard-working people at that company push the boundaries of what is possible for humanity.

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