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Apparently the Saturn V could lift 119 metric tons to LEO.
At $1.11 billion per launch, though. SpaceX is promising $80-$125 million for half the payload.
Wow, I like how candid they are about the pricing. It feels like they are targeting consumers more than governments -- most 'expensive,' enterprise targeted products are of the 'call us and ask for pricing' variety.
The table here doesn't give cost comparisons for the other launch vehicles, but in the press conference Elon Musk said that the Delta IV Heavy costs roughly 3x the Falcon Heavy, meaning that the FH is approximately 6x cheaper in $/lb to low earth orbit. The figures quoted on the page work out to $1,070 per lb to LEO. That's less than $200k to lift the mass of a 180lb human.
> That's less than $200k to lift the mass of a 180lb human. Before anyone tries to estimate how much space tourism will cost, remember that the actual weight of humans will make up a tiny fraction of the total weight of any orbiting hotel. Probably need to multiply by an order of magnitude or two.
But, longer term, consider what happens if/when there is existing infrastructure in LEO and highly productive and profitable work for an individual to do there. The cost of actually getting to LEO will be a relatively minor relocation cost, even at these numbers.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
At $1.11 billion per launch, though. SpaceX is promising $80-$125 million for half the payload.
I'm actually surprised things haven't gotten cheaper by more than a factor of 5 in half a century. (If anyone's wondering, $1.11 Billion is in 2011 dollars.) Does anyone know what the primary costs are? People, construction, raw materials, etc.?
Can this eventually carry people into orbit, I wonder?
Yes. https://twitter.com/spacexer/status/55291286919454720 > Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are designed to meet all published NASA standards to carry crew. (disclaimer: you must weigh less than 53 metric tons)
Damnit!
With all their partnerships and contracts, SpaceX is now a viable alternative in the industry. Clearly they can compete on price. What remains to be determined however is if they can compete on mission success and reliability. You can bet their competitors are playing the fear card to their customers.
Of course, that wouldn't be acceptable for human cargo.
This is extremely cool but I have one question about the website design; what's with using Flash for the headings (I only noticed because I have click-to-flash turned on)?