Launch Costs

On 29/05/06, Robert wrote:
> what you are ignoreing is that fact that at current cost each pound
> cost 10000 dollars. that means a small 5 pound self distruct charge
> cost $50,000 to launch each time.

Well, you mainly need self-destruct charges on the first stage, and
the first stage is not going to orbit. There's about a 10:1 ratio on
the costs of the second stage relative to the first; the $10,000 apply
to the second.

Second, you appear to be arguing that launch costs can't be lowered,
because... self destruct charges cost too much to launch because costs
can't be lowered...

And this is when the self destruct charges cost less than 0.1% of the
cost of the launch! (As in who cares about $50,000 of self destruct
when a launch costs $50 million?) And, as the costs go down, the cost
of launching the destruct charges goes down also.

--
-Ian Woollard

"Gravity is just a theory. We shouldn't be teaching it to children as
if were fact."
"The NSA would like to remind everyone to call their mothers this
Sunday. They need to calibrate their system."