Launch Costs

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "Ian Woollard"
wrote:
>

>
> 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.

the 10000 applies to the payload. it comes from all the cost of the
rocket. including the cost of the materials to build the sdc and the
fuel to carry that to the altitude that it will reach. it will have
to be added to the upper stage. imagine the problem that would
happen if the upper stage did not ignite. it cant reach orbit, it
cant stay in the air, and in the thin air it begins to tumble. this
causes it to slow way down, and then when it hits the denser
atmosphere, to skewer off to one side. if it hits a city, park,
forest, farmland, or just hits the ocean (and causes a small tidal
wave that damages shore and ships for a few miles) it will still do
damage. no, the sdc will have to be in the upper stage and will cost
the luanch company money, which will have to be passed on to the
customer, which to them will be a waste of money.
>
> 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...

huh, where did this come from. no the cost of the sdc will not affect
if the cost can come down or not. it affects how much of the weight
of the rocket is taken up before the payload is added.

> 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.

who cares? have you ever seen big buisness. 50 grand is a lot of
profit they dont get, esp for something they see no use in. maybe if
its just a one shot deal they will not care, but if they launch 100
that is 5 million they have tossed out the window.

im sorry if i seem negative, but i dont believe that chemical rockets
will be the answer.