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ac29 4 days ago

> Cost to launch on falcon per kg: $2-3k. Wait, that's price. SpaceX is profitable. It's roughly 100x cheaper.

A fully loaded falcon costs less than $500k to launch?

amluto 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

Check your math. The capacity to LEO is around 17500 kg.

cma 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

17500 * $30 = around $500,000

$350,000 at the lower end where he said $20.

I don't think the expendable upper stage on its own is $350,000-$500,000. I think the fairing is probably more than that.

amluto 4 days ago | parent [-]

Try again? The comment you’re replying to says “$2-3k” per kg. That’s $2000-$3000 per kg. If you multiply your numbers by 100, you get something comparable to the prices on SpaceX’s website.

3 days ago | parent [-]
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hdgvhicv 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

If the cost is 100 times cheaper than 2-3k per kilo that’s $20-30 per kilo, or 500k.

Maths checks out, whether the cost per launch is really that low is another thing.

4 days ago | parent | next [-]
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mkl 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

You have misunderstood; SpaceX obviously doesn't have a profit margin of 99%. The 100x comparison was with the space shuttle.

mynameisvlad 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

Then it really shouldn't have been written immediately after "Wait, that's price. SpaceX is profitable." The two statements have literally nothing to do with one another and it's easy to see why one would assume that the final sentence is talking about the sentence immediately before it.

hdgvhicv 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

The implication to me and others was “it’s roughly 100x cheaper than the (3k/kg) price”

And that wouldn’t be a profit margin of 99%, it would be a profit margin around 10000%

stavros 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

A fully loaded falcon can only carry 250kg?