a_swarm_of_nuns t1_is4yo6i wrote on October 13, 2022 at 10:23 AM

Reply to comment by Ariolet in Now that commercial space flight is in the works, if you had the money, would you go? by Ariolet

Through future years of competition in a capitalist market, prices will cheapen over time

Ariolet OP t1_is4z7vf wrote on October 13, 2022 at 10:30 AM

Agreed, the price will definitely decrease, it’s just hard for me to see how they could ever get the price to a point where an average person could afford it. I hope it does, just seems very difficult to achieve.

a_swarm_of_nuns t1_is51n89 wrote on October 13, 2022 at 11:00 AM

Yea. Unless we figure out an alternative to rocket fuel, that is a large component of what drives the price.

I don’t think it will ever be cheap, but space tourism like what Branson did with virgin galactic (almost like a plane entering the upper atmospheres will be cheaper than sitting aboard a rocket ship)

CatastropheJohn t1_is52932 wrote on October 13, 2022 at 11:07 AM

I’m cycling to save the planet, while others are planning to ride rockets for fun.

Thisisfine.jpg

Adeldor t1_is5mapl wrote on October 13, 2022 at 1:59 PM

Propellant contributes very little to current launch expenses. Vehicle and infrastructure costs dwarf it. For example, it costs SpaceX less than $20 million to launch a Falcon 9, yet propellant is only ~$200,000 of that, or around 1%.

Via full reusability and simplified operation, SpaceX hopes with Starship to dramatically reduce expenses to the point where it'll cost only a few million to launch 100 t to LEO.

To illustrate, assume a full Starship will cost $10 million to launch (that's five times Musk's most quoted estimate, just to be conservative). Launching 200 kg then costs $20,000. Still high relative to air transport, but it's getting there.