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How can Boeing and LockMart compete with SpaceX?

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Alan Erskine - 12 Apr 2008 14:38 GMT
Price for an LEO launch of the Falcon Heavy (29+ tonne payload) is just
$94.5 million - Delta IV Heavy is currently $250 million + with a smaller
payload.

http://www.spacex.com/falcon9_heavy.php  also quotes a price for "TLI
missions" - why do I get the feeling that Elon Musk want's to be the 13th
person on the Moon...  The F9H would get a 3-3.5 tonne payload onto the
surface.  That brings up the possibility of something like the Langley
Lander/ Langley Lander Light and a modified Gemini-sized spacecraft.
Interesting stuff!

I've heard mention of a much larger engine for the Falcon series - F-1 power
levels - if this is done, then my Delta V might be better named Falcon Extra
Heavy or similar.
charliexmurphy@yahoo.com - 12 Apr 2008 16:48 GMT
> Price for an LEO launch of the Falcon Heavy (29+ tonne payload) is just
> $94.5 million - Delta IV Heavy is currently $250 million + with a smaller
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> levels - if this is done, then my Delta V might be better named Falcon Extra
> Heavy or similar.

They can compete easily.  Spacex's prices are just like the initial
shuttle flight rate projections, not based on any real world
experience.
Brian Thorn - 12 Apr 2008 16:55 GMT
>Price for an LEO launch of the Falcon Heavy (29+ tonne payload) is just
>$94.5 million - Delta IV Heavy is currently $250 million + with a smaller
>payload.

NASA was quoted well over $400 million for a Delta IV-H. (So much for
cost savings versus Titan IV...)

>http://www.spacex.com/falcon9_heavy.php  also quotes a price for "TLI
>missions" - why do I get the feeling that Elon Musk want's to be the 13th
>person on the Moon...  The F9H would get a 3-3.5 tonne payload onto the
>surface.

He has to make a rocket that works first. Any rocket. Just get one
into orbit, and no song-and-dance about how *almost* working is cause
for celebration.

Brian
Alan Erskine - 12 Apr 2008 17:07 GMT
> NASA was quoted well over $400 million for a Delta IV-H. (So much for
> cost savings versus Titan IV...)

That was before or after the DIV-H was taken off the commercial market?

> >http://www.spacex.com/falcon9_heavy.php  also quotes a price for "TLI
> >missions" - why do I get the feeling that Elon Musk want's to be the 13th
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> into orbit, and no song-and-dance about how *almost* working is cause
> for celebration.

True; but the systems are in place.  Remember that Apollo 8 went to the Moon
instead of being just another LEO test after Von Braun said "there's very
little difference between Lunar orbit and Earth orbit".  Once the systems
have been checked out, there's very little difference. Falcon 1s first stage
uses the same engine as the Falcon 9/F9H.

"Mr Hughes, this will fly".
Brian Thorn - 12 Apr 2008 17:40 GMT
>> NASA was quoted well over $400 million for a Delta IV-H. (So much for
>> cost savings versus Titan IV...)
>
>That was before or after the DIV-H was taken off the commercial market?

Delta IV-Heavy wasn't marketed commercially as far as I know. Boeing's
marketing was of the Medium variants. The $400+ million is what NASA
was quoted for purchasing launches of planetary missions. They went to
Atlas V instead.

Brian
bob haller safety advocate - 12 Apr 2008 23:03 GMT
> On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 16:07:14 GMT, "Alan Erskine"
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>
> Brian

all the atlas and deltas had their beginings as ICBMs...... and
designed for optimum operation as a missle, then were changed a bit
for space launches.

once one works, launch industry will be turned on its head........
Dave Michelson - 13 Apr 2008 08:07 GMT
> all the atlas and deltas had their beginings as ICBMs.

Actually, Thor was an IRBM, not an ICBM.

Signature

Dave Michelson
davem@ece.ubc.ca

Derek Lyons - 14 Apr 2008 09:19 GMT
>"Brian Thorn" <bthorn64@suddenlink.net> wrote in message
>
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
>True; but the systems are in place.

Brian specified 'no song-and-dance'.

>Remember that Apollo 8 went to the Moon instead of being just another LEO test
>after Von Braun said "there's very little difference between Lunar orbit and
>Earth orbit".

In that, Von Braun is quite wrong - the thermal environment is
different, the radiation environment is different, the communications
and operations enviroment, ditto...  The difference may not have
mattered much for Von Braun's boosters, but it make a heck of a lot of
difference for the payload.

>Once the systems have been checked out, there's very little difference. Falcon 1s
>first stage uses the same engine as the Falcon 9/F9H.

More 'song-and-dance'.

D.
Signature

Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

http://derekl1963.livejournal.com/

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

Alan Erskine - 14 Apr 2008 11:42 GMT
> More 'song-and-dance'.

I like the dance and the music is beautiful.
Jorge R. Frank - 14 Apr 2008 15:00 GMT
>> More 'song-and-dance'.
>
> I like the dance and the music is beautiful.

The Kool-Aid is also tasty, no?
Alan Erskine - 14 Apr 2008 15:30 GMT
> >> More 'song-and-dance'.
> >
> > I like the dance and the music is beautiful.
>
> The Kool-Aid is also tasty, no?

Ummm. Ok, you lost me on that one - I gather it's an American-specific
reference?  A certain (former) politician here in Australia would ask you to
"Please explain".
Jeff Findley - 14 Apr 2008 20:02 GMT
>> >> More 'song-and-dance'.
>> >
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> to
> "Please explain".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kool-Aid#.22Drinking_the_Kool-Aid.22

From above:

  Currently the term is mostly associated with the 1978
  cult suicide in Jonestown, Guyana. Jim Jones, the leader
  of the Peoples Temple, convinced his followers to move
  to Jonestown. Late in the year, he then ordered his flock
  to commit suicide by drinking grape-flavored Flavor Aid
  laced with potassium cyanide. In what is now commonly
  called the "Jonestown Massacre", a large majority of the
  913 people later found dead drank the brew. (The
  discrepancy between the idiom and the actual occurrence
  is likely due to Flavor Aid's relative obscurity,
  compared to the easily recognizable Kool-Aid.) The precise
  expression can be attested in usage at least as early as 1987[1].
  The saying "Don't drink the Kool-Aid" now commonly refers
  to the Jonestown tragedy, meaning "Don't trust any group
  you find to be a little on the kooky side," or "Whatever
  they tell you, don't believe it too strongly."[2] Fox News
  commentator Bill O'Reilly is famous for using the term in
  this manner. [3]

So, if someone says something like "The Kool-Aid is also tasty", they're
saying that you're buying into what one of these "kooky" groups is saying.
In other words, you're believing what they say without question or reason.

Jeff
Signature

A clever person solves a problem.
A wise person avoids it. -- Einstein

Jorge R. Frank - 15 Apr 2008 01:34 GMT
>>>>> More 'song-and-dance'.
>>>> I like the dance and the music is beautiful.
[quoted text clipped - 30 lines]
> saying that you're buying into what one of these "kooky" groups is saying.
> In other words, you're believing what they say without question or reason.

And to tie it back, someone who enjoys the "song and dance" is also
likely to enjoy "drinking the Kool-Aid."
Brian Thorn - 14 Apr 2008 23:27 GMT
>>Remember that Apollo 8 went to the Moon instead of being just another LEO test
>>after Von Braun said "there's very little difference between Lunar orbit and
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>mattered much for Von Braun's boosters, but it make a heck of a lot of
>difference for the payload.

I don't think von Braun actually said that anyway. He said something
to the affect of "once you decide to put men on it [Saturn V], it
doesn't matter where it goes."

Brian
Derek Lyons - 18 Apr 2008 00:31 GMT
>>>Remember that Apollo 8 went to the Moon instead of being just another LEO test
>>>after Von Braun said "there's very little difference between Lunar orbit and
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
>to the affect of "once you decide to put men on it [Saturn V], it
>doesn't matter where it goes."

Which is true - because the Saturn never really leaves LEO (as an
operational enviroment).

D.
Signature

Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.

http://derekl1963.livejournal.com/

-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL

 
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