RE: https://mastodon.social/@europeanspaceflight/116555472841414967
๐ฎ๐น Air-launched systems have had a complicated history. #Pegasus and #VirginOrbitโs #LauncherOne neither achieved commercial sustainability. Pegasus suffered a sharp decline in its launch cadence as customers migrated to lower-cost rideshare alternatives, and Virgin Orbit entered bankruptcy in 2023 after only six flights.
#Vulcanโs future might be constrained. As competition intensifies, with the potential for #SpaceX to lower prices in response, Vulcan could face challenges in remaining cost-competitive. We witness the possibility of an eraโs conclusion, observing the launch of massive, #expensive rockets โ a spectacle that may be replaced by more economically #efficient alternatives in the aerospace industry https://everydayastronaut.com/how-does-ulas-vulcan-compare-to-the-competition/
RE: https://mastodon.social/@europeanspaceflight/116475858483213797
The clearest price comparison for a #VegaC ๐ช๐บ launch is Indiaโs ๐ฎ๐ณ #PSLV rocket, which has a comparable payload capacity to #LEO. The figure is less than half ๐ the stated sticker price of a Vega C flight.
First flight of #Soyuz 5 Thursday April 30, 2026 https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/details/3945/
@sciguyspace : "#China ๐จ๐ณ has an increasing number of commercial options, #Indiaโs ๐ฎ๐ณ launch offerings are growing as well. For any company or country concerned about price, #Russia ๐ท๐บ canโt beat the reusable #Falcon9 booster" https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/11/after-a-decade-russias-native-built-soyuz-5-rocket-finally-reaches-the-launch-site/
#Ariane6 ๐ช๐บ "ArianeGroup is still trying to catch up to where the bleeding edge of the launch industry was 10 or 15 years ago" https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/01/esa-considers-righting-the-wrongs-of-ariane-6-by-turning-it-into-a-franken-rocket/
๐ฎ๐ณ #India spent $74m on the #Mars orbiter #Mangalyaan and $75m on #Chandrayaan3 โ less than the $100m spent on the #SciFi thriller Gravity https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn9xlgnnpzvo
#Gaganyaan #LVM3 #LaunchCost (to #LEO) ~$48 million ๐ต https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LVM3#Human-rating_certification, total budget ~$2.4 billion, four missions scheduled by 2026 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaganyaan#Funding_and_project_expansion
#Artemis I, Artemis II, and Artemis III are all $4 billion ๐ฐ a launch ๐ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Launch_System#Launch_costs
A rough estimate for a lunar #Dragon mission could be $500-750 million ๐ต, compared to the current $4.1 billion ๐ฐ for an #SLS/#Orion launch https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2025/02/replacing-sls-with-spacex-falcon-heavy-or-new-glenn-for-lunar-flyby.html
RE: https://mastodon.social/@europeanspaceflight/116373289477202619
#ESAโs disclosure marks the first public indication of #Ariane 62 launch pricing, enabling a more direct comparison with other launch systems such as #Falcon9 (which can lift roughly twice the payload of Ariane 62 to #LEO).
@europeanspaceflight
#Ariane62 "โฌ82 million" vs. โฌ100 million ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariane_6
#Falcon9 "โฌ90 million" vs. US$ 69.85 million ? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9
Space-based #solar โ๏ธ power : #ScienceFiction author Isaac #Asimov popularised the idea in ๐ 1941. Advances in #robotics, wireless power transmission and sharply falling #LaunchCost are narrowing the gap between concept and reality https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3347692/why-chinas-space-based-solar-power-next-frontier-green-energy
#FalconHeavy has a cost per kilogram to #LEO of approximately $1,400 ๐ต per kg. The cost per kilogram to orbit using the #SpaceX #Starship is approximately $94 ๐ช https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2025/01/spacex-starship-roadmap-to-100-times-lower-cost-launch.html
Spaceflight ๐
