The reusable-rocket price crash

Landing and reflying boosters dropped the price to orbit roughly 20x below the Space Shuttle's ~$54,500/kg benchmark.

The top 3

  1. Falcon 9: the ~$3,000/kg workhorse: About $70M list price for up to 22,800 kg to low orbit — the reusable rocket that reset the whole market.
  2. Falcon Heavy: cheapest proven ride: Roughly $97M for up to ~64 tonnes to low orbit works out near $1,500/kg — the lowest verified price to orbit flying today.
  3. Space Shuttle: the ~$54,500/kg bar it beat: NASA's reusable dream averaged tens of thousands of dollars per kilogram — the benchmark the commercial price war blew past.

Sources

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