Roger Launius has a brief history of the Shuttle, but this number is outdated:
The best expendable launch vehicles (ELV) still cost about $10,000 per pound from Earth to orbit.
As I commented over there (it’s awaiting moderation), Falcon 9 delivers ~30,000 lbs to LEO for ~$60M. That’s $2000/lb. Price, not cost. Falcon Heavy will roughly halve that. If they can reuse cores, they’ll drop the price further.
After a one-year hiatus, the conference is happening again (though a few weeks later than usual, early May instead of early April). I think it’s the best value for the money to find out what’s going on in space transportation and reducing the cost of getting to orbit.
Is it near the end of the line for the rocket? Looks like SpaceX has killed it.
Jeff Foust has the story from last week. As I noted at the time, I’m not sure that a prize is the best way to go. I’d rather see an airmail approach.
Anyone who talks about the ROI of a degree without talking about the type of degree, or the relative value of one school over another, is either profoundly ignorant, or fraudulent. The fact is that there are a lot of degrees for which one would have to be a fool to put themselves deep into undischargeable debt to obtain. Unfortunately a lot of people don’t understand that, and are the most likely to get those worthless degrees.
A new alliance. This is long overdue.
I’m not sure about the prize idea, though. I’d rather the government actually purchase bulk items (e.g., water) on orbit. The goal should be a low cost per pound, not reusability per se. I’m pretty sure that reusability would naturally fall out of that. And reusable vehicles will have to be reliable to hit the cost goal.
“Corporations, like all human institutions, are great engines for making mistakes. The only reason they seem so competent is that companies who make too many mistakes go out of business, and we don’t have them around for comparison.”
A good perspective on the new industry, and why it’s different than the 90s.
Of course they’re lying about not having one. Everything they do with regard to health care has been a lie. And of course, all this talk of chaos if SCOTUS rules against the administration is just an attempt to influence their decision.