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Originally posted by Forever_frost
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Technically, he's paying for it with a giant contract to supply NASA.ZOMBIE REAGAN FOR PRESIDENT 2016!!! heh -
Originally posted by Forever_frost View PostA bit more accurately, the government paid about $396Million for the development of the rocket and cargo ship. Now they are paying for services rendered in the delivery of cargo to the station.Originally posted by YALE View Post
However, Elon basically scaled up the Falcon 9 from the Falcon 1, which was 100% privately funded. The rocket engines are updated version of the originals from the Falcon 1. Elon then modified the Falcon9 into version 1.1, making it longer, more lift capable (13150lbs to LEO), and adapted for landing. He also purposely designed the capsule so it could be upgraded for manned spaceflight.
He also had the falcon9 designed to be used in clusters to create the Falcon 9 Heavy. That rocket should get its first flight later this year. It can lift more than DOUBLE the payload of the old space shuttle (117000lbs to LEO vs 53000lbs from the Shuttle).
So for $278Million the government got 2 (arguably 3) rockets, an unmanned (reusable) cargo ship, and the basis for a manned capsule. NASA added more milestones to the contract and brought the total cost up to $396Million.
Space X has also received $1.6Billion for actual cargo delivery services. For that much, Space X will provide 12 cargo flights. They will also bring cargo back since they have the only craft capable of doing that. They can also carry external cargo, something no other craft can do. Compare that with Orbital's Cygnus craft. Orbital will be paid $1.9Billion for only 8 cargo flights. Their craft is smaller in volume and carries less cargo. It doesn't have any capability to return cargo to Earth... Oh and one of their rockets blew up on the pad because they used cheap (and old) Russian rocket engines.
Space X has also received $544Million to upgrade the Falcon 9 to a man rated rocket and create the manned version of the Dragon. Boeing got $621Million to create their space craft. Another company, Sierra Nevada, got $362Million but lost out in the competition.
The manned program will eventually pay SpaceX $2.6Billion for manned transportation services. Boeing can get up to $4.2Billion for the same services. Both companies will deliver 6 manned flights with 2 additional flights being offered later.
That's a lot of money to give birth to a private space industry, but frankly I think that is money well spent. Also, when compared to many past contracts, it is a huge bargain.Comment
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Everything shitty and defective always seems to end up being russian. Russian needs to be the new chinese.WHComment
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If you are referring to the Russian rocket engines, I woud generally agree but there was something else on these particular engines. They were BUILT in the late 1960s.. Yea, roughly 45 year old engines. Sure they had some updates, but geez, really?Originally posted by Gasser64 View PostComment
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WTF lol? How much can it really cost to buy a new one? I'm sure its expensive but didn't you say they got paid billions? You'd think they could fit something better than a 45 year old engine into the budget.WHComment
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There was a Falcon 9 launch this morning that was supposed to resupply the ISS. 2:19 after launch, still in the first stage, something went wrong and they "lost" the mission.Comment
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Lol. They described it as a " Non-nominal launch ". Lol. The mother fucker blew up.Originally posted by Strychnine View PostComment
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That'll give SpaceX a bit of a reality check. Good thing it happens now when they are just flying cargo and not people.
That said, these guys have a pretty good reputation for finding root causes and getting them fixed quickly. I think the biggest problem for them now is all the naysayers on Capitol Hill will use this to justify delaying the Commercial Crew program.Comment
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From Twitter -
Elon Musk @elonmusk 18m18 minutes ago
There was an overpressure event in the upper stage liquid oxygen tank. Data suggests counterintuitive cause.
Elon Musk @elonmusk 15m15 minutes ago
That's all we can say with confidence right now. Will have more to say following a thorough fault tree analysis..Comment
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