Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to But a large space pickup truck is still needed.

Very few payloads need to be brought back down

The Hubble might be returned to become a museum piece. Perhaps we'd want to do the same for a few other significant satellites. However, at a cost of at least $400 million (perhaps quite a bit more - the numbers are murky) per flight, there are few payloads worth the cost of returning to Earth. That's why they don't do many repair missions any more other than for the Hubble. The Hubble is expensive enough to repair and enhance. Most other satellites aren't worth repairing.

Now, if they can develop a much more cost effective vehicle that costs a lot less to fly, then on-orbit repairs could be economically viable.

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