Seems absurd after 50 years of rocket launches... but suppose we built a 40-tonne-cargo-rated ARMXER Orbital Skyhook, and made it solar powered too:
Speculative
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$100 billion estimated program cost
17265 launches per year of 40-tonne payloads (airlines might pay for the spacecraft)
20-year lifespan
That brings launch costs down to $7.24 per kilogram. But what about operating costs you say? What if.. what if... what if... the program costs unexpectedly double, or even triple !!! Or skyrocket to 10- or 20-times as much !!!! Gee wiz. That would be a catastrophe!
What if it were a thousand times more expensive? Well, it would still be nearly 10-times cheaper than the space shuttle, at $50,000+ per kilogram. And it would launch 5000-times more spacecraft annually!
Those are the benefits of *just one* ARMXER Orbital Skyhook. Remember, my design is scaleable by 20-fold and supposed to service the globe, depending on demand.
That's my rant.
Space/Science » in reply to re: Error Corrected -- with fortuitous results!!!
re: Launch costs reduced to $10 per kilogram or less?
