Read that report. It's red-tape NOT NASA-style management - specifically, all the legislated mass-penalties (destruct systems) and legislated costs (range fees and insurance) which keep a base-line system from delivering to LEO for ~ $300/kg. Not Government money, but Government regulations which choke-in-the-cradle really cheap LEO access.

With sufficient flights development costs come way down per unit - it's a tractable problem.

With sensible reusability (i.e. first-stage NOT Orbiter) the hardware costs come way down.

But with HUGE up-front range-costs per flight, and HUGE up-front insurance costs per flight there's no such thing as a cheap launcher - yet the answer is obvious for a private/Gov't synergy - why not the Gov't covering/legislating those big costs in the same way it covers things like bridges etc? Why aren't these things seen and accounted as the domain of in the interest of the Common Good?

A good point made by the article is that once enpugh flights have been successful insurance should come down substantially, but range-costs are unfairly set as a fixed cost per launcher rather than on a per kg payload basis. It's a deliberately imposed cost that makes NO sense.

To me it smacks of collusion between legislators and aerospace firms with current fat contracts - PRIVATE industry at its WORST, buying its own laws at the top.

Adam

PS
Other factors involved are the fact launchers and satellites are grossly over engineered, virtually handcrafted per mission/application. Pushing the last ~ 10 seconds of Isp out of an engine probably triples the price or worse, and likewise fitting satellites to the last kilo of launcher capacity ramps up the engineering cost too. Both factors are encouraged by the deliberate lack of economising by satellite makers and launchers who are paid at Cost-Plus rates. "Cheap Access to Low Earth Orbit" is the relevant USAF report that's available online for all to read. Companies like Sea-Launch and SpaceX and others are trying to reign in such hidden costs, probably because of that report.