[X] My Assistant

[Guest_DonPMitchell_*]

The use of the Dnepr rockets lately got me wondering, just how much does it cost to launch stuff? We've talked about payload performance of rockets, but not cost and not reliability figures. I couldn't really find this information in one place, so I've spent an hour poking around on a variety of websites:

CODE

Rocket            LEO      GTO     Escape      price       kg/mega$    Launch:Fail
------            ---      ---     ------      -----       --------    -----------

Ariane 5         18,000    6,800             120 million    57 GTO        26:3
Atlas II          8,610    3,720              90 million    41 GTO        63:0
Atlas V 401       9,750    4,950              90 million    55 GTO         8:0
Atlas V HL       25,000   13,605    8,600    130 million   105 GTO
Delta II          5,648    2,133    1,000     50 million    43 GTO       115:2
Delta IV M        9,106    4,231              70 million    60 GTO         5:0
Delta IV Heavy   21,892   12,757             140 million    91 GTO         1:0
Dnepr 1           4,500                       12 million   375 LEO        39:6
Falcon 5          4,100    1,050              18 million    88 GTO         0:0
Falcon 9-S9      24,750    9,650              78 million   124 GTO         0:0
Kosmos 3M         1,500                       12 million   125 LEO       434:20
Long March 3      4,800    1,400              37 million    38 GTO        13:2
Pegasus XL          440                       14 million    31 LEO        11:1
Proton           21,000    5,645    6,220    100 million    56 GTO       238:18
Soyuz             7,400    2,000    1,200     35 million    57 GTO     1,691:101
Titan III        15,400             3,700     70 million   220 LEO       158:13
Titan IV 405     21,680                       90 million   240 LEO        37:4
Tziklon 3         4,100                       22 million   186 LEO       121:8
Zenit 2          13,740                       60 million   229 LEO        37:6
Zenit 3SL                  5,250              85 million    62 GTO        14:2

Some interesting things emerge from seeing all the numbers on one place.

1. The Dnepr is a cheap way to get something into orbit!

2. Launching geosynchronous satellites from the equator is a big win (Ariane, Falcon, Zenit SL).

3. The Falcons will be exciting if they do what they claim.

4. I see over 2000 Russian launches. Why am I missing so many US launches?

5. The R-7 ... wow. (I'm counting all R-7 launches, which is a little unfair, because most failures were very early)

[Guest_DonPMitchell_*]

Astronautix's prices are quite a bit different than Space & Tech's prices.

Ariane 5G - 180 million
Atlas V 401 - 138 million
Atlas HLV - 254 million (year-2000 dollars)
Proton K - 70 million (1994 dollars)
Delta IV Heavy - 254 million (exactly the same as Atlas HLV???)

The launch contract for the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory by Atlas V has been fixed at 194.7 million.

Just googling around, I can't really find good sources of real price information beyond Astronautics and S&T. Anyone ideas? Three must be real data someplace?

[djellison]

Delta IV Heavy - 254 million (exactly the same as Atlas HLV???)

Not surpising given that they're part of the same program, and there was some mention that paperwork had gone in directions it perhaps shouldn't have done a few years ago.

Doug