Post by account_disabled on Mar 4, 2024 22:21:03 GMT -5
SpaceX's dominant position in the global launch market has worried some industry officials and analysts, who fear that a SpaceX launch failure could disrupt the business plans of a wide range of customers. Some officials are also concerned that SpaceX could raise launch prices as it examines the launch market and sees a lack of competition .
Commercial customers typically do not disclose how much they pay for lau Chinese Overseas Asia Number Data nch services, but the monetary value of NASA launch contracts is part of the public record. While we've seen little change in how much SpaceX charges NASA for Falcon launch services, NASA's price for the Falcon Heavy has increased .
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It is important to note that NASA launch and military payload prices are higher than SpaceX's base commercial price. Government satellites often require special handling, and NASA and the Space Force pay for details like engineering expertise, unique cleaning specifications and, in some cases, scheduling priority over other commercial missions.
Two of NASA's Falcon Heavy missions come with especially stringent requirements . One of them is the launch of the first two elements of NASA's Gateway lunar outpost on a single Falcon Heavy rocket. These two modules, a power and propulsion element and a pressurized habitat for astronauts, are expected to weigh about metric tons (nearly , pounds). That would make this spacecraft the heaviest payload SpaceX has ever launched .
SpaceX is developing an extended payload deck to accommodate the large size of the Gateway modules, which do not fit in a standard SpaceX fairing. An extended payload fairing test unit is undergoing testing this year inside the world's largest vacuum chamber at a NASA facility in Ohio to ensure it is ready for the Gateway launch, now scheduled for late of
NASA's $ million Falcon Heavy launch contract for the first two Gateway modules is more than double what SpaceX charged the agency for the Psyche launch . But it covers more than the launch of the Falcon Heavy. It includes SpaceX's fees for disposing of the Falcon Heavy boosters and also pays for some of the development costs of the new fairing design. "We have a lot of analytical and engineering effort going into that extended fairing right now," Dunn explained.
Commercial customers typically do not disclose how much they pay for lau Chinese Overseas Asia Number Data nch services, but the monetary value of NASA launch contracts is part of the public record. While we've seen little change in how much SpaceX charges NASA for Falcon launch services, NASA's price for the Falcon Heavy has increased .
ADVERTISING
It is important to note that NASA launch and military payload prices are higher than SpaceX's base commercial price. Government satellites often require special handling, and NASA and the Space Force pay for details like engineering expertise, unique cleaning specifications and, in some cases, scheduling priority over other commercial missions.
Two of NASA's Falcon Heavy missions come with especially stringent requirements . One of them is the launch of the first two elements of NASA's Gateway lunar outpost on a single Falcon Heavy rocket. These two modules, a power and propulsion element and a pressurized habitat for astronauts, are expected to weigh about metric tons (nearly , pounds). That would make this spacecraft the heaviest payload SpaceX has ever launched .
SpaceX is developing an extended payload deck to accommodate the large size of the Gateway modules, which do not fit in a standard SpaceX fairing. An extended payload fairing test unit is undergoing testing this year inside the world's largest vacuum chamber at a NASA facility in Ohio to ensure it is ready for the Gateway launch, now scheduled for late of
NASA's $ million Falcon Heavy launch contract for the first two Gateway modules is more than double what SpaceX charged the agency for the Psyche launch . But it covers more than the launch of the Falcon Heavy. It includes SpaceX's fees for disposing of the Falcon Heavy boosters and also pays for some of the development costs of the new fairing design. "We have a lot of analytical and engineering effort going into that extended fairing right now," Dunn explained.