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#1 2007-11-11 08:01:27

Terraformer
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From: The Fortunate Isles
Registered: 2007-08-27
Posts: 3,901
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Re: Orbital Craft Cost

How much would it cost to build an orbiter that would carry 10 people (pilot included) assuming a high-altitude plane piggy-back launch, X-33 shape. What would the costs of the heat sheilding, gold wiring, windows, etc. What would the costs be per launch?

(There should be a forum for craft designs.)


Use what is abundant and build to last

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#2 2007-11-16 06:39:43

Terraformer
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From: The Fortunate Isles
Registered: 2007-08-27
Posts: 3,901
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Re: Orbital Craft Cost

Hello, anyone there?


Use what is abundant and build to last

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#3 2008-02-28 12:29:28

akinkhoo
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From: EARTH
Registered: 2008-02-28
Posts: 5

Re: Orbital Craft Cost

one have to consider if the craft is usable. i suggest you look for details regarding the Kliper.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kliper

it seem to roughly fit the scale, hopefully the contractors got a unit price for it and you can estimate from there.
the development is expected to cost USD$600 million. (maybe more if USD continue to fall)

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#4 2008-03-01 05:17:12

Terraformer
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From: The Fortunate Isles
Registered: 2007-08-27
Posts: 3,901
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Re: Orbital Craft Cost

SpaceDev say they can do it for $100,000,000. Of course NASA had done all the hard work designing the vehicle and then abandoning it.


Use what is abundant and build to last

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#5 2008-03-01 05:23:46

cIclops
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Registered: 2005-06-16
Posts: 3,230

Re: Orbital Craft Cost

For an orbital vehicle capable of carrying 10 people, these costs are absurd. They are probably absurd even to carry one person if you want them to come back alive. Where have SpaceDev said they can build such a craft for $100m? Which NASA project designed such a vehicle? The CRV, which is probably the nearest NASA design, could only carry eight people, and it was designed as an ISS lifeboat.

Klipper development was estimated at about $4B to carry six people and that's using cheap Russian engineers and production.

Just because government funded projects are expensive doesn't mean that purely private ones will be far cheaper. To date, no private company has been able to demonstrate even orbital launch capability without government contracts, and that includes SpaceX. Human spaceflight is an order of magnitude more difficult.


[color=darkred]Let's go to Mars and far beyond -  triple NASA's budget ![/color] [url=irc://freenode#space]  #space channel !! [/url] [url=http://www.youtube.com/user/c1cl0ps]   - videos !!![/url]

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#6 2008-03-01 08:55:51

JoshNH4H
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From: Pullman, WA
Registered: 2007-07-15
Posts: 2,564
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Re: Orbital Craft Cost

First, let's answer this: How much mass do we need to get 10 people up, put them somewhere else (space station etc.), then reenter using a simple ablative heat shield?


-Josh

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#7 2008-03-02 03:07:27

Austin Stanley
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From: Texarkana, TX
Registered: 2002-03-18
Posts: 519
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Re: Orbital Craft Cost

Hard to be specific about about cost per-person on an orbiter as it will be high variable, depending upon the crafts design.  The space shuttle itself has flown with as many as 8, and is capable of up to 11 in an emergency situation (throw in some extra seats in the lower cabin).

However if there was some need to transport large quantities of people up into to space, the shuttle could probably be reconfigured to carry a very large quantity.  If you gave up its cargo space for reconfigured cargo space, the biggest limitation would probably be space, not mass.  In this configuration I figure it could carry an additional 50 people easy (53,000lb to orbit, 1,000lb a person).


He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.

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#8 2008-03-02 05:03:44

cIclops
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Registered: 2005-06-16
Posts: 3,230

Re: Orbital Craft Cost

Can the Shuttle reenter safely with a 22 MT payload?


[color=darkred]Let's go to Mars and far beyond -  triple NASA's budget ![/color] [url=irc://freenode#space]  #space channel !! [/url] [url=http://www.youtube.com/user/c1cl0ps]   - videos !!![/url]

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#9 2008-03-02 09:35:35

Terraformer
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From: The Fortunate Isles
Registered: 2007-08-27
Posts: 3,901
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Re: Orbital Craft Cost

The Shuttle is going to be retired in 2010 so there wouldn't be any point.

I wonder whether Ptichka can be retrofitted with seats in its cargo bay? I read somewhere on this forum that it would costabout $120 million to get Energia back up and running. Ptichka is already complete but hasn't been flown yet (so technically it's'nt a Spacecraft).


Use what is abundant and build to last

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#10 2008-03-02 09:57:23

JoshNH4H
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From: Pullman, WA
Registered: 2007-07-15
Posts: 2,564
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Re: Orbital Craft Cost

I would just make a 3-stage, cheap engine, propane/LOX rocket, pressurized by hydrogen.


-Josh

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#11 2008-03-02 22:46:19

GCNRevenger
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From: Earth
Registered: 2003-10-14
Posts: 6,056

Re: Orbital Craft Cost

I would just make a 3-stage, cheap engine, propane/LOX rocket, pressurized by hydrogen.

Cheap, reliable, effective. Pick any two.


[i]"The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those that do not have it." - George Bernard Shaw[/i]

[i]The glass is at 50% of capacity[/i]

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#12 2008-03-03 15:01:22

JoshNH4H
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From: Pullman, WA
Registered: 2007-07-15
Posts: 2,564
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Re: Orbital Craft Cost

Why wouldn't that be reliable?

The RD-180 is a good efficiency rocket engie, and few to no modifications will be needed to do this, the only major ones being the removal of pumps because this is pressurized by hydrogen gas (or helium in the case of the LOX).


-Josh

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