NASA awards ULA the 2017 launch of the Solar Orbiter:
- Atlas 5 rocket selected for Solar Orbiter launch – Spaceflight Now
- NASA Awards Launch Services Contract for Solar Orbiter Mission – NASA
NASA says:
The total cost for NASA to launch the Solar Orbiter is approximately $172.7 million, which includes the launch service, spacecraft processing, payload integration, tracking, data and telemetry and other launch support requirements.
This number, however, does not take into account the $1B per year subsidy that DoD pays to ULA for the EELV program. With about 10 EELV flights per year, htat works out to be about $100M per flight. Sso the actual cost to the US government is around $270M for this launch.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 v1.1 has apparently not yet been qualified by NASA’s Launch Services Program for their unmanned spacecraft missions. For comparison, though, a typical Falcon 9 flight for the government costs about $90M after all the bureaucratic requirements are met according to Elon Musk’s recent testimony to Congress. So about $80M to NASA’s budget would be saved if a F9 were used. Doesn’t take many launches for those savings to add up to real money.
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More space policy/politics links:
- 5 part series by Gene R. Grush former propulsion and power division chief at NASA Johnson Space Center:
- Russia/US
- Nelson: U.S.-Russian cooperation in space will continue – Florida Today
- Matt Gurney: Shame on you, Putin. But thanks for the ride into space – National Post
- Astronaut Tim Peake Comments on the ISS Partnership and the Nobel Peace Prize – Space Safety Magazine
- Sea Launch chief responds to talk of Russian takeover – Spaceflight Now
- European launch policy:
- NASA science funding:
- NASA: funding of some extended planetary missions depends on additional funding – Space Politics
- NRC Concerned About Cost Implications of Changing WFIRST Design – SpacePolicyOnline.com
- Redesign of Planned Space Telescope Would Add Scientific Capabilities, Costs to Original Mission -National-Academies.org
Webcasts:
- Lee Hutchinson, Monday, 3-17-14 – Thespaceshow’s Blog – A scenario for a Columbia Space Shuttle rescue mission.
- Why Commercial Space Ventures Are Good for NASA: Video – Bloomberg – video – “Edgar Mitchell and Leroy Chiao, former NASA astronauts, discuss the commercial space race with Matt Miller and Trish Regan on Bloomberg Television’s ‘Street Smart'”.
Update:
- Live Webcast 7:30 EDT Wed.: Selling Space – 2014 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate with Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Nelson Challenges NewSpace “Naysayers” – Space KSC
- Nelson plays down risks to US-Russia space relations – Space Politics
- One-time Congressional Skeptic Embraces Asteroid Redirect Mission – SpaceNews.com
- A 2021 Mars Expedition Sounds Exciting but Does It Make Sense? – Moonandback
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