User:N2e/sandbox/Economics of space launch
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The economics of space launch deals with the cost to supply and the price to purchase orbital space transport services, and the resultant (coordination problem) effects and consequences which emerge. Orbital spaceflight is generally defined as flight beyond the Kármán line—above the nominal edge of space at 100 km (62 mi) Earth altitude) at a velocity that will ensure the spacecraft will stay in orbit sufficiently long to perform some economically useful service.
Space transport is essentially a FOURTH form of HUMAN transportation—developed by humans after the middle of the 20th century—after land mobility,[DISTINGUISH POWERED VS. HUMAN POWERED...] rail mobility and air/aviation mobility ...
Cost affects both government and commercial customers of space launch services, and so has been an important, but not determinative factor since the beginning of the space age. Market prices have only begun to appear, and have (the expected?) ordinary effects in exchange relations of market allocation of goods and services, since approximately the 2000s, although the prices for commsat launches were more influenced by market prices from approx. the mid-1980s. (while governments GENERALLY allowed sale of commsat launch services to non-domestic enterprises (note: this is addressed in the AIAA c. apr 2014 article ...)
[Granularity summary]
Prices may be presented in normalized price per unit mass, say US dollars per kilogram, but space transport services may not, at present, be purchased by the kilogram. Rather space launch services are purchased as a set of services for a launch of a particular satellite of a specific mass and volume characteristic, along with a fairly broad array of other services and characteristics. This basket of services typically (may include?) includes integration of the ... Specification of the date and time of launch, as well as choosing the specific set of orbital elements to be targeted, is generally the perogative of the _____________; in the commercial launch industry, this belongs to the entity that has contracted for the primary payload. Mass, volume and orbital elements constraints are typically limited by the specific launch vehicle utilized for the launch. Classes of payloads are typically broken down... distinguished ... as large commsat, small commsat, or small satellites more generally. Small sats are _________ further broken down into categories of
Having said that, the price to launch a unit mass of spacecraft to a particular orbital altitude and a particular orbital inclination are the principle three metrics used to differentiate space launch costs of the various launch system launch system providers... For launches from Earth, orbital altitude is generally considered in broad bands—LEO/MEO/HEO—where economic _____ are generally in the lower altitudes of each broad range.
The cost of space access ... generally high > US$n thousand per kilogram in _________--- time frame trending down, especially in the NewSpace or private spaceflight paradigm of a new entrant, not tied to all across-the-board existing technologies or ways of doing business, as exemplified by SpaceX? (sources go here!)
the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Union and United States pioneered space technology augmented by collaboration with affiliated design bureaus in the USSR and private companies in the US. The European Space Agency was formed in 1975, largely following the same model of space technology development.
Later on, large defense contractors began to develop and operate space launch systems, derived from government rockets and commercial satellites.
APPLICATIONS Private spaceflight in Earth orbit includes communications satellites, satellite television, satellite radio, astronaut transport and sub-orbital and orbital space tourism.
Recently, entrepreneurs have begun designing and deploying competitive space systems to the national-monopoly governmental systems[1] of the early decades of the space age.[2] Successes to date include flying suborbital spaceplanes, launching orbital rockets, and flying a couple of orbital expandable test modules (Genesis I and II). Planned private spaceflights beyond Earth orbit include personal spaceflights around the Moon.[citation needed] Two private orbital habitat prototypes are already in Earth orbit, with larger versions to follow.[3] Planned private spaceflights beyond Earth orbit include solar sailing prototypes (LightSail-3).