The Motley Fool by Rich Smith 10/5/2020
SpaceX's prices are getting so low that other companies might not be able to compete with it.SpaceX, the pioneering rocket launch company founded by Elon Musk, famously advertises a launch cost of just $62 million for its Falcon 9 rocket -- a price it has held steady for four and a half years. Of course, for nearly as long, SpaceX has also been saying that a switch to reusable rockets would permit the company to cut its prices even further -- as much as 30%.
So four and a half years since the $62 million price tag was introduced, how much cheaper have SpaceX rocket launches become? Thanks to a series of contract modifications just announced by the U.S. Space Force, we finally know.
Rocket launches for half the priceLast week, Space Force announced that it will permit SpaceX to fly reused (or as SpaceX prefers, "flight-proven") Falcon 9 rockets to launch the government's next two government GPS III satellites. The government had previously insisted that such "national security" satellites be launched aboard brand new rockets, but SpaceX has successfully re-flown used rockets for other customers 38 times now.
It seems that that's enough to have finally convinced Space Force that this is a safe way to get to orbit -- and cheaper, to boot.
How much cheaper? Initially, SpaceX had agreed to launch these government GPS satellites for about $97 million each. But in return for being permitted to fly reusable rockets, SpaceX now says it can cut the price it charges Space Force for the next two launches by a total of $52.7 million -- a savings of more than $26 million each -- as BreakingDefense.com reported last week.
More:
https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/10/05/how-much-cheaper-are-spacex-reusable-rockets-now-w/
