XPost: sci.space.policy, sci.physics, sci.astro   
   From: droleary@2017usenet1.subsume.com   
      
   For your reference, records indicate that   
   Thomas Koenig  wrote:   
      
   > An older version of a Falcon 9 reportedly had 488 tons of total   
   > fuel, 147 of it RP-1 (a modified kerosene).  Liquid oxygen is   
   > quite cheap, and if we give RP-1 a cost of 1 dollar per kg,   
   > we probably are in the right ballpark.  So, around 150 000 Dollar   
   > per launch.   
   >   
   > This is _very_ low compared to all the other costs.  A launch   
   > cost around 50 to 60 million dollars now, if I remember the   
   > figures right.   
      
   That’s just the problem: you’re only accounting for the cost of the fuel,   
   whereas I would consider large parts of “all the other costs” as   
   inherently part of the efficiency equation.  After all, if we found a way to   
   eliminate the boosters    
   entirely, the savings is obviously not just from the decrease in fuel.   
      
   --   
   "Also . . . I can kill you with my brain."   
   River Tam, Trash, Firefly   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)