XPost: sci.space.policy, sci.physics, sci.astro   
   From: fjmccall@gmail.com   
      
   Doc O'Leary   wrote on Mon, 11 Jun   
   2018 22:18:30 -0000 (UTC):   
      
   >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.   
   >   
      
   Yes, if you postulate the existence of magic everything gets much   
   easier.   
      
      
   --   
   "Some people get lost in thought because it's such unfamiliar   
    territory."   
                                         --G. Behn   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)