<font color="yellow">Another word, space launch cost is NOT high. There's just no businss for a good return-on-investment (ROI) for space. Money is no object when a business can justify the return of that investment. For example, if someone finds a way to make diamond out of carbon in space (microgravity), two things will happen:<br /><br />1) there will be a surge in the space launch business as well as a commercial space station (space business park), and<br /><br />2) the price of diamond will plunge !! </font><br /><br />In the early 90's asomeone did find a cheap way to make flawless, perfect artificial diamonds. The DeBeers folks quickly made sure that the artificial ones were sold at prices equal to the natural ones. There was no market flood, no drop in prices. Monopolies exist for a reason.<br /><br />And while actual "launch costs" are low, the accounting view of "launch costs" includes all the effort that went into design and construction of not only the launch vehicle, but all the infrastructure needed to go from design to flying hardware. Then there is the insurance needed, which usually doubles the cost of a launch just by itself.<br /><br />The problem with space investment is that it requires governement-sized amounts of money, poses an extreme risk, and offers almost zero <b>near term</b> returns. Sadly, only a few entrepreneurs have the vision to grasp the scale of the returns that are possible, and so far <b>no</b> investors have made the sacrifice. <br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>