Next space tourtist signs up!

[nacnud]

<big><center>Deal signed to put Olsen in space</center></big><font color="yellow"><br />Story from BBC NEWS:<br /><br /><b>Gregory Olsen will fulfil his dream to be the next space tourist under a deal signed this week in Moscow.</b><br /><br />The 60-year-old US businessman and scientist will visit the International Space Station, probably in October. <br /><br />He will make the trip on a Russian Soyuz vehicle, spending just over a week on the orbiting outpost. <br /><br />Dr Olsen will become the third space tourist after flights by US citizen Dennis Tito in 2001 and South African Mark Shuttleworth in 2002. More.<br /><br /><font color="white">This has to be good news. I wonder how many tourists the current Soyuz flight rate can support.<br /></font></font>

 

[kdavis007]

Good news indeed...

 

[syndroma]

> <i>I wonder how many tourists the current Soyuz flight rate can support.</i><br />It depends on flight rate of shuttles.

 

[no_way]

Olsen's deal has been off again and on again for quite some time now. I hope its final this time, last time they said medical concerns wouldnt allow him to fly. I suppose a couple of russian medics suddenly changed their minds <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br />

 

[syndroma]

The exact launch cost is very hard to calculate.<br /><br />The hardware costs ~$15M for the LV and other ~$15M for the spacecraft. Plus expenses on launch site personnel (partly military), Baikonur rent ($115M a year), ground control stations along the launch trajectory, rescue teams along the launch trajectory (including Navy in the Pacific), personnel in TsUP-M, rescue teams on landing site and so on.<br />

 

[gofer]

It's hard to estimate the costs of a manned Soyuz launch. Sorry, I don't have a site ready at hand, but I've seen *costs* of a Soyuz-U (the manned one) LV cited at as low as $5mil "from factory" (i.e. salaries and materials for manufacture). And they apparently can be manufactured on the conveyer like massively... (I once say a photo of a production line in the Samara's Soyuz factory... lines and lines of the side booster blocks for the Soyuz lying on the floor)<br /><br />(read it on the novosti-kosmonavtiki site, I believe, although maybe not from an official source) This figure is not confirmed, but it "jives" with the popular notion that the Souyz-U is "the mother of a hardcore olden hot-rod space vehicle", i.e. inexpensive and robust. (it was originally an MBR, remember?) Just an example, what the Soyuz has for "computers" on-board? I've read it's a bunch of bottles with acid (no kidding) that when the acid eats through some material, it triggers a stage separation. The Souyz-2 is different exactly in that -they've put in new digital computers for stage control. If (???) this is true and the cost is $5mil and the price is $15mil, 200% profit is not bad, my friends... <br /><br />The Soyuz spacecraft itself, I don't know, but it could be less expensive to manufacture than stated, too...

 

[gofer]

Heck, now that I think of it, there might have been a CATS solution to access to space all these years... Think about it -- an orbital 3-person launch with a LEO docking capability and 180 days on orbit parking time for less than $20mil bucks... (if my wild A guesses are true)

 

[nacnud]

Here is a pic from the Starsem webpage, just one or two boosters lieing around <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[syndroma]

konangrit,<br /> /> <i>Which would work out as a "profit" of $5M +/- $1.7M on a passenger paying $20M.</i><br /><br />I think the word "profit" doesn't belong here. The expenses are too complicated. For example, Baikonur rent goes as a separate line in federal budget, RSA doesn't pay it. The same with some military services.<br /><br />If some private business try to sell launches of Soyuz to ISS for $60M, I believe it hardly make any profit. Nevertheless I think $60M is a good estimate of Soyuz launch.

 

[syndroma]

gofer,<br /> /> <i>*costs* of a Soyuz-U (the manned one) LV cited at as low as $5mil "from factory"</i><br /><br />$5mil seems to be too low.<br />I don't know how much CSKB-Progress spends on production of one booster (I believe it some kind of trade secret), but the price of one could be well estimated:<br /><br />http://www.rian.ru/technology/cosmos/20050406/39626302.html (Russian)<br />Anatoli Perminov, head of RSA, said: "Soyuz spacecraft costs us 400mil rubles, the same price for LV - 800mil rubles total." (400mil rubles ~ $15mil)<br /><br />http://armstass.su/?page=article&aid=15766&cid=92 (Russian)<br />CSKB-Progress is planning to build 14 LV of "Soyuz" family in 2005. ... The total income is expected to be 9 billions rubles. (9bil rubles ~ $300mil)<br /><br />Given that LV production is their main business, the average price is $15M-$20M per booster.