F
frodo1008
Guest
<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'> Yse, the launch has slipped to late July or August. <br /> Posted by shuttle_guy</DIV></p><p>I would think that even the more cheerleader types on these boards could put up with the delays (although future commercial customers of spacex may not be so kind about delays). This is a very important launch to spacex. While I don't think another failure is going to sink them, it is going to make things very difficult.</p><p>This is in particular as ULA has now announced that they have at least six unused Delta II rocket available for the same medium launch area as the future Falcon 9. Evidently as the Air Force will no longer need the Delta II for GPS launches ULA is going to be able to considerably reduce the price of a lunch with that already very reliable vehicle. </p><p>This has got to be somewhat bad news for the other possible future launch vehicles as they have not yet established such a good reliability record. Evidently from what I am reading the Delta II is somewhat expensive exactly because of governmental requirements. I really wonder exactly how low a price ULA is willing to go to capture most of the medium lift market? </p><p>I see where spacex is at least getting more realistic with their predictions of the costs of Falcon 9 launches. Now it would seem a Falcon 9 Heavy launch with about 10,000 lbs to LEO will cost in the $50 to $60 million dollar range. </p><p>As I now believe that ULA is also hitting for this price range the medium lift market is going to get more and more interesting. Of course there are also all the other countries also involved in this race also.</p><p>Some $5,000 per pound to LEO seems to be the current goal ($50 million per 10,000 lbs) and this is just a start, but it is still only about 50% of what was the going price only a decade or so ago!</p><p>As I said, it is going to get interesting! </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>" </p>