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Well, Space X costs less than half than a ULA launch. I suspect that ULA spends that additional money on large sub-contracts to Boeing and Lockheed for the Del
by roedog 8y ago
Well, Space X costs less than half than a ULA launch. I suspect that ULA spends that additional money on large sub-contracts to Boeing and Lockheed for the Delta and Atlas vehicles. This makes me think that when we add up the employees on the subcontracts the space X staffing number will be much more impressive in it's leanness.
I hope they all join my company, we've got a lot of work they would find interesting. With the retirement rate increasing it's the time to change things for the better. I want their experience at Space X on how to do things faster and better. But perhaps that's wishful thinking...
- syncmaster913n 8y agoLaunch price does not necessarily tell us anything because we do not know what profit margins SpaceX has.
- roedog 8y agohmm. So they could be losing money on each launch? But, why would they would they choose to sell at a loss when they could beat the competition at twice the price?
- Traster 8y agoI don't beleive this, but it's possible that SpaceX are selling launches at below cost to drive demand so that they can get up to a scale where they're economical and in order to establish a dynamic in the industry where known low cost launches enable new projects that will cause higher demand in the future.
- syncmaster913n 8y ago> But, why would they would they choose to sell at a loss when they could beat the competition at twice the price? Because they promised to cut prices by an order of magnitude. Following a promise like that, you can't just offer a 10-15% price reduction. Plus, if they offered at twice the current price, I don't believe they would be competitive. Part of the reason they offer a low price is that they have still-new, not-fully-tested technology. Clients accept the increased risk, but they expect significant savings in return. Also, for certain flight configurations, SpaceX's pricing isn't particularly competitive even at its current level.
- roedog 8y agoAh, I wasn't thinking about their commercial business. I can imagine how that would be more price sensitive.
- syncmaster913n 8y agoAh, got it.
- spaceandshit 8y agoWhich company?
- Drdrdrq 8y agoProbably Northrop Grumman [0]? [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14689610 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14689610