General Question

talljasperman's avatar

How much dollar wise did the SpaceX shuttle disaster cost?

Asked by talljasperman (21919points) June 28th, 2015

The shuttle blew itself to pieces recently at take off. How much would it set the company back?

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5 Answers

johnpowell's avatar

According to Wikipedia the development cost was around 850 million. I would expect the cost of a single rocket to be much less. My hunch is around 200 million for materials and labor of assembly.

talljasperman's avatar

Also does SpaceX have insurance?

johnpowell's avatar

Only if the insurance company is insane. Keep in mind NASA funds about 40% of the work SpaceX does. Elan isn’t making it rain on his rockets.

dabbler's avatar

(It was a falcon 9, not a shuttle)

Rough calculation, this payload was reported to weigh 4000 pounds and SpaceX info suggest that the cost per pound for Falcon 9 launch to orbit is $2500, so $10,000,000 for this launch.

johnpowell's avatar

I think that cost takes into account that parts of the ship can be reused.

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