Value chain · CLM-0281
In plain terms
The study tested how much the cost of launching material into space changes the price of space solar power. It used launch-cost data from about 2022. The report says that if launch costs fell to about 400 euros per kilogram, which it describes as similar to costs seen for reusable SpaceX rockets at the time, space solar power could become highly competitive with other ways of generating electricity. The report does not give a source for the 400 euro figure.
The claim as recorded
LCOE sensitivity to spacelift cost was tested at fixed low/median/high values of EUR454/kg, EUR1,877/kg and EUR3,301/kg to GEO (dataset per TN4 Annex A4, not reproduced in the main report); the report states that if spacelift cost falls to approximately EUR400/kg, comparable to costs then being observed for SpaceX's reusable launch vehicles under the NASA-SpaceX public/private partnership, SBSP's LCOE becomes highly competitive with other electricity-generating assets.
Scope and limits
Commissioned by ESA. The ~EUR400/kg reusable-launch comparator is asserted in the text without a cited source, date, or confirmed orbit destination. Launch cost per kg is explicitly the most time-sensitive input in this field; a 2022-vintage figure is likely to be stale within a few years given the pace of launch-market change (compare BryceTech's 2025-26 launch reports already in the register, SRC-083 and SRC-084, for a materially more recent launch-market baseline). Context, 2026-10: no published or contracted launch price near EUR400/kg was found. Secondary reports from early-to-mid 2026 give a Falcon 9 list price of USD74M for up to 5.5 t to GTO (about USD13,500/kg to GTO) and a rideshare price of USD7,000/kg (to LEO). These are list prices, not contracted prices, and not GEO-delivered costs, so they are not directly comparable with the study's per-kg-to-GEO values. The ~EUR400/kg figure is better read as the report's view of reusable-launch cost, not as a market price.
What it assumes
Cost is stated as per kg delivered to GEO (i.e. after in-orbit refuelling and orbit-transfer-vehicle raise from GTO), not per kg to LEO or GTO. The ~EUR400/kg comparator is not itself defined as a GEO figure in the text, so this specific comparison may mix orbit destinations. Launch-cost dataset vintage is TN4 Annex A4 (not published in this main report); given the report date, treat as reflecting approximately 2022 launch-market data. Same 1.44 GW CASSIOPeiA FOAK system, 20% hurdle rate, 30-year design life as CLM-0280.
Where it comes from
"454 EUR/kg ... 1,877 EUR/kg ... 3,301 EUR/kg" (Fig 3-8 caption, p.29); "If the spacelift cost can reflect costs observed with reusable rockets in the USA that are launched via the public/private partnership between NASA and SpaceX (~EUR400/kg), then the LCOE of SBSP is highly competitive compared to other electricity generating assets." (p.29)
Basis: EUR2022
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-003 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0281
CLM-0281, Energy Aperture, as of 2022-07.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-078
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