Value chain · CLM-1028
In plain terms
Building the rockets was priced at seventeen billion 1977 dollars and running them at about 2.8 billion per satellite, or roughly sixty 1979 dollars for every kilogram of satellite delivered to its final orbit. Most of that was the launcher; the electric ferry was a fifth.
The claim as recorded
The JSC data book puts transportation DDT&E at $17,077M (HLLV 11,202, EOTV 2,247, PLV 2,616, POTV 1,012) and the average transportation cost per satellite at $2,802M, all in 1977 dollars: HLLV $10.1M x 11,606 flights, EOTV $40.7M x 847, PLV $10.7M x 1,458 and POTV $1.3M x 587, each over 60 satellites, giving HLLV 70 per cent, EOTV 20, PLV 9 and POTV 1; against the 52,004 t delivered per satellite that is $53.9 per kg from Earth to GEO in 1977 dollars, $62 in 1979; initial fleet investment is $17,149M on the data book's mixed average-unit basis and $39,299M if an 85 per cent learning curve is applied strictly to every vehicle.
Evidence behind this: T3, the programme's only stated transportation cost basis, in 1977 dollars.
Scope and limits
Excludes launch facilities, IOTVs, orbital propellant storage and ground support staff (6,425 man-years a year, $513M), which Battelle adds; assumes 100 per cent reliability and the "mature industry" EOTV unit cost. The $39,299M strict-learning figure is Battelle's illustration of what the data book's averaging hides, not a competing estimate.
What it assumes
1977 to 1979 at 1.15 per the data book.
Where it comes from
PDF p.141 / B-33, render read: "Total Transportation DDT&E $17,077 ... HLLV $10.1m/FLT x 11,606 FLTS / 60 SPS = $1,954m/SPS ... EOTV $40.7m/FLT x 847 FLTS / 60 = 575m/SPS ... PLV $10.7m/FLT x 1458 FLTS / 60 SPS = 260m/SPS ... POTV $1.3m/FLT x 587 FLTS / 60 SPS = 12.7m/SPS ... Total transportation cost per SPS $2,802m/SPS". Table 1.3.1 (PDF 26 / 1-20), render read: per SPS percentages 70, 20, 9, 1. Table 2.2.1 (PDF 49 / 2-15), render read: "TOTALS $17,077 $4,764 $39,298.5". Table 1.3.2 (PDF 33 / 1-27): "SPS Transport ... Initial Invest. 17,149". Table 2.1.1 (PDF 36 / 2-2): "SPS Satellite 50,984 Allowance for Breakage (2%) 1,020 Total per Satellite 52,004". The per-kg figures are division of the stated figures.
Basis: USD 1977 millions; USD per kg by division
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-003 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1028
CLM-1028, Energy Aperture, as of 1979-11.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
- Also from SRC-532
- CLM-1024The 1979 government estimate put a heavy-lift flight at about ten million dollars of the day, most of it people refurbishing the vehicle...CLM-1026The electric ferry takes half a year to climb to geostationary orbit but burns about an eighth of a kilogram of argon for every kilogram it...CLM-1027Getting a crew from low orbit up to the construction site took half a day and a stage the size of a small airliner, refuelled at the top...CLM-1029In 1980 the programme's own accounting had rockets at roughly one dollar in four of a satellite's cost and nearly one in two of the money...CLM-1030The independent 1980 cost review said the government's rocket numbers were fair for the stage the programme was at, then added spare...CLM-1031A launcher a third the size of the reference one would cost about a fifth more per kilogram to fly and need four launches a day instead of...CLM-1033At the higher of NASA's two peak figures, the launches would have needed about 6 per cent of US daily hydrogen output and 30 per cent of...CLM-1034The programme's transportation workshop said the schedule was probably unrealistic, and the programme's cost reviewer said the launcher...