Falcon Heavy by SpaceX has a cost per kilogram to LEO of approximately $1,400 per kg. This figure reflects the cost-effectiveness achieved through partial reusability and high payload capacity.
A single use Super Heavy Starship and booster will be able to bring full payloads to orbit for about $250-600 per kilogram. This is with costs of about $90 million and reusable payloads of 200 tons and non-reusable payloads of 300-400 tons.
Initial cost of Super Heavy booster and Starship: $90 million
Fuel and maintenance cost per flight: $2 million
Number of reusable flights: 6
Total cost for 6 flights:
90,000,000+(2,000,000×6)=102,000,000
Payload Capacity
Starship payload to orbit: 200 tons per launch
Total payload for 6 launches: 200 tons × 6 = 1,200 ton
The cost per kilogram to orbit using the SpaceX Starship under these conditions is approximately $93.66/kg even if payload is 180 tons it would still be $94.
5-6 full reuses would get the cost below $100/kg
For 6 Flights:
With 200 tons payload: $93.66 per kg
With 240 tons payload: $78 per kg
For 20 Flights:
With 200 tons payload: $32.50 per kg
With 240 tons payload: $27.08 per kg
For 50 Flights:
With 200 tons payload: $19.00 per kg
With 240 tons payload: $15.83 per kg
For 70 Flights:
With 200 tons payload: $16.43 per kg
With 240 tons payload: $13.69 per kg
It would be about 70 flights to get to costs per kilogram 100 times less (1% of the cost) of SpaceX Falcon Heavy.
There have been over 25 flights of the booster stage of some Falcon 9 rockets.
The SpaceX Super Heavy Starship could get to far lower costs to SpaceX by reducing the cost for fuel and maintenance between flights. This would be after the Starship is flying reliably. SpaceX will charge more than their costs for others to fly on their launches. The $1400 per kilogram price is what they are charging others. SpaceX costs for Falcon Heavy area less as they are reusing the booster stages.
There should be block 3 Starships and improved engines flying by the end of 2025.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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It turns out SpaceX already can reduce launch costs to approximately $100 per kilo in regards to the cost to SpaceX. That is, its own *production cost* would be in that range, though it would charge some factor higher, 2 to 4 times higher, for the price charged to the customer:
SpaceX routine orbital passenger flights imminent.
https://exoscientist.blogspot.com/2024/11/spacex-routine-orbital-passenger.html
Bob Clark
I think SpaceX will not get down to aircraft level of maintenance with this technology. Too many engines and still the old heat tile thing.
I suggest they shed the deltaV before reentry by storing it in a rotovator. The kinetic energy is worth a lot and can be used to haul even more payload up. This will be the ultimate form of re-use. Not only the hardware but also the deltaV. Doing that will simplify reentry and heat tile problems a lot. Likewise on the moon and Mars.