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Russia Space Chief Spars with Elon Musk Over Launch Pricing

posted by Fnord666 on Monday April 13 2020, @04:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the cheaper-by-the-dozen dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

The head of Russia's space agency on Saturday accused Elon Musk's SpaceX of predatory pricing for space launches, which is pushing Russia to cut its own prices. "Instead of honest competition on the market for space launches, they are lobbying for sanctions against us and use price dumping with impunity," Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin wrote on Twitter.

Rogozin, who is often outspoken on Twitter and previously engaged in online banter with Elon Musk, on Friday raised the issue during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

He said the Roscosmos space agency "is working to lower prices by more than 30 percent on launch services to increase our share on the international markets." "This is our answer to dumping by American companies financed by the US budget," he said. The market price of a SpaceX launch is $60 million, but NASA pays up to four times that amount, he said.

Musk responded to the criticism Saturday by saying on Twitter: "SpaceX rockets are 80% reusable, theirs are 0%. This is the actual problem."

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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by legont on Monday April 13 2020, @10:36PM (1 child)

    by legont (4179) on Monday April 13 2020, @10:36PM (#982269)

    I do not follow the pricing thing, but according to this https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/11/nasa-report-finds-boeing-seat-prices-are-60-higher-than-spacex/ [arstechnica.com]
    NASA will pay SpaceX $55 per seat assuming all four seats are taken all the time.

    From the same source

    Overall, NASA paid Russia an average cost per seat of $55.4 million for the 70 completed and planned missions from 2006 through 2020. Since 2017, NASA has paid an average of $79.7 million.

    So, yeah, Russians got greedy later but just changed their mind. Regardless, Soyuz is still cheaper, it seems.

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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday April 14 2020, @12:12AM

    by takyon (881) <takyonNO@SPAMsoylentnews.org> on Tuesday April 14 2020, @12:12AM (#982309) Journal

    NASA will pay SpaceX $55 per seat assuming all four seats are taken all the time.

    And that is the plan, except for the Demo-2 flight.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_2#List_of_flights [wikipedia.org]

    Keep in mind that the craft can actually seat up to 7. Soyuz-MS can do up to 3. NASA will carry cargo along with up to 4 astronauts:

    NASA flights to the ISS will only have four astronauts, with the added payload mass and volume used to carry pressurized cargo.

    Possibly tons of cargo. Payload capacity is listed as 6,000 kg to orbit.

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