NASA has previously given more than $1 billion to Aerojet to "restart" production of the space shuttle era engines and a contract for six new ones. So, according to the space agency, NASA has spent $3.5 billion for a total of 24 rocket engines. That comes to $146 million per engine.
The NASA news release says that Aerojet has "implemented a plan to reduce the cost of the engines by as much as 30 percent," noting the use of more advanced manufacturing techniques.
[...] NASA designed these brilliant engines in the 1970s for the space shuttle program, during which they each flew multiple launches. A total of 46 engines were built for the shuttle at an estimated cost of $40 million[*] per engine. But now these formerly reusable engines will be flown a single time on the SLS rocket and then dropped into the ocean.
There are four engines on a Space Launch System rocket. At this price, the engines for an SLS rocket, alone, will cost more than $580 million. This does not include the costs of fabricating the rocket's large core stage, towering solid-rocket boosters, an upper stage, or the costs of test, transportation, storage, and integration. With engine prices like these, it seems reasonable to assume that the cost of a single SLS launch will remain $2 billion into perpetuity.
[...] There are a lot of things one could buy in the aerospace industry for $146 million. One might, for example, buy at least six RD-180 engines from Russia. These engines have more than twice the thrust of a space shuttle main engine. Or, one might go to United Launch Alliance's Rocket Builder website and purchase two basic Atlas V rocket launches. You could buy three "flight-proven" Falcon 9 launches. One might even buy a Falcon Heavy launch, which has two-thirds the lift capacity of the Space Launch System at one-twentieth the price[...]
[...] SpaceX is building the Raptor rocket engine to power its Super Heavy rocket and Starship upper stage. The Raptor has slightly more power at sea level than the RS-25, and is designed for dozens of uses. According to SpaceX founder Elon Musk, it costs less than $1 million to build a Raptor engine. The company has already built a couple dozen of them on its own dime. So there's that.
[*] Not adjusted for inflation.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday May 07 2020, @05:33PM (1 child)
TFA says that they will pay 1.79 Billion for another 18 engines, therefore at a single unit cost of $99,444,444.44.
Yes, you can certainly take the $3.5 billion for 24 engines and come out at $146 million, but that is misleading when a considerable amount of that was startup development costs and that half the price is already a sunk cost.
Is it wasteful? Sure seems like it. I'd bet one could make the math still indicate that at "only" $100 million.
But make the accounting accurate first, which is more than just the math.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday May 08 2020, @06:50PM
Don't forget the inevitable cost overruns. Accounting math is quite futile with so much slack in the system in the first place.