Compare and contrast:
Cost to launch the Ares-I stick of fail once: $1 Billion.
Total cost to develop Ares-I: $40 Billion.
Capital invested by SpaceX to develop and launch Falcon I, Falcon 9 and Dragon: $500 Million.
NASA is the failed past. Private space is the shining future. If I was a bright eyed engineering student, I’d commit carnal sins to get hired on by SpaceX or Burt Rutan. And guess what? SpaceX is hiring!
Ed Hering | 05-Jun-10 at 11:06 am | Permalink
NASA paid $500 million for the launcher for Ares.
Way to go SpaceX!
Ed Hering | 05-Jun-10 at 11:07 am | Permalink
Oh: and used it exactly once.
Rick C | 06-Jun-10 at 12:18 am | Permalink
Not even Ares-I, a mockup of Ares-I that didn’t even have a successful test.
staghounds | 07-Jun-10 at 2:16 pm | Permalink
I wonder what would happen if there were a billion dollar prize for something that would meet the mission demands of Ares.
Probably the same thing as if there were a billion dollar prize for something that would meet Toyota Corolla performance/safety/payload/price specs and get 125 MPG.
or a prize of L 20,000 to solve the greatest practical scientific question of its day.