• limited launch sites The requirements of launch systems needed to open space for commercial development and the characteristics of current launch capabilities are almost in opposition to each other. Cost Analysis and Pricing of Operational Launchers The cost of launching payloads is high. To date, no launcher has ever repaid it own development costs. With the exception of a few small privately financed vehicles, all the development costs of most world's launchers have been paid for by a government. This observation is quite in line with the notion that space launchers are still, in large part, the domain of governments rather than corporations and markets. The final destination for revenue derived from launching payloads or the payer for the launch service is an indication of the environment of the world's launch industry. The world has not yet seen a privately developed launch vehicle carrying for profit payloads. The character of this government dominated launch industry is high cost, low rate of innovation, and lengthy, complicated launching processes. Table 8.1 on the following page is a summary of launch costs and performance. Table 8.1 Operational Launchers Launcher Name LEO Payload (kg) GTO Payload (kg) Launch mass (kg) Launch Thrust (kN) Launcher costs Unit (M$) Cost/kg (k$) Ariane 40 4900 2000 240000 2710 60.0 12.24 Ariane 42P 6100 2700 339000 4150 62.0 10.16 Ariane 42L 7400 3200 400000 4040 85.0 11.49 Ariane 44P 6900 3000 358000 5590 65.0 9.42 Ariane 44LP 8300 3900 420000 5480 90.0 10.84 Ariane 44L 9600 4400 470000 5380 110.0 11.46 Ariane 5 18000 6900 725000 15492 100.0 5.56 Atlas I 5580 2250 164300 3630 65.0 10.95 Atlas II 6395 2680 187600 3950 70.0 10.95 Atlas IIA 6760 2810 187700 3950 70.0 10.36 Atlas II AS 8390 3490 234000 3950 110.0 13.11 Long March 1 CZ-1D 750 200 80000 1120 10.0 13.33 Long March 2 CZ-2C 3200 1000 191000 2840 16.0 5.00 Long March 2 CZ-2E 9200 3370 464000 6000 35.0 3.80 Long March 2 CZ-2E/HO 13600 4500 460000 6000 50.0 3.68 Long March 3 CZ-3 5000 1500 202000 2840 20.0 4.00 Long March 3 CZ-3A 7200 2500 240000 3000 30.0 4.17 Long March 4 CZ-4 ... 1100 249000 3000 18.0 4.50 Delta 6920 (Delta II) 3990 1450 (A6925) 218000 3580 40.0 10.03 Delta 7920 (Delta II) 5045 1820 (A7925) 230000 3650 45.0 8.92 H-2 10500 4000 266000 4050 90.0 8.57 M-5 1950 1215 128000 4220 40.0 20.51 STS (Shuttle) 23500 2040000 28590 130.0 5.53 Titan 3 14515 5000 680000 17220 130.0 8.96 Titan 4 17700 8620 860000 19820 150.0 8.47 Titan 2 ... ... 155000 4180 43.0 Pegasus 455 125 19000 490 10.0 21.98 Energia SL-17 88000 ... 2400000 34880 80.0 0.91 Proton SL-13 20000 5500 705000 8840 30.0 1.50 Zenit SL-16 13740 4300 466000 7260 25.0 1.82 Soyuz SL-4 7000 290000 4029 15.0 2.14 Vostok SL-3 4730 290000 4029 14.0 2.96 SS-18 (ICBM) 4400 ... ... 13.0 2.95 Tsyklon SL-14 4000 190000 2970 12.0 3.00 Kosmos SL-8 1350 120000 1486 6.0 4.44 VysotaSSN-8 150 ... ... 5.0 33.33
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