Table 11.7 Full Scale SPS Recurring Costs Observing Table 11.7, it can be seen that Spacecraft, Transportation and Ground Station are respectively the main segment drivers of these costs. Sensitivity analysis of these three segments is very useful in order to evaluate what will be the influence of changes in these cost in the lifetime of space power program. The results of these analyses are shown in Figure 11.1. Figure 11.1 Sensitivity Analysis Curve of Spacecraft, Transportation and Ground Segments The main feature of this results is that changes in the cost of one of this parameters cannot dramatically alter the cost of the program. A combination of cost reduction in each of these segments would be required. In these results shown above, it has to be considered that the change in one of the segment costs may produce effects in the other two and this has to be considered in the final effect on the total cost. The links among these segment costs should be derived from the technical design and it is not the purpose of this chapter to go far into details. This sensitivity analysis can examine changes from this reference design but no alternative designs effects have been considered. Launch and construction of satellites from the Moon, as well as the use of Moon resources, may result in significantly different allocations of costs. Chapter 9 describes some of the alternatives involving the use of non-terrestrial resources. A brief summary of the costs of each segment (according to NASA/DOE reports) is presented as well as the sensitivity analysis of the most important factors in the rest of the chapter.
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