[amsat-bb] Re: Rideshare missions to GTO, only $14 million for Eagle, $800K for 3U Cubesat

[Alexandru Csete]

On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 7:33 PM, Daniel Schultz <n8fgv at usa.net> wrote:
> Spaceflight Services Announces Lunar and GTO Mission Pricing
>
> Prague, CZ - September 30, 2010:  Spaceflight Services (Spaceflight) announced
> today pricing for small payloads to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and
> Low Lunar Orbit (LLO).
>
> Spaceflight, as part of the Rocket City Space Pioneer Google Lunar X-Prize
> Team, is responsible for mission integration and providing space
> transportation services to Low Lunar Orbit.  Spaceflight is providing flight
> opportunities for ESPA class spacecraft (spacecraft weighing less than 180 kg)
> interested in launch services to GTO and Low Lunar Orbit.
>
> The proposed mission, which is slated for Q4 2013 or Q1 2014, will deploy
> three ESPA payloads into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit and two additional
> payloads in a Low Lunar Orbit.  The mission is also open to smaller spacecraft
> looking for a low cost ride to either of these destinations.
>
> Mission pricing for small payloads to GTO begins at $795,000 for a 3U CubeSat
> and up to $13,950,000 for a full ESPA spacecraft.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>
> This is considered a "Low Cost Ride" in the commercial world. This is the free
> market value of the launch that we are hoping to get for significantly less.
> Wish us luck...

I certainly wish the best of luck with finding a cheap ride!
Aside from being GTO, I do not consider their offer to be a good deal
at all, since:
(1) Their prices are set so that they can finance their own lunar mission
(2) The price for a whole Falcon 1 is $11M, which will take 1 metric ton to LEO.
(3) Even for a Falcon 9, the price seems to be less than $10M for
1,600 kg to GTO, see
http://www.spacex.com/falcon9.php#pricing_and_performance

73
Alex OZ9AEC