Humor SpaceX CEO Elon Musk: 'Europe's rocket has no chance'

[Notebook]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20389148

The SpaceX CEO and chief designer was speaking at the Royal Aeronautical Society where he was being awarded a gold medal for his work to advance the commercialisation of space.

Best news I've heard since BLUE STREAK went down the tube.

Strange, as I get older I start to sound like Bender from Futurama, look a bit like him too...

N.

 

[mojoey]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20389148




Best news I've heard since BLUE STREAK went down the tube.

Strange, as I get older I start to sound like Bender from Futurama, look a bit like him too...

N.

Needs more Blackjack and booze. May I suggest potato juice?

 

[Pipcard]

So Ariane 6 wouldn't be that super-heavy launcher. It may have to be renamed to Ariane 7.

 

[Urwumpe]

Of course, his words about Ariane have NOTHING, absolutely NOTHING to do with the fact that Arianespace is currently the No 1 in commercial launch services and SpaceX biggest (and bigger) competitor.

The price of the Ariane V rocket is too damn high.

 

[orb]

Elon Musk via Twitter:

Was misquoted by BBC as saying "Europe's rocket has no chance". Just said the [Franco-German] Ariane 5 has no chance, so go with Ariane 6.

NASASpaceflight: ULA: Launch services customers class reliability as their main consideration:

The ever-competitive launch services market has once again been thrown into the spotlight, with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk promoting the low cost of his vehicles, claiming Arianespace’s Ariane 5 has “no chance” of competing with his Falcon rockets on price. However, another big player in the market – the United Launch Alliance (ULA) – believe customers are more interested in reliability.

{...}

 

[Urwumpe]

Still not much better. The smaller Ariane 6 would be more flexible cost-wise, but it would not be cheaper, since it can launch only one satellite to GTO. The Ariane 5 ME would be more interesting, since it has 3 times lower R&D costs and can still put two satellites into GTO, which is what really cuts prices for Ariane. The ability to launch two satellites for the price of one slightly more expensive launch was always what made Ariane strong. The Ariane 4 was already exploiting this, hauling two Delta II payloads for only a few percent higher launch costs.

The Ariane 6 would be at 4 billion Euro R&D costs (today, twice tomorrow), for reducing the costs per launch (not per payload) a bit.

 

[T.Neo]

However, another big player in the market – the United Launch Alliance (ULA) – believe customers are more interested in reliability.

How many launches for commercial customers has ULA performed in the last decade compared to Arianespace? :shifty:

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

How many launches for commercial customers has ULA performed in the last decade compared to Arianespace? :shifty:

Actually not that bad: 20+ (http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=30411.msg981431#msg981431) (that's roughly what I remember too)! Still not exactly up to the Arianespace level (which has been the leader of commercial space launch services for quite some time), but not too bad really. Of course the next decade is another question, but I think the number will get better when commercial crew gets into action.

 

[MattBaker]

However, another big player in the market – the United Launch Alliance (ULA) – believe customers are more interested in reliability.

Which the Ariane 5 obviously does not have...

 

[N_Molson]

We'll see.