Want To Send Your Package To Space? It Will Only Cost $10

Initially, Musk’s goal was to bring a cultivating greenhouse to the surface of Mars. And it was because of that goal that Musk has been investing heavily in SpaceX for nearly 20 years. And there were times that this dream affected Musk’s finances extremely badly.

But now, things are getting better. And the famous billionaire is trying to make the dream that is only in human fiction come true: conquering many other planets.

Up until now, SpaceX has been successful in dramatically reducing the cost of sending cargo into space in two ways. The Falcon 9 is reusable for many different missions. Moreover, SpaceX also increases the frequency of flights from Earth to the ISS.

SpaceX’s plan with the Starship is not only to privatize space exploration but also to reduce the cost of transporting goods out into space ever since the day Starship was known by its long name Interplanetary Transport System.

Earlier in May, Musk confidently said that the cost of bringing goods on the Starship from Earth to low-Earth orbit would be around $10 per kilo, meaning that only one-third of the cost per spaceship launches would be for propellant fuel.

Musk’s calculation goes like this: the propellant for the rocket engine is about half a million dollars. The rest of about $1 million is for reusing, refurbishing, recovering, and shipping the launcher.

The number is only preliminary and is subject to change. The original goal of SpaceX when designing Starship was to bring 150 tons of equipment into low-Earth orbit.

To achieve the price of $10 per kilo, SpaceX will have to increase the flights of the Starship. The cost of sending Starship out into space all depends on the investment of SpaceX in the launching system. In the second quarter of 2017, Musk revealed that his company had invested $1 billion just to develop reusable rocket technology.

For Starship, the company estimates the manufacturing cost for the ship’s fuel storage system will be around $130 million. To date, SpaceX has a total of six fuel system prototypes but they aren’t completed yet.

In order to partially compensate for the huge development costs, SpaceX will need to have many partners using the service.

Besides being chosen by NASA as one of the three solutions to conquer the moon in 2024, SpaceX also has the Starlink internet-connected satellite system. Musk’s ambitions are to bring the Internet to places with no underground infrastructure.

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