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SpaceX offers 10% discount for satellites launched on reused 1st stages

In interview today for Space News, SpaceX’s president Gwynne Shotwell revealed that the company is only offering a 10% launch discount for any satellite launch that uses a reused Falcon 9 first stage, not the 30% price break she had indicated in March.

Though the interview also touched upon SpaceX’s September 1 launchpad investigation, it did not include anything significantly new. Shotwell readily admitted that the company did consider sabotage as a possible cause, but always considered it unlikely and right now has pretty much dismissed it. She also remains confident that the company will resume launches this year.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

4 comments

  • wodun

    They have to make some money to fund everything. Maybe larger price cuts will come later as their technology matures. The previous 30% and the new 10% reduction lets us know that they are shaving off costs.

  • Alex

    10% is not enough to take the risk of a used stage, It looks to me that we might are able to observe that cost reduction by Faclon 9’s reuse are so significant as hopped, or I am misguided by the article?

  • Localfluff

    Is a used stage really more risky? I’m not sure about that. But the main point is of course cost savings. If they aren’t bigger than 10%, that’s a disappointment. Even 30% is less than a revolution. But price is not cost. They don’t need to give the value added to the customers until they have more competition, or outlook for greater demand from a low-price market and the capacity to mass produce launches.

  • broyale

    I thought I would add to this that the price reduction is most likely dictated by demand for used stages. If they reduce their prices by 30% then all their customers may want to fly on used stages. A 10% reduction may be sufficient for some customers and could be better for SpaceX’s margins after the pad explosion.

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