Russia to match SpaceX launch prices
The competition heats up: The head of Russia’s United Rocket and Space Corporation (URSC), which now controls that country’s entire space industry, said today that they intend to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 much cheaper launch prices.
They intend to do it with both the Proton rocket as well as their new family of Angara rockets. The heavy version of Angara will allow them to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, and in fact might even put more payload into orbit for less.
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The competition heats up: The head of Russia’s United Rocket and Space Corporation (URSC), which now controls that country’s entire space industry, said today that they intend to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 much cheaper launch prices.
They intend to do it with both the Proton rocket as well as their new family of Angara rockets. The heavy version of Angara will allow them to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, and in fact might even put more payload into orbit for less.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Space-X’s biggest challenge yet – the power of the state-purse against innovation and private enterprise. In paralle to the Reagan-vs-Soviet economic-industrial-military challenge of the 1980’s, regratably the current version lacks leeadership from the top – may West-Civ survive till January 20, 2017.
I was taught in B-school that competing on price was a losing game; someone can always do it cheaper. Better to compete on value. Space X has shown that they can reliably boost payload, even in partial failure mode. While neither Angara nor Falcon Heavy have flown, given the respective cultures, I’d put my money on Space X.
If the Russians do it for a loss let’s hope they make it up in volume. I don’t think SpaceX has a thing to worry about.
At the present point that the Russian space program is in I just can not see them making a good attempt at price matching with Space X.
As they try to drive the price down some things inevitably drop off like quality control. And even though space X is keeping quality up to a high standard quality does drop off as production costs go down.
I think Space X keeps theirs up because of the quality of workers and subcontractors they use, something its starting to look like the Russians do not have.
You can not pistol whip someone into becoming a better technician or engineer.
They might take some business away in a good publicity stunt but I bet the real costs will be hidden just to make themselves look good. They have to prove the old communists/dictator model works even when competing against a small company.
Excellent point!
Also, Dragon Rider looks a lot more comfortable than a Soyuz. Hopefully, SpaceX will continue to provide a better product and at a lower price.
Quality need not be affected. Russia will just subsidize the industry by dumping money in so there is no lost revenue by having reduced prices. Quality may suffer for other reasons though, as our host likes to point out.
Like I said hiding the true costs.
In all other book keeping business dumping money from the government into quality control still counts as raising the over all cost.
They will hide the rue costs by dumping cash into all the subcontractors and hoping that works.
But in the long run it will not. If their workers don’t care enough by now throwing money at them will not improve quality.
They might still be using the same equipment from the 1970’s to build the rockets. And I see no reason why they can’t get good quality now like they did then. But the difference is the workers not the equipment. they need to train a whole new generation of workers and find a way to instill in them pride and conscientiousness.
They used to care. They had an enemy to beat. The US.
National pride works wonders. But who are they trying to beat now? Some little scrub company called Space X. A company that could never compare to the resources of a government.
They have never transferred from National pride to personal or corporate pride in their work.
What products are you trying to buy that are manufactured in Russia?
I can only think of two or three. Small arms and their ammo and the Ural motorcycle,which isn’t even Russian in origin but German. And is now a private company.