Russia’s Proton rocket successfully put a commercial communications satellite in geosynchronous orbit on Wednesday
The competition heats up: Russia’s Proton rocket successfully put a commercial communications satellite in geosynchronous orbit on Wednesday.
This is the third successful Proton launch this year and the third since a December launch failure. It appears the Russians have ironed out the kinks in the Briz-M upper stage, and are ready to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. In fact, at the moment they are the only ones who can compete with the Falcon 9, at least when it comes to price.
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The competition heats up: Russia’s Proton rocket successfully put a commercial communications satellite in geosynchronous orbit on Wednesday.
This is the third successful Proton launch this year and the third since a December launch failure. It appears the Russians have ironed out the kinks in the Briz-M upper stage, and are ready to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. In fact, at the moment they are the only ones who can compete with the Falcon 9, at least when it comes to price.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID 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. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
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.
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Not so sure about that. Your link goes to an article in which the price of a Proton launch – pre-discount – was said to be nearly the same as an Ariane 5. The Ariane 5’s cost is variously reported to be $150 – $220 million. Just to make matters more confusing, the Wikipedia with the $220 million figure for Ariane 5 puts the Proton M at $85 million. That’s way less, but still a lot higher than the Falcon 9’s $56 million. Maybe the Russians can take a $29 million haircut to match Elon, but I doubt it. And when he gets reusable first stages sorted out there is for sure going to be blood running in the gutters at Roskosmos and Arianespace.
Not so sure about that. Your link goes to an article in which the price of a Proton launch – pre-discount – was said to be nearly the same as an Ariane 5. The Ariane 5′s cost is variously reported to be $150 – $220 million. Just to make matters more confusing, the Wikipedia source with the $220 million figure for Ariane 5 puts the Proton M at $85 million. That’s way less, but still a lot higher than the Falcon 9′s $56 million. Maybe the Russians can take a $29 million haircut to match Elon, but I doubt it. And when he gets reusable first stages sorted out there is for sure going to be blood running in the gutters at Roskosmos and Arianespace.
Hope this is clearer. God, I really hate blog platforms with neither preview nor ex post facto edit capability.
I’m not so sure myself. Sometime in the past three months I had linked to an article that showed Proton to be very close to Falcon 9 in price, but couldn’t find the link when I posted this one today.
And as you say, even if the price at that link was right, Proton will still have trouble competing if SpaceX can get its first stages reusable.
While it seems slow to us eagerly watching it, SpaceX is moving so fast the rest of the industry is not keeping up. These are exciting times. I hope SpaceX continues to perform and some real competition emerges.