SpaceX wins launch contract for Dragonfly mission to Titan
NASA yesterday announced that it has awarded the launch contract for sending its Dragonfly mission to Titan to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket.
The firm-fixed-price contract has a value of approximately $256.6 million, which includes launch services and other mission related costs. The Dragonfly mission currently has a targeted launch period from July 5, 2028, to July 25, 2028, on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Dragonfly is a truly cutting edge mission. Though we have relatively limited information about Titan’s atmosphere and the environment on its surface, it will attempt to fly there like a helicopter, landing and taking off multiple times.
And though there are certainly additional costs required for such a mission, that quarter-billion dollar contract price probably triples what it normally costs SpaceX for a Falcon Heavy mission. Even if it requires the expending of all three first stages, the company is almost certainly getting a big windfall from this deal.
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NASA yesterday announced that it has awarded the launch contract for sending its Dragonfly mission to Titan to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket.
The firm-fixed-price contract has a value of approximately $256.6 million, which includes launch services and other mission related costs. The Dragonfly mission currently has a targeted launch period from July 5, 2028, to July 25, 2028, on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Dragonfly is a truly cutting edge mission. Though we have relatively limited information about Titan’s atmosphere and the environment on its surface, it will attempt to fly there like a helicopter, landing and taking off multiple times.
And though there are certainly additional costs required for such a mission, that quarter-billion dollar contract price probably triples what it normally costs SpaceX for a Falcon Heavy mission. Even if it requires the expending of all three first stages, the company is almost certainly getting a big windfall from this deal.
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
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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.
Wow they usually get like $150 million or so for a fully expended Falcon Heavy. Even with some additional costs that should represent a nice payout (as I bet the $150 million price tag is itself not a loss leader price). At present, there are really only two alternatives SLS (snort) and New Glenn (which is yet to leave the ground) so SpaceX can charge what the market will bear and 256 million is far less than the cost of an SLS which is somewhere north of $2.5 billion and likely closer to $5 billion a shot. Unless Blue Origin gets their act together (which I’d like only to have some competition) SpaceX is going to own the Earth Orbitals (and the Solar System) for quite a while. Go D.D. Harriman go!!!
Dragonfly has an RTG, so that means special facilities for handling of nuclear payloads, per statute and NASA requirements – that has to drive up the price point all by itself. SpaceX has never launched a nuclear payload before, so….
Curious to know if ULA or Blue Origin bid on this one. Neither is certified for Cat 3 science missions yet, but presumably both would be by 2028.
Either way, though, this is, as you say, a really exciting mission for NASA. The idea of seeing shots of this nuclear powered drone zooming through the skies of Titan is exhilarating. Pity we have to wait ten years to see it…
P.S. Apparently this is going to be a fully expended Falcon Heavy, I’m told. The base price for fully expended is $150 million, so that leaves another $105M for special payload processing requirements imposed by NASA – including for the nuke. That also requires a special certification by NASA. Not surprised that this one ended up being more expensive than Europa Clipper.
Richard M: My original text was not what I intended to write. I was referring to my estimate of SpaceX’s cost to launch Falcon Heavy when I said this price was 3X higher. I have revised the text.
SpaceX might charge $150 million for a fully expendable Falcon Heavy launch, but I think its actual cost is closer to $80 million or less.
Hello Bob,
Oh, no doubt – especially if the side boosters are previously flown ones!
It has been awhile since the anti-nukes showed up in force at a launch (Cassini’s Titan IV) but with SpaceX launching it–I foresee the Greens starting yet more trouble.