> > No way a disposable system can compete with this shuttle. The > > shuttle costs $8 per pound of payload. $8 per pound for a new > > shuttle, not per flight. > > > > The parachute would be $0.1 per pound. Say the parachute is a > > quarter of the total cost, and the shuttle would have to last > > a mere 20 flights to pay for itself ... > > > Are there no per-trip costs for the shuttle? Sure, water and RTGs are > cheap, > but not *free*. There's service time, plus even if the water's free, > someone's got to put it in the tanks, they probably want money for that. > > -- > chuk
There are also per-trip costs for the drop pods (retrieval, for one). I can't give you the exact figure, which probably depends on local conditions, but the order-of-magnitude should give an indication that disposables are not cost-efficient. Say the water for the shuttle is as expensive as the tug for the pod, and the maintenance for each flight is 2.5% of sticker price, and the shuttle pays for itself after 40 flights, not 20. Both trivial numbers for a technology that is as mature as jet airliners are today. Onno _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
