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A32 FEATURE
Saturday 2 March 2019
How SpaceX lowered costs and reduced barriers to space

By Wendy Whitman Cobb istration moved away from
Cameron University NASA’s Constellation pro-
Associated Press gram, which called for the
On March 2, SpaceX plans development of a family of
to launch its first test of an rockets that could reach
unmanned Dragon vehicle low Earth orbit and be used
which is designed to carry for long-distance space-
humans into low Earth or- flight. With NASA falling sig-
bit and to the International nificantly behind schedule,
Space Station. If the test is because of technological
successful, later this year, difficulties and budget cuts,
SpaceX plans to launch the Obama administration
American astronauts from was left with a choice of
United States soil for the first whether to boost funds for
time since 2011. NASA or change direction.
While a major milestone In 2010, then-President
for a private company, Barack Obama toured
SpaceX’s most significant Kennedy Space Center
achievement has been in and even met with Elon
lowering the launch costs Musk to get a firsthand look
that have limited many at SpaceX’s facilities. The
space activities. While administration chose to re-
making several modifica- In this Jan. 3, 2019 photo provided by SpaceX, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon orient the program to focus
tions to the fuel and en- spacecraft is rolled out to Launch Complex 39A for a dry run to prep for the upcoming Demo-1 solely on deep space. For
gines, SpaceX’s major flight test at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. missions closer to home,
breakthroughs have come Associated Press NASA would purchase ser-
through recovering and re- vices from companies like
using as much of the rocket fueled rocket, the Falcon a drone recovery ship. Dragon tests this year, SpaceX for access to low
and launch vehicle as pos- 1. Falcon 9 flew for the first In 2018 alone, SpaceX SpaceX is continuing de- Earth orbit. Critics objected
sible. Between 1970 and time the next year, and in made 21 successful launch- velopment of its Starship, to budget cuts to NASA
2000, the cost to launch 2012, the Dragon capsule es. The new Falcon Heavy which will be designed as well as concerns about
a kilogram to space re- became the first private- rocket – a more powerful to travel through the so- whether the private sec-
mained fairly steady, with ly funded spacecraft to version of the Falcon 9 – lar system and carry up to tor would be able to fol-
an average of US$18,500 dock with the ISS. SpaceX launched in February. This 100 passengers sometime low through on providing
per kilogram. When the has since focused on re- rocket can lift 63,800 kilo- in the 2020s. Musk has also launch services.
space shuttle was in opera- covering key parts of the grams, equivalent to more suggested that the Starship While NASA has strug-
tion, it could launch a pay- Falcon 9 to enhance reus- than 27 Asian elephants, to could serve as the founda- gled to develop its Space
load of 27,500 kilograms for ability and reduce costs. low Earth orbit and 16,800 tion for a lunar base. Launch System, an analy-
$1.5 billion, or $54,500 per This includes the Falcon 9’s kilograms to Mars for just Impact on space explora- sis from NASA’s Ames Re-
kilogram. For a SpaceX Fal- first stage which, once it $90 million. The test pay- tion search Center found that
con 9, the rocket used to expends its fuel, falls back load was Musk’s own red SpaceX’s technical ad- the dramatically lower
access the ISS, the cost is through the atmosphere Tesla Roadster, with a man- vances and cost reduc- launch costs SpaceX made
just $2,720 per kilogram. reaching speeds of 5,200 nequin named Starman in tions have changed the di- possible offered “greatly
I’m a space policy analyst, miles per hour before reig- the driver’s seat. rection of U.S. space policy. expanded opportunities
and I’ve observed that cost niting its engines to land on In addition to the crewed In 2010, the Obama admin- to exploit space” for many
has been a major hurdle users including NASA. The
limiting access to space. report also suggested that
Since the 1950s, the high NASA could increase its
cost of a space program number of planned mis-
has traditionally put it be- sions to low Earth orbit and
yond the reach of most the ISS precisely because
countries. Today, state and of the lower price tag.
private actors alike have In addition to substantially
ready access to space. affecting human space-
And while SpaceX is not flight, SpaceX has also
the only private company launched payloads for
providing launch services countries including Kazakh-
– Orbital ATK, recently pur- stan, Bangladesh, Indo-
chased by Northrop Grum- nesia and, most recently,
man, United Launch Alli- Israel. On Feb. 21, 2019, a
ance and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Falcon 9 launched a pri-
Origin are also players – it vately built Israeli lunar
has emerged as the most lander which, if successful,
significant. will be the first privately built
SpaceX’s achievements lunar probe.
Frustrated with NASA and in- Overall, SpaceX has signifi-
fluenced by science fiction cantly reduced the barriers
writers, Elon Musk founded to space, making it more
SpaceX in 2002. Though it In this Dec. 18, 2018 photo provided by SpaceX, SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 accessible and democra-
suffered several setbacks, rocket are positioned inside the company's hangar at Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy tizing who participates in
in 2008 it launched the first Space Center in Florida, ahead of the Demo-1 unmanned flight test. space-based commerce
privately funded liquid- Associated Press and exploration.q