Long-term, Falcon9 exists to fund Spacex' R&D for Mars. Until now, Musk has said <5% of Spacex budget goes to ITS dev. I expect that to change now.
1st stage costs $40m, targeting 10 flights = $4m/flight, amortised. Add another 2-3 million for refurbishment, storage, etc., and reusing the 1st stages should save Spacex ~$33m.
Shotwell, however, has stated that customers will receive up to 30% discount. On a $62m flight, that's a savings of <$19m ...
giving Spacex an extra $12-15m pure profit on every flight ... which I hope/expect to get channeled into ITS dev.
Spacex is already the cheapest in the industry, and they now have a 3-5 year head-start in reusability, they simply don't need to lower their prices more.
Long-term, Falcon9 exists to fund Spacex' R&D for Mars. Until now, Musk has said <5% of Spacex budget goes to ITS dev. I expect that to change now.
1st stage costs $40m, targeting 10 flights = $4m/flight, amortised. Add another 2-3 million for refurbishment, storage, etc., and reusing the 1st stages should save Spacex ~$33m.
Shotwell, however, has stated that customers will receive up to 30% discount. On a $62m flight, that's a savings of <$19m ...
giving Spacex an extra $12-15m pure profit on every flight ... which I hope/expect to get channeled into ITS dev.
Spacex is already the cheapest in the industry, and they now have a 3-5 year head-start in reusability, they simply don't need to lower their prices more.