this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2025
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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Arianespace hasn't publicly disclosed the cost for an Ariane 6 launch, although it's likely somewhere in the range of 80 million to 100 million euros, about 40 percent lower than the cost of an Ariane 5. This is about 50 percent more than SpaceX's list price for a dedicated Falcon 9 launch.

With more launch, the price per rocket should decrease, but making it cost competitive will be an important mission if EU wants to launch hundreds of satellites in the future.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

With more launch, the price per rocket should decrease

Should it? Are you referring to amortizing the costs of development, or optimizing the production cost of each rocket? No portion of Ariane 6 is reusable, so it's not like they can get more launches out of each rocket...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 15 hours ago

Are you referring to amortizing the costs of development

Yes, I was thinking more amortizing the costs of development which will definitely get cheaper the more launch happening, but I guess it's also possible for optimization of production, although I'm not expecting much from that.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago

So glad to see that Arianespace is back in business. At least now it is also abundantly clear that Europe needs its own and sovereign access to space.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago

I was so pumped the first ariane 6 launch, I grew up with watching ariane 4 launches and had a huge revell model kit in my room.