• 1998: Deep House 1 — Delta II rocket — $86 million
• 1999: Mars Polar Lander — Delta II rocket — $88 million
• 2001: Mars Odyssey — Delta II rocket — $96 million
• 2003: Spirit and Alternative Mars rovers — two Delta II rockets — $87 million per launch
• 2004: Swift — Delta II rocket — $90 million
• 2005: Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter — Atlas V rocket — $147 million
• 2007: Phoenix Mars lander — Delta II rocket — $132 million
Launch costs for NASA missions soared after the late 2000s, following the creation of United Launch Alliance via a merger of the Atlas and Delta rocket applications developed by Lockheed Martin and Boeing. The merger eradicated competitors for many of NASA’s launch contracts till SpaceX’s Falcon 9 turned out there for NASA science missions within the mid-2010s. This is a pattern of missions as examples of the rising prices, with contract values adjusted for inflation from the time of their award to mirror 2025 {dollars}:
• 2009: Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter — Atlas V rocket — $220 million
• 2012: Radiation Belt Storm Probes — Atlas V rocket — $226 million (averaged from a bulk purchase)
• 2014: Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 — Delta II rocket — $191 million (averaged from a bulk purchase)
• 2016: OSIRIS-REx asteroid mission — Atlas V rocket — $252 million
• 2017: TDRS-M information relay satellite tv for pc — Atlas V rocket — $179 million
• 2017: JPSS-2 climate satellite tv for pc — Atlas V rocket — $224 million
• 2018: InSight Mars lander — Atlas V rocket — $220 million
• 2018: ICESAT-2 — Delta II rocket — $134 million
Once more, the missions listed above would doubtless launch on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets if NASA awarded these contracts at present. So, how do SpaceX’s newer Falcon 9 costs evaluate? Let’s have a look. These contract values are adjusted for inflation from the time of their award to mirror 2025 {dollars}:
• 2016: Jason 3 oceanography satellite tv for pc — Falcon 9 rocket — $114 million
• 2018: Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite tv for pc — Falcon 9 rocket — $118 million
• 2020: Sentinel-6A — Falcon 9 rocket — $126 million
• 2021: Double Asteroid Redirection Take a look at — Falcon 9 rocket — $86 million
• 2021: Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer — Falcon 9 rocket — $62 million
• 2022: Floor Water and Ocean Topography — Falcon 9 rocket — $148 million
• 2024: PACE Earth sciences mission — Falcon 9 rocket — $99 million
• 2025: SPHEREx astronomy mission — Falcon 9 rocket — $99 million
And listed here are a couple of future launches NASA has booked to fly on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. A few of these contracts have been awarded within the final 12 months, and people haven’t been adjusted for inflation. The others mirror 2025 {dollars}:
• 2025: Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe — Falcon 9 rocket — $134 million
• 2025: Sentinel-6B — Falcon 9 rocket — $101 million
• 2027: NEO Surveyor — Falcon 9 rocket — $100 million
• 2027: JPSS-4 climate satellite tv for pc — Falcon 9 rocket — $113 million
• 2027: Compton Spectrometer and Imager — Falcon 9 rocket — $69 million
There are a couple of different issues price noting after we chart NASA’s launch costs. One is that SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, used for NASA’s heaviest missions, prices greater than a Falcon 9 rocket. For instance, two equivalent climate satellites launched in 2022 and 2024 on ULA’s Atlas V and SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket for $207 million and $178 million, respectively, once more adjusted for inflation.
About The Author
