On Tue, 5 Apr 2011 08:47:32 +0100, "Brian Gaff"
wrote:

But one has to ask, where is the money coming from for this?

Where is the money coming for what? It is a commercial project. Here
in America we can do pretty much whatever we want with our own money
or whatever money we can convince investors to cough up. The Falcon 1
experience is behind them, and Falcon 9 has so far looked pretty good.
SpaceX shouldn't have much trouble getting investors.

If Mr. Musk's company can build a rocket with twice the lift capacity
of Delta IV-Heavy at 25% the cost, it will kill off Delta IV just as
quickly as DoD/NRO can say "thank you for your service, there's the
door" and Atlas V will be relegated to a couple of launches per year
as the backup vehicle (no more dependance on Russian engines will be
hugely attractive to DoD.) That's a big chunk of money right there.
And after a few more successful Falcon 9 launches, if SpaceX keeps it
prices as low as they claim, Falcon Heavy will quickly become a major
player, and Ariane's supremacy in the commercial market will be in
great peril.

Of course, that's all *if*. I suspect it won't be nearly as easy to
build and launch that many cores and engines every year as they are
claiming now.

Brian