Proton Only $48.7 Million

Dow Jones Business News

"http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/030905/0013000006_2.html"

is reporting that Measat Global Bhd. will pay only
$48.7 million for a 2005 ILS Proton launch of its
Measat-3 comsat. That is about half the cost of
comparable Atlas, Delta, Zenit, or Ariane launchers.

Proton M/Briz M can put 21 metric tons into LEO or
5.5 tons into GTO.

No wonder Boeing pulled out of the commercial market.

- Ed Kyle

"ed kyle" wrote in message
om...
Dow Jones Business News

"http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/030905/0013000006_2.html"

is reporting that Measat Global Bhd. will pay only
$48.7 million for a 2005 ILS Proton launch of its
Measat-3 comsat. That is about half the cost of
comparable Atlas, Delta, Zenit, or Ariane launchers.

Proton M/Briz M can put 21 metric tons into LEO or
5.5 tons into GTO.

No wonder Boeing pulled out of the commercial market.

- Ed Kyle

I think they got into ILS so they could corner the high-mass end of the
commercial market and that has put them _out_ of the high-mass end of the
market with their own launcher! More's the pitty.
--
Alan Erskine
alanerskine(at)optusnet.com.au
Where are the Weapons of Mass
Destruction, Mr Bush?

"Alan Erskine" wrote in message ...
"ed kyle" wrote in message
om...
Dow Jones Business News

"http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/030905/0013000006_2.html"

is reporting that Measat Global Bhd. will pay only
$48.7 million for a 2005 ILS Proton launch of its
Measat-3 comsat. That is about half the cost of
comparable Atlas, Delta, Zenit, or Ariane launchers.

Proton M/Briz M can put 21 metric tons into LEO or
5.5 tons into GTO.

No wonder Boeing pulled out of the commercial market.

I think they got into ILS so they could corner the high-mass end of the
commercial market and that has put them _out_ of the high-mass end of the
market with their own launcher! More's the pitty.

Lockheed Martin [and Boeing] are, of course, very much in
the high mass market for U.S. Government launches. For
some reason, the U.S. Government doesn't mind paying $90+
million for a launch that now costs $48.7 million on the
world market. It is a lucrative gig for these companies,
but I'm starting to get ticked off about it as a taxpayer.
I wonder what Krunichev whould charge the Pentagon for a
Proton launch?

- Ed Kyle

"ed kyle" wrote in message
om...
Lockheed Martin [and Boeing] are, of course, very much in
the high mass market for U.S. Government launches. For
some reason, the U.S. Government doesn't mind paying $90+
million for a launch that now costs $48.7 million on the
world market. It is a lucrative gig for these companies,
but I'm starting to get ticked off about it as a taxpayer.
I wonder what Krunichev whould charge the Pentagon for a
Proton launch?

- Ed Kyle

Imagine launching a KH-xx on a Russian launcher - just isn't going to
happen, no matter how much an American launcher costs.

--
Alan Erskine
alanerskine(at)optusnet.com.au
Where are the Weapons of Mass
Destruction, Mr Bush?

On Sat, 6 Sep 2003 19:56:55 +1000, "Alan Erskine"
wrote:

Proton M/Briz M can put 21 metric tons into LEO or
5.5 tons into GTO.

No wonder Boeing pulled out of the commercial market.

I think they got into ILS so they could corner the high-mass end of the
commercial market and that has put them _out_ of the high-mass end of the
market with their own launcher!

That would be Lockheed-Martin, not Boeing.

Boeing got into the high end of the market with Delta III.

Brian

On 6 Sep 2003 06:53:41 -0700, (ed kyle) wrote:

It is a lucrative gig for these companies,
but I'm starting to get ticked off about it as a taxpayer.
I wonder what Krunichev whould charge the Pentagon for a
Proton launch?

Hell will freeze over before the Pentagon launches spy satellites on
Proton.

Brian

Brian Thorn a écrit dans le message :
...
On 6 Sep 2003 06:53:41 -0700, (ed kyle) wrote:

It is a lucrative gig for these companies,
but I'm starting to get ticked off about it as a taxpayer.
I wonder what Krunichev whould charge the Pentagon for a
Proton launch?

Hell will freeze over before the Pentagon launches spy satellites on
Proton.

OTOH, SAR Lupe is going to be launched on a russian rocket.

"Brian Thorn" wrote in message
...
On 6 Sep 2003 06:53:41 -0700, (ed kyle) wrote:

It is a lucrative gig for these companies,
but I'm starting to get ticked off about it as a taxpayer.
I wonder what Krunichev whould charge the Pentagon for a
Proton launch?

Hell will freeze over before the Pentagon launches spy satellites on
Proton.


The Germans are launching their spy satellites on Russian rockets.

(ed kyle) wrote in message . com...
(ed kyle) wrote in message . com...

Some comparisons. The next Delta II launch (a vehicle
only capable of boosting 1.9 tons to GTO), is costing
the Pentagon $56.7 million.

That's not an entirely accurate report. The USAF extended Boeing's
Delta II Navstar contract for another 12 months, for $56.7 million. It
happens that a DII previously paid for under the Navstar contract is
being launched in the next 12 months, too, but presumably only a small
part of the 12 month extension dollars go to the launch, the rest goes
to maintainence and paperwork.

Brian Thorn wrote in message . ..
On 6 Sep 2003 06:53:41 -0700, (ed kyle) wrote:

It is a lucrative gig for these companies,
but I'm starting to get ticked off about it as a taxpayer.
I wonder what Krunichev whould charge the Pentagon for a
Proton launch?

Hell will freeze over before the Pentagon launches spy satellites on
Proton.

I wouldn't like to bet either way. There's a rumour from an informed
source going around that a Proton rocket physically only costs $6
million. If that's at all true, then it would pay the Pentagon to
buy/get a rocket and launch it from Cape Canaveral using American
labour.

I'd bet they could find some legal way to do that if they tried hard
enough; and I strongly expect it makes economic sense (normally you
would want to put tax dollars back into your own country, but when the
fraction of tax dollars leaving the country is so small, I don't see
that it makes any practical difference.)

Brian