How much does it cost to send 1kg to lower earth orbit?
Dec 18, 2020
Since the start of the space race in the 60’s, the price of reaching lower earth orbit (LEO) has been in the $10,000 to $100,000 per kg range. With the notable exception of the Saturn V (the rocket that took us to the moon) nearing $5,000/kg.
Then SpaceX came to town, and since, the price has been plummeting: The Falcon 9 delivers to LEO for $2800/kg, Falcon Heavy for $1400/kg, and Starship with a projected $50/kg. This is the story of SpaceX’s accomplishments.
Oh and btw, this is to LEO (upload) and not LEO to Earth (download). The download bandwidth remains very limited. Why would you want to “download”? That’s a future post.
