Reusable rockets are here, so why is NASA paying more to launch stuff to space? – Ars Technica
2025-04-24T23:15:41Z
Something appears to be broken in how NASA procures launch services.
In an era of reusable rockets and near-daily access to space, NASA is still paying more than it did 30 years ago to launch missions into orbit, according to a study soon to be published in the scientific journal Acta Astronautica.
Launch is becoming more routine. Every few days, SpaceX is sending another batch of Starlink Internet satellites to orbit, and other kinds of missions fill up the rest of SpaceX’s launch schedule. SpaceX, alone, has ample capacity to launch the handful of science missions NASA puts into space each year. If supply outpaces demand, shouldn’t prices go down?
It’s not so simple. NASA is one of many customers jockeying for a slot on SpaceX’s launch manifest. The US military is launching more missions than ever before, and SpaceX is about to become the Pentagon’s top launch provider. SpaceX already launches more missions for NASA than any other rocket company.
Commercial satellites and SpaceX’s own Starlink missions also fill up the launch schedule. So far this year, more than 70 percent of SpaceX’s launches have deployed Starlink satellites or Starshield spacecraft, a military version of the Starlink platform for the US government.
So, there’s a lot of demand, even if NASA’s missions make up only a fraction of SpaceX’s launch business.
Cost vs. price
Financial information from NASA suggests the agency’s payments for launch services are increasing, according to a paper authored by Moon Kim, a research analyst for NASA’s strategic investments division. The report is set to be published in the July issue of Acta Astronautica, a peer-reviewed journal sponsored by the International Academy of Astronautics.
Adjusted for inflation, the prices NASA pays for launch services rose at an annual average rate of 2.82 percent from 1996 to 2024, the report says. “Furthermore, there is no evidence of shift in the launch service costs trend after the introduction of a new launch service provider in 2016.”
The new launch service provider mentioned here is SpaceX. NASA’s Launch Services Program, which books rocket launches for the agency’s science missions, used a Falcon 9 rocket for the first time in January 2016. Before then, United Launch Alliance was the only launch provider capable of hauling NASA’s heaviest satellites to orbit.
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