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Zhukov-74 t1_it78b6k wrote

India is probably quite happy that Europe is unable to get Ariane 6 ready for launch.

However i do wonder if Ariane 6 will undercut GSLV Mark 3 in 2024.

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toodroot t1_it8hnc4 wrote

India uses Ariane to launch satellites too massive for India's rockets.

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SpaceInMyBrain t1_itakuap wrote

Labor and other costs are always higher in Europe. Plus the political distribution of work makes for inefficiencies and unnecessary transport costs. Add the complex ESA bureaucracy on top of that and it's hard to see how India and ISRO can't undercut ESA, even if ISRO does involve the government.

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Hattix t1_it87ka6 wrote

I love this.

A first world developed nation, unable to go into space, pays a third world developing nation for its superior technology.

Fellow Brits, where did we go wrong?

^(Britain cannot into space)

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Dkrocky t1_it8icid wrote

Somewhere around mid August 1947

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RetiringSnake63 t1_itab1yk wrote

If you had not moved away. We would have made you move. That's pretty much what we did in 1947. Today we're a nuclear armed nation. The 5th largest economy soon to be third. 4th most powerful armed forces on earth (3rd most powerful air force). Yesterday, you ruled over us illegally. Today you are a competition. Tomorrow, you'll be in the rear view mirror.

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ANTILHONEY t1_itexjsi wrote

Well for that you require brain 🤡 and a stable country. First get a prime minister.

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Decronym t1_ite2bah wrote

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

|Fewer Letters|More Letters| |-------|---------|---| |ASDS|Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (landing platform)| |ESA|European Space Agency| |GSLV|Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle| |ISRO|Indian Space Research Organisation| |LEO|Low Earth Orbit (180-2000km)| | |Law Enforcement Officer (most often mentioned during transport operations)|

^(5 acronyms in this thread; )^(the most compressed thread commented on today)^( has 18 acronyms.)
^([Thread #8178 for this sub, first seen 22nd Oct 2022, 22:59]) ^[FAQ] ^([Full list]) ^[Contact] ^([Source code])

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pompanoJ t1_it7ozrk wrote

They decline to state commercial launch prices, but estimate $50-60 million. 22,000 lbs to LEO. GSLV Mark 3 production capacity is currently is about 5 per year.

Falcon 9 is 37,000 lbs to LEO for ASDS landing, commercial numbers are similar, I think. Capacity is around 50 per year... who knows how many more second stages they can build.

I wonder why people like OneWeb are going to India? Why pay more for less if F9 is available? Surely they could get a package from SpaceX to launch all of their satellites faster than they can build them, with a package discount that makes it less than GSLV Mark 3.

This article says 36 satellites are going up on the GSLV Mark 3. It took some looking, but I found an article that says SpaceX will carry 48 per launch on their hastily arranged replacement for Soyuz rides. They also had a fuzzy number, but it looks similar to the Indian price. So.... why pay the same price when you could launch 1/3 more with SpaceX at a faster cadence?

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Scorpian_11 t1_it7rbyq wrote

OneWeb is 30 percent owned by an Indian Company so that might be one of the reasons and ofcourse the cost as well.

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pompanoJ t1_it7smnp wrote

Yeah, that would probably cover it.

Do we have a cost? The numbers I saw are Ll guesses, and they are roughly equivalent despite the disparity in payload.

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tandjmohr t1_it81qs2 wrote

OneWeb is a direct competitor to StarLink. I don’t think they will get much help from SpaceX.

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toodroot t1_it8i173 wrote

Many competitors to Starlink launch on Falcon: OneWeb, Eutelsat, SES, Intelsat, Inmarsat, Viasat, basically everyone other than Amazon Kuiper uses or has used Falcon.

Also, SpaceX is selling Falcon launches to Nothrop Grumman to take Cygnus to resupply the ISS -- Cygnus competes with Dragon for the Commercial Resupply program.

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SpaceInMyBrain t1_itali6c wrote

>SpaceX is selling Falcon launches to Nothrop Grumman to take Cygnus to resupply the ISS -- Cygnus competes with Dragon for the Commercial Resupply program.

True, but SpaceX gains $$$ by the deal and loses no missions. The Cygnus missions that F9 will be covering were already contracted for by NASA for Cygnus. It has certain capabilities Dragon does not, so NASA wouldn't have substituted one for the other and given SpaceX more Dragon missions. The contracted for missions were meant to fly on Antares, of course, but only two of those remain and they will fly their missions. SpaceX wasn't awarded those two.

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Xaxxon t1_ite12yg wrote

> Cygnus competes with Dragon

Not really. Another winner when two winners were required isn't really competition. SpaceX was unable to compete for those launches.

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synth_fg t1_it88npj wrote

Didn't they do a deal with space x to use falcon9 instead of the Soyuz launches they had booked after the Russian invasion of Ukraine

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Xaxxon t1_ite10e1 wrote

spacex will launch anything for anyone. They know OneWeb isn't actually competition.

It's like playing basketball with your baby brother. The only one who thinks you're competing is the baby brother.

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Xaxxon t1_ite0t39 wrote

The only commercial demand is stuff that places explicitly don't want to support SpaceX for.

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