Technology · Issue 01
From $54,500 a kilo to $3,000
NASA’s accounting put the Shuttle at about $54,500 for each kilogram to low Earth orbit. A reused Falcon 9 is on the order of $3,000. That is why there are 11,102 Starlink satellites and 165 Falcon flights in a year.
- 01Space ShuttleNASA, 27.5 t54,500
- 02Atlas V classlegacy EELV, order of13,000
- 03Falcon 9 (list)reused, 20263,000
- 04Falcon 9 (NASA paper)$62m / 22.8 t2,720
- Falcon 9, $ per kg to LEO (order of)
- $3,000
- Space Shuttle, NASA accounting
- $54,500
- Cheaper, same paper
- ×20
- Falcon 9 flights, 2025
- 165
A twenty-fold collapse is a new industry
Harry Jones, NASA Ames, still the cleanest public arithmetic: the Shuttle cost about $1.5 billion to put 27,500 kg in LEO — $54,500/kg. SpaceX listed Falcon 9 at $62 million for 22,800 kg — $2,720/kg. A factor of twenty. 2026 list prices for a reused Falcon 9 still live near $3,000/kg. Starship’s speeches are $100–200. Speeches are not prints. $3,000 is. That is why SpaceX flew 165 times in 2025 and why 11,102 Starlink satellites exist. Distribution from orbit is a cost curve, same as solar.
Price is not internal cost, and still
Internal Falcon cost is widely rumoured lower. Rideshare is a different product. ISS cargo with a Dragon is closer to $23,000/kg on the same NASA paper. The chart is dedicated LEO, because that is the number that unlocked the constellation. Pair this with More than the rest of the world combined and Eleven thousand birds. Cadence and dollars per kilo are the same factory.
The long view is mass as a utility
If Starship delivers even a third of the speech, the $3,000 bar is the expensive one. If it does not, $3,000 is already cheap enough to keep restocking a 30,000-satellite sky. Own cadence and the payloads. Do not own a $54,500 mental model, and do not own a $100 slide.
Investing lens
Horizon 5–15 years · Educational, not advice
Launch cost is a learning curve. Own the reusable cadence and what it lifts. Do not underwrite $100/kg until it is a receipt.
Where the map points
- Launch with demonstrated reuse
- Constellations that already fly as cargo
- Ground segment
- Avoid a Starship-only equity story in 2026 earnings
What can break it
- A grounding
- A Chinese reusable at policy prices
- Confusing list price, internal cost, and ISS cargo
CHART does not recommend securities, funds or trades. Figures can be revised by their publishers. Do your own research and consider regulated advice before allocating capital.
Sources
Every headline number traces to a named publisher. Contextual sources inform the essay, not the key stat.
- 01ContextualNASA (Harry Jones)2018The Recent Large Reduction in Space Launch Cost
Shuttle ~$54,500/kg to LEO. Falcon 9 advertised $62m / 22,800 kg ≈ $2,720/kg.
- 02PrimarySpaceNews2026-01-03SpaceX, China drive new record for orbital launches in 2025
324 orbital launch attempts in 2025. SpaceX 165 Falcon 9 — more than the rest of the world combined. China 92. 2024: 259. 2023: 221. 2020: 107 (SpaceX 26, China 35).
- 03PrimarySpace.com (citing Jonathan McDowell)2026-08-27Starlink satellites: Facts, tracking and impact on astronomy
11,102 Starlink satellites in orbit as of 27 August 2026; 11,087 working. First 60 launched 23 May 2019.
Keep reading
More than the rest of the world combined
SpaceX flew 165 Falcon 9 missions in 2025. The rest of Earth flew fewer. Worldwide orbital attempts hit 324 — a new record on top of 259 in 2024. Launch is how distribution tech leaves the planet.
165
Falcon 9 flights, 2025
Eleven thousand satellites, one operator
As of 27 August 2026 there are 11,102 Starlink satellites in orbit — 11,087 of them working. The first 60 went up in May 2019. This is how broadband is being distributed when fibre is slow and a coastline is a chokepoint.
11,102
Starlink satellites in orbit, 27 Aug 2026
The cheapest electron in history
Utility-scale solar now costs $44 per megawatt-hour. In 2010 it was about $445. That is a 90% collapse in fourteen years — the steepest learning curve of any energy technology we have a number for.
$44
Solar PV LCOE, 2025 (IRENA)