AAE 450 Spring 2008 William Yeong Liang Ling 1/31/2008 Propulsion Cost Model of Balloon and Aircraft Assisted Launch Credit to Stephanie Morris, Jerald Balta and Alex Woods for their assistance Propulsion

AAE 450 Spring 2008 Balloon Cost Propulsion Launch vehicle mass500kg1000kg2000kg3075kg Cost of balloon launch (Helium) $58,000$96,000$172,000$254,000 Cost of balloon launch (Hydrogen) $57,000$95,000$169,000$249,000 Aircraft Cost (White Knight)  Maximum payload of 3075kg  Altitude = 15,000m  Price: $25,150 Notes:Breakeven height increases with gross weight (32,133m at 3075kg) Minimum breakeven height (500kg) is 27,000m Costs rounded to nearest thousand. Credit to: Stephanie Morris for contacting Scaled Composites for pricing figures and Jerald Balta for coding partnership and obtaining scaling figures

Possible additional costs Aircraft  Insurance, $600,000/year, $50,000/month  Existing ground station will not suffice for orbital launch Future Work  Integration with other codes  Output tensile force for Structures  Further refining costs Balloon (in constant cost regime, 3,075kg)  Tugboat standby: $1,000/day, 2 weeks = $14,000  Tugboat insurance: $4,000  Tugboat operation: $12,000/day, 2 days = $24,000  Total: $42,000 Credit to: Stephanie Morris for contacting Scaled Composites for pricing figures and Alex Woods for tugboat operational costs AAE 450 Spring 2008 Propulsion

AAE 450 Spring 2008 Cost breakdown (Aircraft (White Knight), 3,075kg, 15,000m) ItemCost Hourly rate ($4,410 for 5 hours)$22,050 Crew hourly rate ($620 for 5 hours)$3,100 TOTAL$25,150 Credit to Stephanie Morris for contacting Scaled Composites for figures Propulsion

AAE 450 Spring 2008 Cost breakdown (Balloon, 500kg, constant cost regime) ItemCost Helium$4,000 Hydrogen$3,000 Gondola Avionics$14,000 Gondola Refurbishing$20,000 Gondola Payload Assembly$20,000 TOTAL (Helium)$58,000 TOTAL (Hydrogen)$57,000 Credit to Jerald Balta for coding partnership and obtaining scaling figures Propulsion

Cost breakdown (Balloon, 1000kg, constant cost regime) ItemCost Helium$7,000 Hydrogen$6,000 Gondola Avionics$28,000 Gondola Refurbishing$41,000 Gondola Payload Assembly$20,000 TOTAL (Helium)$96,000 TOTAL (Hydrogen)$95,000 Credit to Jerald Balta for coding partnership and obtaining scaling figures AAE 450 Spring 2008 Propulsion

Cost breakdown (Balloon, 2000kg, constant cost regime) ItemCost Helium$14,000 Hydrogen$11,000 Gondola Avionics$55,000 Gondola Refurbishing$83,000 Gondola Payload Assembly$20,000 TOTAL (Helium)$172,000 TOTAL (Hydrogen)$169,000 Credit to Jerald Balta for coding partnership and obtaining scaling figures AAE 450 Spring 2008 Propulsion

Cost breakdown (Balloon, 3075kg, constant cost regime) ItemCost Helium$22,000 Hydrogen$17,000 Gondola Avionics$85,000 Gondola Refurbishing$127,000 Gondola Payload Assembly$20,000 TOTAL (Helium)$254,000 TOTAL (Hydrogen)$249,000 Credit to Jerald Balta for coding partnership and obtaining scaling figures AAE 450 Spring 2008 Propulsion

Credit to Jerald Balta for coding partnership AAE 450 Spring 2008 Propulsion

Credit to Jerald Balta for coding partnership AAE 450 Spring 2008 Propulsion

Credit to Jerald Balta for coding partnership AAE 450 Spring 2008 Propulsion

Credit to Jerald Balta for coding partnership AAE 450 Spring 2008 Propulsion

Credit to Jerald Balta for coding partnership AAE 450 Spring 2008 Propulsion