Responsive Access Small Cargo Affordable Launch (RASCAL ...

profile of the cost charts is due to the fact that a new first stage must be purchased every
fifty flights per year (A first stage can only fly 50 flights per year for 20 years). Every
time a new first stage must be purchased there is a cost jump for all three cases (Case 1
the small jump is only due to the pilot, where as in the other cases it is due to the pilot
and aircraft.
$/lb
10000000
1000000
100000
10000
1000
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Number of Flights per Year
Figure 27: Baseline Dollars per Pound of Payload.
Baseline Case 1
Baseline Case 2
Baseline Case 3
When the second cost goal of RASCAL is analyzed the answer is not as promising. Due
to the actual payload of 52 lbs calculated in the performance section no case reaches the
$5,000 per pound goal in 250 flights. Case 1 takes 594 flights per year, Case 2 takes
1511 flights per year, and Case 3 takes 2490 flights per year to meet the RASCAL cost
goal. This is of course unreasonable numbers since the demand will never be close to two
flights a day, which is the best case scenario for $5,000 per pound.
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