May 042020
I believe the proper response to these numbers is akin to “Yikes.”
Knowing what we now know about RS-25 engine costs ($146 million each); using Tory’s formula below, the true cost of an SLS launch is about $3.5 billion. I would not doubt it. https://t.co/qhxCrJse1I
— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) May 4, 2020
A single RS-25 engine – of which each SLS will expend five – costs $146 million. Ummmmmm… the SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy costs, lemme see, $90 million. You could buy 1.61 F9H’s for the cost of one SLS *engine.* A single complete SLS launch would buy you almost 39 F9H’s.