Space elevator economics compares the cost of sending a payload into Earth orbit via a

space elevator A space elevator, also referred to as a space bridge, star ladder, and orbital lift, is a proposed type of planet-to-space transportation system, often depicted in science fiction. The main component would be a cable (also called a tether) an ...

with the cost of doing so with alternatives, like

rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

Costs of current systems (rockets)

The costs of using a well-tested system to launch

payload Payload is the object or the entity that is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of t ...

s are high. The main cost comes from the components of the launch system that are not intended to be reused, which normally burn up in the atmosphere or are sent to

graveyard orbit A graveyard orbit, also called a junk orbit or disposal orbit, is an Orbit (physics), orbit that lies away from common operational orbits. One significant graveyard orbit is a supersynchronous orbit well beyond geosynchronous orbit. Some satellit ...

s. Even when reusing components, there is often a high refurbishment cost. For

geostationary transfer orbit In space mission design, a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) or geosynchronous transfer orbit is a highly elliptical type of geocentric orbit, usually with a perigee as low as low Earth orbit (LEO) and an apogee as high as geostationary orbit ...

s, prices are as low as about

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

11,300/kg for a

Falcon Heavy Falcon Heavy is a super heavy-lift launch vehicle with partial reusability that can carry cargo into Earth orbit and beyond. It is designed, manufactured and launched by American aerospace company SpaceX. The rocket consists of a center core ...

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a Reusable launch system#Partial reusable launch systems, partially reusable, two-stage-to-orbit, medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured in the United States by SpaceX. The first Falcon 9 launch was on June 4, 2010, an ...

launch. Costs of

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...

launches are significantly less, but this is not the intended orbit for a space elevator.

Proposed cost reductions

Various adaptations of the conventional rocket design have been proposed to reduce the cost. Several are currently in development, like the

SpaceX Starship Starship is a two-stage fully reusable launch vehicle, reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle under development by American aerospace company SpaceX. On 20 April 2023, with the Starship flight test 1, first Integrated Flight Test, Starship b ...

. An aspirational price for this fully reusable launch vehicle is , significantly cheaper than most proposed space elevators.

New Glenn New Glenn is a heavy-lift launch vehicle developed and operated by the American company Blue Origin. The rocket is designed to have a Reusable launch vehicle, partially reusable, two-stage design with a diameter of . The first stage is powered ...

is also currently in development, a partially reusable rocket that promises to reduce price. However, an exact cost per launch has not been specified. Others, like the Sea Dragon and Roton have failed to get sufficient funding. The

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

promised a large cost reduction, but financially underperformed due to the extensive refurbishment costs needed after every launch.

Cost estimates for a space elevator

For a space elevator, the cost varies according to the design. Bradley C. Edwards received funding from NIAC from 2001 to 2003 to write a paper, describing a space elevator design. In it he stated that: "The first space elevator would reduce lift costs immediately to $100 per pound" ($220/kg). The

gravitational potential energy Gravitational energy or gravitational potential energy is the potential energy an object with mass has due to the gravitational potential of its position in a gravitational field. Mathematically, it is the minimum Work (physics), mechanical work t ...

of any object in geosynchronous orbit (GEO), relative to Earth's surface, is about 50 MJ (15 kWh) of energy per

kilogram The kilogram (also spelled kilogramme) is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand grams. It has the unit symbol kg. The word "kilogram" is formed from the combination of the metric prefix kilo- (m ...

(see

geosynchronous orbit A geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GSO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an orbital period that matches Earth's rotation on its axis, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (one sidereal day). The synchronization of rotation and orbital ...

for details). Using wholesale electricity prices for 2008 to 2009, and the current 0.5% efficiency of power beaming, a space elevator would require US$220/kg just in electrical costs. Dr. Edwards expects technical advances to increase the efficiency to 2%. However, due to the fact that space elevators would have a limited throughput as only a few payloads could climb the tether at any one time, the launch price may be subject to market forces.

Funding of capital costs

According to a paper presented at the 55th International Astronautical Congress in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

in October 2004, the

can be considered a prestige

megaproject A megaproject is an extremely large-scale construction and investment project. A more general definition is "Megaprojects are temporary endeavours (i.e. projects) characterised by: large investment commitment, vast complexity (especially in org ...

whose current estimated cost (US$6.2 billion) is favourable compared to other megaprojects e.g. bridges, pipelines, tunnels, tall towers, high-speed rail links and maglevs. Costs are also favourable compared to that of other aerospace systems and launch vehicles.

Total cost of a privately funded Edwards' Space Elevator

A space elevator built according to the Edwards proposal is estimated to have total cost of about $40 billion (that figure includes $1.56 billions operational costs for first 10 years). Subsequent space elevators are estimated to cost only $14.3 billion each. For comparison, in potentially the same time frame as the elevator: * the

Skylon Skylon may refer to: * Skylon (Festival of Britain), a landmark structure of the 1951 Festival of Britain * Skylon (spacecraft) Skylon was a series of concept designs for a reusable single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane by the British company React ...

, a 12,000 kg cargo capacity single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane (not a conventional rocket) is estimated to have an R&D and production cost of about $15 billion. The vehicle has about $3,000/kg price tag. Skylon would be suitable to launch cargo ''and particularly'' people to low/medium Earth orbit (targeting maximum 30 people per flight). Early space elevator designs move only cargo but could move people as well to a much wider range of destinations. * Another alternative project to get large numbers of people and cargo to orbit inexpensively during this time frame is the

which, like Skylon, is not a conventional rocket design as it will be fully reusable. Its cargo capacity will be between , is estimated to have an R&D cost of $10 billion, and production cost of about $200-million for Starship crew, $130-million for Starship tanker and $230-million for Super Heavy. The system has a less than $140/kg price tag which is possibly as low as $47/kg. It will be capable of transporting 100 people comfortably to Mars (therefore significantly more to low/medium earth orbit).

References

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