how much money is required for starting a space agency
Answers
Answer:
Well, we have some good numbers for SpaceX - so let’s look at their example.
They were founded in 2002, and had their first successful/useful rocket launch in 2008. NASA estimated that it cost $390 million dollars to get that far.
We know that SpaceX was employing 160 people in 2005 - increasing that number every year to 2008…so let’s guess could expect an average of maybe 200 people on the payroll during that period.
Someone told me that the materials cost of rocket development is only 3% of the cost of developing it…so we’re really looking at manpower costs and things like office space.
If you figure that paying a rocket scientist costs $150,000/year (I don’t know - but that’s what a good software engineer costs - and the education/skill levels are comparable). It’s a good industry rule-of-thumb that (typically) the cost of an employee is about twice what you pay them (because of taxes, office space, benefits, utility bills, computers, etc) - then we’d arrive at 200 people x 6 years x $300,000 = $360 million…so it’s likely that NASA’s $390 million number can’t be far off.
So it’s going to cost you $390 million to get to launch your first rocket. Sadly, that’s not enough to make you profitable - but SpaceX brought in modest amounts of venture capital (I think $20 million in 2008) which kept their staff working while they got business.
Judging by their market valuation - they must have become profitable by 2011.
So, if you have that kind of money sitting around - why not?
Explanation:
Answer:
5 Billion + is needed