Total Cost of A Privately Funded Edwards' Space Elevator
A space elevator built according to the Edwards proposal is estimated to cost $20 billion ($40B with a 100% contingency). This includes all operating and maintenance costs for one cable. If this is to be financed privately, a 15% return would be required ($6 billion annually). Subsequent elevators would cost $9.3B and would justify a much lower contingency ($14.3B total). The space elevator would lift 2 million kg per year per elevator and the cost per kilogram becomes $3,000 for one elevator, $1,900 for two elevators, $1,600 for three elevators, until construction costs are recovered, after which this drops significantly.
For comparison, in potentially the same time frame as the elevator, the Skylon, 12,000 kg cargo capacity spaceplane (not a conventional rocket) is estimated to have an R&D and production cost of about $15 billion. The vehicle has about the same $3,000/kg price tag. Skylon would be suitable to launch cargo and particularly people to low/medium Earth orbit. Early space elevator designs move only cargo, although to a much wider range of destinations. Later, tourism would seem possible as safety parameters are established.
Read more about this topic: Space Elevator Economics
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