Space How much to send a tiny payload to the moon?

[asianbels74]

Let's say I want to send a payload of about 5 lbs to the lunar surface. One-way trip. How much might it cost for a private company to do this?

(I haven't used reddit before, so apologies if I should be searching for this topic first..I tried to search but I couldn't find anything.)

 

[BCNTM]

Let's say I want to send a payload of about 5 lbs to the lunar surface. One-way trip. How much might it cost for a private company to do this?

(I haven't used reddit before, so apologies if I should be searching for this topic first..I tried to search but I couldn't find anything.)

Last estimate I found was $10,000 per pound so $50,000 for 5 pounds

Your problem is finding someone who is going that way and most private firms are not interested unless you are putting in millions with launch date years away

You also have trouble getting insurance - and how do you know if it got there anyway?

@Penny is probably your best person for who is available to haul it

Ps At the moment only state players

 

[Jake84]

“One way ticket to the Moon”

I had in mind the disco tune from Eruption and beside this I have no idea what this thread is about.

 

[Penny]

Last estimate I found was $10,000 per pound so $50,000 for 5 pounds

Your problem is finding someone who is going that way and most private firms are not interested unless you are putting in millions with launch date years away

You also have trouble getting insurance - and how do you know if it got there anyway?

@Penny is probably your best person for who is available to haul it

Ps At the moment only state players

BCNTM you are to kind

The question is vague. Where on earth is it to be launched. Aside from its weight of 5 lbs, what is being launched and what is its purpose.

I'd say ring NASA they will be able to tell you.

 

[Flagg]

The retired space shuttle could put a kg in low earth orbit(LEO) for approx $54,500.

SpaceX Falcon 9 can put a kg in LEO for approx $2,720.

The cost to get a kg to the moon would likely be in the order of 500X or more the price of LEO.

Then there’s a bunch of factors at play:

An Uber ride to LEO is becoming pretty price competitive(cheap) and innovative(reusable rockets is a level of magnitude price step change) due to the rapidly increasing traffic volume.

But when there are very few capable of providing an Uber ride to the Moon, and those rides are infrequent, pricing power is with the Moon Uber operator.

Roughly, you need approx 3kg of mass in earth LEO to inject 1kg into lunar orbit.

But I’m sure there’s some scalability issues, requiring minimum mass to hit that 3 to 1 rough ratio.

As well as integrating an explosive propulsive standalone payload in with other payloads in the bus.

So the reality is that it would need to be a 1kg payload on an existing lunar lander.

I’m sure someday there will be a private mission that puts a lawndart on the Moon.

Two classmates have successful space startups.

One has contracts for cleaning up space trash, an extremely dangerous and growing problem(I had my kid do a presentation on the kinetic energy of a McDonald’s chicken nugget impacting in opposing orbit to the ISS, it’s pretty catastrophic, 120x a 50 BMG projectile)

Another has a “space Uber” for salvaging decaying sat orbits called Momentus(they just went public in a reverse listing).

I reckon there’s a business in being shot(remains or AI consciousness) into the void of deep space, I’d be in.

 

[Connaught Ranger]

Let's say I want to send a payload of about 5 lbs to the lunar surface. One-way trip. How much might it cost for a private company to do this?

(I haven't used reddit before, so apologies if I should be searching for this topic first..I tried to search but I couldn't find anything.)

Is there a reason why you dont say exactly what you want to send to the moon?

Is the object in anyway a danger to the operation of the mission??

Its also possible space on such missions is highly prioritized so while you get a estimate, you might have to wait in line until more important items go up first.