Inflation is already at a 40-year high in the United States. The U.S. inflation increase became more apparent as Russia invaded Ukraine in late-February and the war started to disrupt the global markets causing fuel prices to rise, which also caused the price of food, products, and raw materials to increase.
The rising inflation has affected many companies across the country, including the aerospace industry. SpaceX announced this week it was forced to increase prices of rocket launches, as well as the price of its Starlink hardware and internet service, due to rising inflation. "Tesla & SpaceX are seeing significant recent inflation pressure in raw materials & logistics," said SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk on March 13. The company informed its Starlink customers via email the new price of the broadband service on March 22. Read the previous TESMANIAN story for more information, linked below.
Price of SpaceX Starlink Hardware & Internet Service Increases Due To Inflationhttps://t.co/vQRbBmgGkE
— Tesmanian.com (@Tesmanian_com) March 23, 2022
SpaceX Vice President of Commercial Sales Tom Ochinero participated at the Satellite 2022 conference, where he made public the company’s decision to rise prices. The price of rocket launches increased about 8% due to inflation, according to CNBC. A Falcon 9 launch used to cost $62 million, with the 8% increase it will now have a price tag of around $67 million. The company’s powerful Falcon Heavy rocket will now cost $97 million, up from $90 million. SpaceX also provides cost-effective spaceflights for customers that plan to launch a small payload to orbit through its SmallSat Rideshare Program. The base price for a rideshare launch also increased from $1 million to $1.1 million to deploy a payload that weighs around 200-kilograms, according to SpaceX’s official website. The website has a note at the end of the page that says "Pricing adjusted in March 2022 to account for excessive levels of inflation."
"It’s long overdue and it’s just the cost of everything. I don’t even think that covers the cost of everything we’re experiencing, everything from helium to gas to my humans, you got to pay people so much now. It’s such a competitive market," Ochinero told reporters at the conference. “It’s a tough challenge, keeping ahead, just so we don’t start bleeding,” he said in reference to rising prices.
Featured Image Source: SpaceX
About the Author
Evelyn Janeidy Arevalo
Evelyn J. Arevalo joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover news as a Space Journalist and SpaceX Starbase Texas Correspondent. Evelyn is specialized in rocketry and space exploration. The main topics she covers are SpaceX and NASA.
