Operations and Budgeting
| cubeeyesschedule.pdf |
The timeline to develop and launch the proposed solution is estimated to be 2.5 years. A relaunch is scheduled for 6 years out, in the second half of 2023. Ongoing support and data management will be required throughout the lifespan of the system. Figure 1 shows the timeline, a pdf copy of which is available linked at the top of the page.
Below you will find the estimated costs of the project. The costs associated with the cubesat are mostly based on commercial off the shelf (COTS) parts, and thus represent a very good estimation. The exception in this case being the camera system, which will require a large amount of custom design work and a custom lens system to be developed and purchased from a commercial provider. The following chart outlines per-satellite costs.
The Launch vehicle estimation is given as a high point estimation, due to the lack of available information in regards to pricing major satellite builds. Given a greater amount of time, a more accurate estimation can be developed. Additional launcher cost information is detailed below.
SpaceX Falcon 9 launches are estimated as costing $62.1 million per the SpaceX website [1]. In addition, expected costs for transportation, storage, and miscellaneous costs have been estimated. Please see the following chart for per-launch cost estimates.
The final estimation for the proposal is estimated at $372 Million, as detailed below. A copy of the spreadsheet for all cost calculations can be found in the spreadsheet linked below.
| 6390_cost_estimate.xlsx |