Effects of Multiple Payload Launches on Launch Cost

Abstract

Abstract The practice of launching multiple payloads on a single space launch vehicle is becoming increasingly popular, with the mean number of payloads per launch increasing from 1.45 payloads per launch in 2000 to 1.84 payloads per launch in 2013. A best-fit descending algorithm was used to reassign existing payloads to launch vehicles with the goal of reducing launch vehicle usage and wastage of payload capacity. Assigning the existing set of geosynchronous payloads to a minimum number of a single existing launch vehicle can reduce wastage to as low as 2% in some cases for a single type of launch vehicle, compared with a current wastage of 15%. An extension of this technique to a scenario with multiple types of available launch vehicles with minimizing total cost as an objective shows that savings of as much as 45% in cost per payload mass delivered to geosynchronous orbit are possible by rearranging current payloads and changing usage of current launch vehicles.