Hacker News Reader

Comment by partisan | Hacker News Reader

Where's the call to action? Who designed the page?

> SpaceX offers open and fixed pricing for its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch services. Modest discounts are available, for contractually committed, multi-launch purchases. SpaceX can also offer crew transportation services to commercial customers seeking to transport astronauts to alternate LEO destinations.

With such big ticket items, I wouldn't have imagined there is a price list available. I would think these things are negotiated over expensive dinners. You almost expect to see a "Buy Now" button on the page.

View on HN

That's why websites that don't give a price quote for their products without contacting a sales rep now get frequently mocked with the words: "If SpaceX can do it, you can do it.".

> Where's the call to action? Who designed the page?

Assuming that that wasn't tongue in cheek...

Their target audience is "people who want to launch something into orbit". They don't need a call to action, they already have a rather well-defined need.

> I would think these things are negotiated over expensive dinners.

That sort of shit is exactly what Musk has been complaining about every time he talks about how fucked-up the existing space delivery industry is.

Think of it this way: You don't negotiate the price of delivery for something you're gonna ship via FedEx over a dinner.

One of the goals of SpaceX is to make the space delivery industry as much like every other delivery industry as is humanly possible.

It was tongue in cheek.

And I am completely on board with the open pricing model. It's incredible and probably makes their competitors very nervous.

That's the point. Space-X's pricing has terrified the industry. Now the question is whether you get a discount on used boosters.

What Space-X doesn't give you is a firm launch date. Spaceflight Now listed today's launch as "Delayed from Aug. 13, Sept. 2, Jan. 3, Feb. 7, March 20 and March 29. [March 16]" This is Space-X's biggest problem. They're about a year behind on their launch manifest. They don't even put dates on future launches any more. Customers don't like this; some have switched to Arianespace or ULA or Russia for their satellite launches.

Space-X is trying to catch up. Next launch date is April 28th, and there are two launches a month scheduled for the next few months. First Falcon Heavy launch is scheduled for November, but that may slip.

"We are backed up in how much stuff we have to deliver to space" certainly seems like one of the better problems have.

Sounds similar to Tesla's Model 3 "problem" (>375K preorders).

Was most definitely tongue in cheek

This feels like one of those cases where the ticket is so big and so many are lined up to pay (because it is so much cheaper), that they just slap the price on it.

Clearly they need to be doing A/B testing to determine their optimum pricing.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com