> Starship is designed to be able to launch bulk cargo into LEO in >100 T chunks for <$10m per launch,

So, for the cost of a single SLS launch ($4B), Starship would be able to put the mass of the battleship USS Texas into orbit.

If the cost is reduced to $1M/launch, it could put the mass of four Nimitz-class nuclear aircraft carriers into orbit.

That's very good. And it's from 2021. Since then:

- Starship is actually launching now

- Boeing's reputation and credibility are in tatters

- Trump won with heavy support from Musk.

Expect a new head of NASA who is pro-Musk, and a cancellation of the Senate Launch System.

On the other hand, it's not clear what a Moon base is good for. The ISS isn't very useful.

> We need a team of economists to rederive the relative elasticities of various design choices and boil them down to a new set of design heuristics for space system production oriented towards maximizing volume of production.

Great article, but that's not what economists do. It's more what cost accountants do.

Brilliant article, and I neglected to bookmark it earlier, thank you.