🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <neff.12.725643434@iaiowa.physics.uiowa.edu> neff@iaiowa.physics.uiowa.edu (John S. Neff) writes:
>It is common for the shuttle to fly without a full cargo. In your calculation
>you assumed that the payload was the maximum for the orbit. You figures are
>the lower limit to the cost per pound for the shuttle. 

This is true for all launchers, actually.  It's not that rare for them to
fly with less-than-maximum payload due to other constraints, e.g. payload
volume, limits of deployment mechanisms, or a payload that simply doesn't
want hitchhikers for whatever reason.  It's somewhat more common for the
shuttle only because most shuttle missions are to low orbit and a large
fraction of non-shuttle missions are to Clarke orbit (where propulsion
systems for stationkeeping are invariably needed, so it's possible to
adjust fuel load to fully exploit the launcher).
-- 
"God willing... we shall return."       | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
       -Gene Cernan, the Moon, Dec 1972 |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry