Katerina Swanson
SpaceX's mission is to enable people to live on other planets, and with each test of their Starship rocket, they go through a massive amount of fuel. The company has come a long way since its early days with the Falcon 9, when it paid around $2 per kilogram of RP1. Now, with its eyes set on Mars, SpaceX is focused on developing the skills and technologies needed to produce fuel on a large scale. While the company has made significant strides in reducing costs, with estimates of bringing the cost per kilogram of payload down from over $1000 to $10, fuel costs remain a critical factor in the overall launch expenses.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Cost of filling an entire Falcon 9 | $150,000 |
| Cost of RP1 fuel per kilogram when SpaceX was starting out with Falcon 9 | $2 |
| Renegotiated cost of RP1 fuel per kilogram | 70 cents |
| Cost of building a SpaceX Super Heavy Starship in 2024 | $90 million |
| Cost per kilogram for a 200-ton payload of a Super Heavy Starship built in 2024 | $90 |
| Cost of building a SpaceX Super Heavy Starship in 2025 | $50 million |
| Cost per kilogram for a 200-ton payload of a Super Heavy Starship built in 2025 | $25 |
| Estimated cost of building a future Starship | $2-5 million |
| Estimated cost of fuel and operations for a future Starship | $2 million |
| Cost per kilogram of payload for a single-use Super Heavy Starship | $150 |
| Cost per kilogram of payload for a Super Heavy Starship with high reuse | $10-20 |
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What You'll Learn
Fuel costs for Falcon 9 are around $150,000
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket has achieved a 99.4% success rate as of July 8, 2025, with 498 out of 501 full mission successes. The rocket is designed for ""engine-out" capability, which was demonstrated during the SpaceX CRS-1 mission in October 2012. During this mission, engine number 1 lost pressure at 79 seconds and shut down, requiring the first stage to burn for an additional 28 seconds and the second stage to burn for an extra 15 seconds. This reduced fuel reserves, decreasing the likelihood of sufficient fuel to complete the mission from 99% to 95%. Despite this challenge, Falcon 9 has proven to be a reliable and safe vehicle for transporting people and payloads to Earth orbit and beyond.
The fuel costs for Falcon 9 are estimated to be around $150,000. This price is significantly lower than the cost of previous launches just ten years ago. However, it's important to note that the Falcon 9 will never be fully reusable due to the need for a new second stage to be built for each flight. While SpaceX has become adept at reusing fairings, saving them about $5 million per mission, the second stage remains non-reusable, keeping fuel costs as a small fraction of the overall launch cost.
SpaceX initially paid around $2 per kilogram of RP1 fuel for Falcon 9 but was able to renegotiate the price down to around 70 cents per kilogram, closer to the price of jet fuel. With the advancements in fuel efficiency and the reuse of certain components, SpaceX aims to further reduce the cost of space travel. The company is working towards its goal of enabling people to live on other planets, and by producing their own fuel using solar power and other systems, they can drive down the cost per kilogram of payload.
SpaceX's overall mission is to make space travel more sustainable and accessible. With their Starship rocket, they aim to transport humans to Mars. The Starship will use methane and liquid oxygen as propellants, which can be found on Mars, reducing the need to transport fuel and cutting overall costs. Additionally, SpaceX is exploring ways to produce fuel on Mars, which would significantly reduce the cost of future missions.
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SpaceX initially paid $2 per kg of RP1
SpaceX initially paid $2 per kg of RP-1 fuel when they were first starting out with the Falcon 9 rocket. RP-1, or refined kerosene, is a commonly used rocket fuel that offers a balance between performance and cost. It is also easier to handle and store than other fuels like liquid hydrogen, which requires cryogenic storage at extremely low temperatures.
RP-1's affordability and practicality make it a popular choice for commercial space companies and startups looking to lower launch costs. Its price typically ranges from $2 to $4 per kilogram, which is significantly cheaper than liquid hydrogen. SpaceX was able to renegotiate the cost of RP-1 down to around $0.70 per kilogram, closer to the price of jet fuel.
SpaceX's choice of fuel is an important consideration in their overall mission. Their Starship rocket, designed to take humans to Mars, will use methane and liquid oxygen as propellants. Methane is the cheapest form of fossil fuel, and it can be found on Mars in the Martian atmosphere. By using propellants that can be sourced on Mars, SpaceX aims to reduce the overall cost of their missions.
SpaceX has also made strides in reusing components, such as fairings, which saves them about $5 million per mission. While the Falcon 9 will never be fully reusable due to the need for a new second stage for each flight, the company is focusing its efforts on the Starship rocket and developing the necessary skills and technologies for sustainable space exploration.
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Liquid methane is the cheapest fossil fuel
SpaceX has previously used the Falcon 9 rocket, which burns RP-1, a refined form of kerosene, as its fuel. Initially, the company paid around $2 per kilogram of RP-1, but after renegotiating, they managed to lower the cost to around 70 cents per kilogram, similar to the price of jet fuel. Filling an entire Falcon 9 costs SpaceX approximately $150,000, and the company saves about $5 million per mission by reusing the fairings. However, the second stage of the Falcon 9 is not reusable, and fuel costs will remain a fraction of the overall launch expenses. Elon Musk has stated that the fuel cost for a Falcon 9 launch is between $200,000 and $300,000.
SpaceX is now focusing on its Starship rocket and has chosen methane as its fuel of choice. Methane is the cheapest fossil fuel available, and it can be found on Mars in the planet's atmosphere. By using methane, SpaceX can potentially produce fuel on Mars, significantly reducing the overall cost of their missions. Additionally, methane is a crucial component of natural gas, which can be extracted from reservoirs beneath the Earth's surface by mining companies. The liquefaction process involves cooling the methane gas to -162 degrees, reducing its volume to 1/600th of its original size. This makes it ideal for use in rockets, as cryogenic propellants can be compressed to maximize fuel capacity.
While LNG (liquefied natural gas) is also a viable option for rocket fuel and has a lower cost than methane, SpaceX has opted to stick with methane for its Raptor engine. LNG has a higher hydrocarbon content, leading to slightly increased carbon dioxide emissions. Additionally, rocket engines are highly sensitive, requiring pure fuel, and LNG contains other components that may be undesirable for this application. The price of LNG in the US is around $6 per million BTU, while kerosene costs about $20 per million BTU.
SpaceX's decision to use methane as its rocket fuel is influenced by both performance and economic considerations. Methane offers almost comparable performance to other fuels like ethane or pentane, which are more expensive and challenging to obtain. By choosing methane, SpaceX can balance fuel efficiency, cost, and the technical complexities of working with cryogenic liquids.
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SpaceX aims to reduce payload costs to $10-20 per kg
SpaceX has been working to reduce the cost of payload to $10-20 per kg. The company has made significant progress in lowering launch costs, with the Falcon 9 rocket used to access the ISS costing just $2,720 per kilogram, a fraction of the average cost between 1970 and 2000 of US$18,500 per kilogram. SpaceX's major breakthroughs have come through recovering and reusing as much of the rocket and launch vehicle as possible. The Falcon 9 boosters, for example, have been reused 10-20 times, and SpaceX is working to get them certified for up to 40 reuses, with a goal of 100 reuses.
The company has also made engineering changes to support reusability and recovery of the first stage of the Falcon 9, including adding cryogenic propellant cooling to increase density and allow for higher thrust, improving the stage separation system, and strengthening struts for holding helium bottles. These improvements have increased the payload capability of the Falcon 9 from 9,000 kg to 13,150 kg.
SpaceX's focus on reusability extends beyond the Falcon 9. The company has also reused fairings, which has saved them about $5 million per mission. Additionally, they plan to reuse the second stage of the Falcon 9, which accounts for about 70% of the cost. However, they have abandoned plans to reuse the second stage of the Starship rocket due to the weight of the heat shield and other equipment, which would reduce the payload too much.
Looking to the future, SpaceX is developing its Starship rocket, which will use methane and liquid oxygen as propellants. The choice of methane is strategic as it is the cheapest form of fossil fuel found on Earth, and both methane and oxygen can be found on Mars, enabling the potential production of fuel on the planet. This would significantly reduce the overall cost of space travel.
While the current build cost of the Starship is estimated at $50 million, with an average per-flight cost of about $12 million, high reuse of the Super Heavy Starship is expected to bring the cost down to $10-20 per kilogram. This marks a significant shift towards the commoditization of space launches, opening up new possibilities for businesses and space exploration.
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Fuel and operation costs may not reduce with Starship's initial cost
SpaceX's Starship is a rocket with a massive payload capacity and low cost per kg. It is designed to be a sustainable way to take humans to Mars. However, it is important to note that the fuel and operation costs may not be reduced by the initial cost of the Starship.
Starship will use methane and liquid oxygen as propellants. Methane is the cheapest form of fossil fuel found on Earth. It can be produced from carbon dioxide and water using the Sabatier reaction. While methane is easily accessible, the constant boil-off of methane during each test was a massive waste of propellant. Additionally, releasing methane into the atmosphere contributes to global warming.
The cost of fuel and operations for a SpaceX Super Heavy Starship that cost $90 million to build in 2024 and is successfully flown five times over 2024-2025 would be about $50 million over five flights. The average per-flight costs would be $28 million per flight, with $300,000 to $2 million for fuel and $3 million for operations and long-term maintenance. Certain fuel and operation costs would not reduce based on the initial cost of the Starship. Instead, they would decline based on improving efficiency with a higher launch cadence. Fuel costs would reach a minimum when SpaceX starts producing its own fuel using solar power and other systems.
The main factor in reducing future payload costs is reducing fuel, operations, and maintenance costs. SpaceX has already demonstrated its ability to reuse the fairings, saving them about $5 million per mission. Additionally, the Raptor engines used in Starship are designed to be reused many times with little maintenance. Once SpaceX can successfully fly and recover the upper and lower stages of Starship, they will achieve reusable costs that are 20% or less of the build cost.
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Frequently asked questions
SpaceX pays around \$150,000 to fill a Falcon 9. Initially, they paid $2 per kilogram of RP1, but after renegotiating, they lowered the cost to around 70 cents per kilogram, which is closer to the price of jet fuel.
SpaceX uses liquid methane as fuel, which is the cheapest form of fossil fuel found on Earth. They also use liquid oxygen as a propellant.
The build cost of a SpaceX Starship is estimated to be around $2-5 million. However, the company aims to bring down the cost to \$20 million and eventually to \$10 million in the future.
SpaceX likely charges customers twice the internal costs. For example, if it costs SpaceX \$90 million to build a Super Heavy Starship, the company would charge around \$180 million.
