I am excited to buy KSP2 because the trailer mentioned many awesome future technologies like metallic hydrogen and sure that would be nice for interplanetary travel, but I was concerned it did not mention reusable rockets. Non-reusable rockets is like taking an airplane flight to go on vacation and when they land that airplane they throw it in the trash, imagine how expensive that is and how much of a joke it is compared to re-usability. I am also concerned because partially reusable rockets already exist (the SpaceX falcon 9 reuses the first stage), so if KSP2 does not have reusable rockets then it is already out of date. If SpaceX successfully develops the Starship, then they claim that the Starship production line could churn out two Starships per week at $5 million each with a fuel cost of $900,000 per launch, put those two together for a total launch cost $2 million per mission. That means $2,000,000/220,000 lb payload = $9.09 per pound, I think to Earth orbit.
I mean KSP2 also has nuclear pulse propulsion, which is awesome, and so efficient it is probably technically a reusable rocket. I would be interested if anyone could estimate the launch costs for that so we can compare it to Starship.
Here is SpaceX's current rocket the Falcon 9, which has a reusable first stage not second stage, greatly decreasing space launch costs ($62 million vs $165 million).
https://www.spacex.com/falcon9
"SpaceX advertises Falcon 9 rocket launches on its website with a $62 million price tag. The insurance rate on a Falcon 9 is about 4% currently, the underwriter said. That’s the same rate as competitors’ similarly-capable rockets, such as the European launcher Arianespace’s Ariane 5 or U.S. rocket builder United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Atlas V. But Ariane 5 and Atlas V launches go for upwards of $165 million each, meaning a Falcon 9 premium is about $2.5 million while its competitors’ premiums would be in the range of $7 million."
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/16/elon-musk-spacex-falcon-9-rocket-over-a-million-dollars-less-to-insure.html
But SpaceX is currently developing a rocket called Starship, which aims to be fully reusable: a reusable first stage called the Super Heavy (used to get into Earth orbit, not necessary for getting into Moon or Mars orbit) and a second stage that is planned to be able to be refueled in Earth orbit by a second Starship to allow the first Starship to go to the Moon or Mars and with more refueling even beyond Mars.
"220,000 lb payload"
https://www.spacex.com/starship
https://www.engadget.com/2019-09-28-starship-refueling-spacex.html
"Elon Musk says he is “confident” moving to Mars will “one day” cost less than $500,000 and “maybe even” cost below $100,000."
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/11/elon-musk-how-much-it-will-cost-to-move-to-mars.html
No joke SpaceX believes the fully reusable Starship might make spaceflight so cheap that they want to build one Starship per week.
"SpaceX’s stretch goal is to build one to two Starships a week, this year, and to pare back construction costs to as low as $5 million each."
https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/03/inside-elon-musks-plan-to-build-one-starship-a-week-and-settle-mars/
SpaceX's Starship May Fly for Just $2 Million Per Mission, Elon Musk Says. The big spaceship-rocket duo will use just $900,000 of fuel per launch.
https://www.space.com/spacex-starship-flight-passenger-cost-elon-musk.html
