Virgin Galactic to replace spaceplane engine after each flight nasdaq.com

The development cost of the first WhiteKnightTwo mother ship has been estimated at $400 million, and Virgin will need to build “several mother ships” to carry its spaceplanes to altitude. Unlike SpaceX’s reusable rocket ships, the spaceplane’s hybrid solid-fuel engine has to be replaced entirely after each flight. The cost of building a new spaceplane engine is currently $250-275k but is expected to come down significantly over time as the company scales and efficiencies improve.

Virgin Galactic is planning to do 400 flights generating $1 billion in total revenue, requiring an average ticket price of $416,667 — 67% higher than the advertised price of $250,000 for Virgin’s first 600 passengers. Virgin anticipates that each of its spaceplanes can fly about 50 times per year, requiring eight spaceplanes per spaceport (which cost of $30-35M per spaceplane).