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NASA estimate of the total cost for SpaceX to R&D the Falcon 9 system: $3.6 billion.
DOD budget for Joint Strike Fighter R&D: over $9 billion for 2012 alone.
Total cost of shuttle program: $196 billion over 40 years.
There are a lot of things that government can do better than any corporation, simply because the economic logic of leaving such things in the hands of the private sector make things worse. Space travel, carefully regulated, is a notable exception. Continued space travel as a strictly government venture is too risky for political reasons. Privatizing space travel turns the political risks into economic risks - and it turns out that the economic risks aren't that bad after all. Of course, the biggest customer will continue to be the government, but I can see that changing as the cost of travel goes down.
DOD budget for Joint Strike Fighter R&D: over $9 billion for 2012 alone.
Total cost of shuttle program: $196 billion over 40 years.
There are a lot of things that government can do better than any corporation, simply because the economic logic of leaving such things in the hands of the private sector make things worse. Space travel, carefully regulated, is a notable exception. Continued space travel as a strictly government venture is too risky for political reasons. Privatizing space travel turns the political risks into economic risks - and it turns out that the economic risks aren't that bad after all. Of course, the biggest customer will continue to be the government, but I can see that changing as the cost of travel goes down.
