1 How much does the ISS cost?
Recall Video 2 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] in Week 4 which stated that the ISS alone had cost between US$140 and 160 billion!
Figure 1 shows the cost history of the ISS for the period between the financial years (FY) 1995 and 2002. Note that 2002 has two cost elements – ‘assembly complete’ and ‘core complete’. Please ignore the last column for ‘core complete’ as these values are taken forward into 2004 and 2006.
Now use Figure 1 to complete Activity 1.
Activity 1 The cost history of the ISS
Choose the correct answer to each of the following questions.
a.
1995
b.
1999
c.
2000
d.
2001
e.
2002
The correct answer is e.
a.
US$145.2 billion
b.
US$169.1 billion
c.
US$185.2 billion
d.
US$205.2 billion
e.
US$295.2 billion
The correct answer is b.
a.
US$19.14 billion per year
b.
US$20.14 billion per year
c.
US$21.14 billion per year
d.
US$22.14 billion per year
e.
US$23.14 billion per year
The correct answer is c.
Now you will consider how much space exploration costs individual space companies, notably NASA.