Cost¶
What Apollo 11 cost, as the model records it. Cost is a programmatic resource, not a
technical one: it follows from the design and its schedule rather than driving the physics, so
it comes last, after the technical budgets. Below are the cost
values the model gives and what its analysis Apollo11MissionCostAnalysis makes of them,
then what a review would need beyond that.
$11 B
mission cost, as the model's analysis computes it
45%
of it is research and development
none
base year stated for the dollars
Cost estimate¶
Product Mission cost estimate
The mission's cost by category (model value, postulated by the model's authors) and the total as the model's
Use it to see the order of magnitude and the split of the mission cost, and what the model does not say about it.
The mission's cost by category (model value, postulated by the model's authors) and the total as the model's
Apollo11MissionCostAnalysis computes it with sumCosts (model computes).Use it to see the order of magnitude and the split of the mission cost, and what the model does not say about it.
| Category | USD (model value) | Share | Attribute |
|---|---|---|---|
| Research and development | $5.0 B | 45% | Apollo11Mission::researchAndDevelopmentCost |
| Manufacturing | $3.0 B | 27% | Apollo11Mission::manufacturingCost |
| Personnel | $2.0 B | 18% | Apollo11Mission::personnelCost |
| Operations | $1.0 B | 9% | Apollo11Mission::operationsCost |
The model's sumCosts gives USD 11 billion, the sum of the 4 categories. The model's own comment on these values: "All costs are estimations and more a best guess."
What a review would need¶
Missing from the model's cost
- No base year. The values are in
$with no year the dollars are pegged to, so they cannot be inflated to today's money or compared with other programs. A cost estimate states constant-year dollars (for example, USD of 1969). - Postulated values. The model's own comment calls them "All costs are estimations and more a best guess", and the repository's README lists every cost attribute as a notional estimate chosen to exercise the analysis; they are not program records.
- Mission or program? The costs are attributes of
Apollo11Mission, yet research and development and much of manufacturing were spent for the whole Apollo program, and the model's ownsumCostsdescribes its result as "the total program cost". The model does not say what is specific to Apollo 11 and what is amortized over the program's missions. - No phasing. A review looks at cost as it is obligated over the project phases: research and development early, manufacturing in phase C, operations in phase E. The model has one lump sum per category and no cost on any phase, period or activity.
- No geography. Where the money goes (contractors, regions) matters to the stakeholders of a program of this size; no contractor, stakeholder or part in the model has a cost.