Total Cost

The parts chosen for this project cannot be certified for use in a space mission. Space-certified products must be produced using special materials that can withstand the harshness of deep space including the frigid temperatures and radiation from the sun.

There are many different metrics that can be used as an approximation as to how much a satellite may cost of it were to be used in space. The first metric deals with the total weight of the items to be launched. One rating heard on a television documentary many years ago stated that it costs about $10,000 per kilogram to put something up in space. This metric is probably isn't very accurate because the costs of providing fuel to leave the Earth's orbit would be quite costly along with the need to keep it on track during it's multi-year travel to the planet.

Another metric is based on the amount of power used on the spacecraft, about $1 million per Watt of energy used. If this metric were to be implemented, the RTG of the relay satellite produces about 285 W of power, which would result in an approximate cost of about $285 million. Each of the three probes use fuel cells that can provide up to 30 W of output, or $30 million each. The total approximated cost of the mission would be about $375 million.

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