[amsat-bb] SEC: UNCLASSIFIED - Doing the $ Sums on AO-40

["Ellis, Peter R." <Peter.Ellis@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Enjoy !


Unless otherwise marked, all terms are simplified for ease of calculation to
units of: "Big Macs" ®, French Francs, kilograms, AO-40s, and occasionally
US$. 

Formula:
[Ariane 5 launch cost]/kg x AO-40 x US$ to Fr exchange rate = Fr[lots!] (a)


It costs ~US$20,000/kg for an Ariane 5 launch (b)
AO-40 weighed ~650kg at launch. (c)
US$1 = Fr7.65 (today (d))

That's F98,695,000 to launch AO-40 today. 

At Arianespace's local McDonalds
http://www.mcdonalds.fr/php/req_restos2.php3?Id=MC536
<http://www.mcdonalds.fr/php/req_restos2.php3?Id=MC536>  , just along the
Boulevard de l'Europe in Evry (just south of Paris), given that a Big Mac
costs Fr17.50 (e), that would buy 5,639,142.86 burgers (f). ( This is a
little more than the miserable 5,308,641.98 burgers in Titusville or Cocoa
Beach, Florida ! ) 


Notes and References: 
(a)	"Fr" stands for "Franc", the French currency, and not "Fries" that
do not come in a counted number per packet so there is no exchange rate
established on fries-US$ (g). (but there an exchange index on
Coca-Cola...(h) )
(b)
http://www.space.com/spacenews/launchindustry/paris_ariane_prices_010618.htm
l
<http://www.space.com/spacenews/launchindustry/paris_ariane_prices_010618.ht
ml> 
(c)	http://www.amsat-dl.org/p3dmedia.htm#ENG
<http://www.amsat-dl.org/p3dmedia.htm#ENG>  
(d)
http://www.economist.com/markets/currency/md_conv.cfm?CFID=2049604&CFTOKEN=8
3517862
<http://www.economist.com/markets/currency/md_conv.cfm?CFID=2049604&CFTOKEN=
83517862>  
(e)	This is a very important link on the Big Mac exchange rate question
!http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.cfm?lesson=EM156
<http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.cfm?lesson=EM156>  ), 
(f)	The rate of exchange in November 2000 was ~5,462,200 Big Macs (in
Evry) for the AO-40 launch. See http://www.dawn.com/2000/11/19/forex.htm
<http://www.dawn.com/2000/11/19/forex.htm>  . 
(g)	McCain http://www.mccain.com <http://www.mccain.com>  provides the
McDonalds 'french fries' in France: see
http://www.mcdonalds.fr/java/pop_up01.php3
<http://www.mcdonalds.fr/java/pop_up01.php3>  and scroll down. Also
http://www.mccain.com/PDF/Market_leadership.pdf
<http://www.mccain.com/PDF/Market_leadership.pdf>  .
(h)
http://www.economist.com/markets/bigmac/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=168436&CFI
D=2049604&CFTOKEN=83517862
<http://www.economist.com/markets/bigmac/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=168436&CF
ID=2049604&CFTOKEN=83517862>  


And getting back to satellite and ground station equipment for a while... 
Personally, while I am a CONSUMER / USER rather than a CONSTRUCTOR, I prefer
to MAKE pizzas and burgers from scratch. 


Peter VK1KEP

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