Design Rationale
The ELV design differs from that of reusable launch systems, where the vehicle is launched and recovered more than once. Reuse might seem to make systems like the Space Shuttle more cost effective than ELVs, but in practice launches using ELVs have been less expensive than Shuttle launches. (See Space Shuttle Program and Criticism of the Space Shuttle program for discussion of Space Shuttle economics). Most satellites are currently launched using expendable launchers; they are perceived as having a low risk of mission failure, a short time to launch and a relatively low cost.
Read more about this topic: Expendable Launch System
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“If I commit suicide, it will not be to destroy myself but to put myself back together again. Suicide will be for me only one means of violently reconquering myself, of brutally invading my being, of anticipating the unpredictable approaches of God. By suicide, I reintroduce my design in nature, I shall for the first time give things the shape of my will.”
—Antonin Artaud (1896–1948)