SpaceX has done so well in bringing down launch costs that it's raising its prices. That may seem paradoxical, but all is not what it seems. As well as making great strides towards its goal of a reusable launch system with three sea landings in a row, SpaceX has made improvements in rocket engine technology which mean that while launch prices look like they are going up, they're actually going down.

If you regularly visit SpaceX's website you may have come across a list of prices for sending up payloads to Earth orbit (LEO), Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) and even Mars, on the company's Falcon 9 and the still under development Falcon Heavy. Until recently, the price of a Falcon 9 launch was quoted as US$61.2 million. But a couple of weeks ago, this changed to US$62 million. At first glance, this clearly means for all of Elon Musk's boasts about wanting to bring down launch costs by 30 percent, that didn't stop SpaceX from jacking up the ticket prices by US$800,000 dollars. A clear example of corporate hypocrisy? Not really.