I believe you are overestimating the cost of a transfer from GEO to LEO and underestimating the costs from ground to LEO. Specifically you haven&#x27;t accounted for the earth&#x27;s atmosphere.<p>The earths atmosphere adds to the cost of ground launch (drag) and subtracts from the cost of GEO-&gt;LEO transfer (aerobrake). Instead of 4km&#x2F;s transfer vs 7km&#x2F;s direct, it should be 2km&#x2F;s vs 9km&#x2F;s.