![]() ![]() Starlink has already launched more than 3,300 of its internet communications satellites into low Earth orbit, making it the largest constellation of its kind. Starlink is already deploying its third generation satellites while other companies are tweaking their first. This has given Starlink more or less free rein to invest in new satellites while rivals are forced to build up cash flow to fund development. Just last month, the company raised $750m giving it a valuation of $137bn, according to documents seen by CNBC. SpaceX certainly benefits from a low cost of capital thanks to the eagerness of investors to get involved and its high valuation. Examining a grimy Falcon 9 rocket before launch last week, an engineer who works for a SpaceX client messaged his colleagues: “I can confirm the rocket is medium-rare.” Experts estimate that the cost of developing Falcon 9, which came in at $400m, would have been ten times higher had the US government tried to do something similar. The company doesn’t even bother to clean the soot off its reusable boosters. This has resulted in laser-guided cost discipline and the use of disruptive technologies such as 3D-printing engine parts. It has taken on the full development risk of its rockets rather than leaning on Nasa guarantees. SpaceX’s dominance is, in fairness, all of its own making. Nasa says it has only picked Starship for a single mission but Blue Origin and others are worried the space agency may prove unwilling to reconfigure its systems once they’ve been adapted to work with SpaceX’s craft. That decision prompted Blue Origin, the private space company owned by Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, to complain that SpaceX was on course to achieve “monopolistic control” of deep space exploration. It has already awarded SpaceX a $2.9bn contract to use Starship to land its astronauts on the moon – perhaps as soon as next year. Nasa, however, doesn’t count among the cynics. The project has yet to win full regulatory approval and some sceptics have questioned whether a rocket principally designed to help achieve Musk’s dream of colonising Mars will be able to double up as an all-purpose transporter. Some predict this could fall to as little as $500 once Starship is operational – utterly transforming the industry’s economics in the process. The use of Falcon 9 has already brought the cost of launches down from around $15,000 a kilogram to $5,000, according to experts. ![]() When operational, Starship will be capable of carrying a cargo weighing 100 tons into orbit. Musk is aiming for a test launch next month. At 120 metres tall, the new vehicle is larger than Saturn V, which was used for the Apollo Space missions, and its 33 engines deliver two times the thrust. Last week, SpaceX carried out an engine test on Starship, the company’s new fully-reusable heavy-lift launch rocket. SpaceX – the company of which Musk is chief executive, chief technology officer and chief designer – came a close second with 61. Of the 180 rocket launches last year (which was a third more than in 2021), 62 were made by the Chinese. ![]() While Musk tries to work out what to do with Twitter, the social media company he bought for $44bn (£36bn) last year, and, in a not unrelated development, the value of his electric car company Tesla plummets, SpaceX is close to becoming, in the words of one industry executive, “the only game in town”.Īt the moment that’s a bit of exaggeration – but not much of one. But the issue is particularly acute in the space industry. The billionaire’s ventures have so come to dominate the industries in which they operate that such apparent conflicts of interest are becoming increasingly frequent. Scott Fitzgerald suggested, the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function, then Musk frequently passes with flying colours. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |