Uzza2 t1_jedwsr6 wrote on March 31, 2023 at 9:11 AM

Reply to comment by AnnexBlaster in Virgin Orbit fails to secure funding, will cease operations and lay off nearly entire workforce by getBusyChild

While Rocketlab is doing impressive stuff in the small launch market, and is actually trying to be competitive in the future with Neutron, I don't see how they can be called the best space company when SpaceX exists.
There exists basically no real competitors to what SpaceX is doing right now, and the work they've done on reusability in the past 10 years has done more to advance spaceflight than anyone else the past 40 years.
Starship is going to be an even bigger jump, and I don't think people realize just how big of an impact it is going to have.

ACCount82 t1_jedyodr wrote on March 31, 2023 at 9:38 AM

>I don't see how they can be called the best space company when SpaceX exists.

If "the market" in "the best company on the market" refers to the stock market, then it makes some sense. SpaceX isn't publicly traded.

I would be reluctant to invest into any of those "new space" companies myself though. First, space is hard - so many of those who only started out now are likely run out of funding before they make a single cent of profit on their launches. Second: SpaceX is the industry's mad titan. So much of the space industry now exists in the realm of "SpaceX hasn't gotten around to killing them yet".

jivatman t1_jeemyiq wrote on March 31, 2023 at 1:41 PM

Some of the Spacecraft companies are interesting, and they largely do very different things so don't directly compete. Blacksky, Maxar, Planet etc.

SpaceX bringing down the cost of putting things into orbit, even moreso with Starship, should actually be good for these companies.

I absolutely would not invest in any launch company other than SpaceX though. Not even Rocketlab, which I think will survive but not do crazy well.

ACCount82 t1_jeeyno7 wrote on March 31, 2023 at 3:01 PM

The thing with Maxar, etc, is the question: what happens if SpaceX just decides to add an extra Earth-facing sensor bay to every single new Starlink sat?

Because the next step for SpaceX would be to start putting hardware that directly undercuts Maxar and others into those bays. Anyone who's doing smallsats should be extremely concerned by the possibility.

SpaceX is already getting in on that MIC game with Starshield - a series of customizable Starlink-derived sats that SpaceX has reportedly offered to Pentagon at bargain prices. So they clearly are trying to get into new market segments, and they aren't subtle about it.