7 ms·

SpaceX Has Nearly a Full Uber Funding in Contracts

81 points by confiscate 11y ago

pbreit 11y ago
I get what "full Uber" is trying to mean but it seems like a pretty silly concept. And I don't see the connection between one company's bookings and another's funds raised.
- LeoNatan25 11y ago
  On a personal note, I'd say it's pretty sad that a taxi company is raising more than a company attempting to further the technological front. Not popular to say anything against Uber here these days, but this is not against Uber specifically, more the perverted culture that we live in. Imagine these 8+ billion going to cancer research, for example.
  - intopieces 11y ago
    Uber is buying up robotics departments and pushing into autonomous vehicles. They're definitely furthering the technological front. Also, I think you'll find plenty of criticism of Uber around here, it's not one of the most well-regarded companies.
    - binarycrusader 11y ago
      Uber hasn't done anything meaningful to further the technological front yet -- certainly nothing that is or will affect all of humanity. And we are literally talking about Rocket Science here...
      - atrus 11y ago
        And has SpaceX?
        chronic41 11y ago
        No. They are simply assembling existing missile designs and running MATLAB simulations.
        pyridine 11y ago
        From wiki article on SpaceX: The first privately funded, liquid-fueled rocket (Falcon 1) to reach orbit (28 September 2008) The first privately funded company to successfully launch (by Falcon 9) Orbit and recover a spacecraft (Dragon) (9 December 2010) The first private company to send a spacecraft (Dragon) to the International Space Station (25 May 2012) The first private company to send a satellite into geosynchronous orbit
        Redoubts 11y ago
        That's not a front though, that's just doing it with a different revenue stream.
        nitrogen 11y ago
        There was a lot of "first" in the previous comment, which might as well be synonymous with "front" in this context. As an example, Linux wasn't the first UNIX-like kernel or the even the first free UNIX-like kernel, but it (with GNU) was the first free UNIX-like kernel to bring a UNIX-like kernel to the mainstream PC world and span the entire vertical range of computing scale from microcontrollers to TOP500 supercomputers. I'd call that expanding the technological front. Edited for GNUtical correctness, which makes it quite a bit harder to read
        Redoubts 11y ago
        >There was a lot of "first" in the previous comment, which might as well be synonymous with "front" in this context. Not really. It's literally doing what was done before, 30 years ago.
        _nedR 11y ago
        None of those things has had any affect on my life or the lives of anybody i personally know (yet). I booked a ride on Uber just the other day. edit: typo
      - intopieces 11y ago
        >certainly nothing that is or will affect all of humanity. If we're setting the goal post for "furthering the technological front" at "helping all of humanity" then technology is at a standstill and the Internet is a failure. After all, fewer than 50% of the world uses the Internet.
  - Taek 11y ago
    Uber has improved my quality of life, and improved the ability of my social group to get together despite being fairly spread out. Before installing uber, I paid for transportation maybe twice a year. Now it's closer to twice a month. That's pretty significant. I'm glad SpaceX is doing well, but I'm also glad Uber is going well.
    - jeffwass 11y ago
      Totally tangential, but I'm genuinely curious where you live if you've only needed to pay for transportation twice a year. (Assuming you are counting car and bike maintenance and car fuel in that comment?)
  - davnicwil 11y ago
    If people can get around cheaper and more easily using Uber than they could previously using taxis, that's an enabler for better productivity and quality across the entire economy. Not even to mention that Uber, in complete opposition to taxis, is massively incentivised to drive self-driving tech forwards as quickly as possible. That will be a huge, huge multiplier on the above. Your use of 'perverted culture' in reference to demand for improvements in transport services puzzles me. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your intent. People getting around, seeing other people, working with other people is the very basis of, well.. everything in our economy, and in our lives. Even if only on an academic level, I really struggle to see how anyone couldn't be excited by the improvements companies like Uber are making right now, and the potentially more drastic improvements they could make in the future, in this sector.
    - LeoNatan25 11y ago
      Thanks for this. I was not aware of Uber's investments in the field, and I didn't want to compare Uber in particular. By "perverted culture", I meant the high-tech world in general, where Facebook buys Instagram and WhatsApp for billions of dollars for ... uhm ... important reasons. I am not holier than though myself, I participate in the crazy spending myself. But seeing the numbers here just made me think.
    - brianclements 11y ago
      So by that definition, SpaceX is truly going "full Uber".
    - gozo 11y ago
      You somehow think Uber is going to continue subsidize taxi travel forever? Is that what all these investors are putting money into, of course not. The technological mertis of Uber does not take that much money. They might be working on self-driving cars, but so are several other startups and car companies. Just not as some lofty future goal, but as actual incremental improvements. I think most peoples excitment over Uber is reactionary. Because they clearly aren't as excited about all the other companies that are now using similar technology without the poor ethics of Uber.
  - pbreit 11y ago
    I'm going to disagree. It's a slippery slope to start making comparisons like that because the logical conclusion is that you only spend money on cancer research. Also, I think transportation is fundamental and worth investing in. And further, it's (currently) a pretty good and very flexible way for a variety of people to earn income.
  - imglorp 11y ago
    At least it's not fart apps. They're both selling real services. One of them is concrete and the other overvalued, is all.
  - dylanjermiah 11y ago
    Billions of dollars a year already go into cancer research. Infinite funding != faster progress. I'd say the allocation of capital has been fairly efficient. Uber will be doing self driving vehicles(among other companies), and that will be as transformational as the automobile itself.
    - XorNot 11y ago
      Also "cancer" is not one disease. It's thousands of separate diseases. Moreover, technology is not a straight line. For example as far as cancer research goes, computer gaming and the incredible investment in graphics card technology (and the consumer market for it) has done more to help in recent years as a general effort then any other specific advance. But people have definitely sat around saying "we shouldn't spend money on this..."
  - hsod 11y ago
    It is very, very popular to say things against Uber here these days.
- dpflan 11y ago
  It's not clear how or why the comparison exists except due to Uber being at the forefront of the current tech zeitgeist. There are many other things to compare this too. I am not clear on how informing the reader about the amount of funding Uber has raised and SpaceX's revenue from contracts actually clarifies and helps to provide proper perspective of the amount of money SpaceX has under contract. There is only mention of Uber in the title and once in the article, but the mention and comparison have worked to make everyone think about Uber (look at the current comments in this submission :))
  - KaiserPro 11y ago
    I would have thought under the current funding systems having an "Uber" in contracted future sales would have limited its value. After all you've got to expand before making money. Or so the current thinking appears to go.
- mcv 11y ago
  It sounds like an "Uber" is a new measure of money. So Apple would be worth almost 100 Uber. My assets are measured in microUbers.
  - testrun 11y ago
    Respect. They don't measure mine, but if they did, the unit of measure will be picoUber.
  - SEJeff 11y ago
    Unless you're filthy rich, more like a nano-uber.
    - mcv 11y ago
      If $8 billion is 1 Uber, then a microUber is $8 thousand. It's nice to have, but hardly filthy rich.
djloche 11y ago
Here is the relevant link to the SpaceX press release: http://www.spacex.com/press/2015/09/14/spacex-signs-new-commercial-launch-contracts http://www.spacex.com/press/2015/09/14/spacex-signs-new-comm... and here is the page that has all their contracted future launches: http://www.spacex.com/missions http://www.spacex.com/missions
api 11y ago
So "one Uber funding" is now a unit of economic measurement?
- KaiserPro 11y ago
  and a unit of anti gravity.
- alvarosm 11y ago
  actually, it measures stupidity
- toxican 11y ago
  What's going exchange rate between Uf's and $, again?
Animats 11y ago
Space-X has a big order book, but that's not investment funding. That's potential future sales. Space-X only gets paid when they deliver a successful launch. Space-X has had a huge future launch manifest for years, but they've never been able to keep up with their announced launch schedule. Now they no longer put dates on their launch manifest. Compare the current manifest [1] with one from a year ago [2] They're about 15 missions behind their announced schedule from last year. [1] http://www.spacex.com/missions http://www.spacex.com/missions [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20140917002523/http://www.spacex.com/missions https://web.archive.org/web/20140917002523/http://www.spacex...
- ohsnap 11y ago
  Advanced payments are very common in the industry. It's why spacex has the cash on hand to put $150M+ in solar city bonds.
- rancur 11y ago
  well to get it as investment funding it sounds like they just need to emulate Uber's model. So a Spaxe-X app where you can book Space, Space-X, Space-XL, Space-Black, and Space-SUV trips to various solar destinations.
- sunstone 11y ago
  Clearly since Russia messed with Ukraine SpaceX' well being now has a national security aspect to it. Government support will be there for it if for nothing else but a goad for NASA to work faster. They might be behind schedule but Musk is known for setting unrealistically aggressive targets. His companies may missed the milestones but they're still streets ahead of anyone else. SpaceX' track record has been nothing short of amazing so far and is likely to continue once it get's its supply chain wrinkles ironed out.

81 points by confiscate 11y ago

I get what "full Uber" is trying to mean but it seems like a pretty silly concept. And I don't see the connection between one company's bookings and another's funds raised.

LeoNatan25 11y ago
On a personal note, I'd say it's pretty sad that a taxi company is raising more than a company attempting to further the technological front. Not popular to say anything against Uber here these days, but this is not against Uber specifically, more the perverted culture that we live in. Imagine these 8+ billion going to cancer research, for example.
- intopieces 11y ago
  Uber is buying up robotics departments and pushing into autonomous vehicles. They're definitely furthering the technological front. Also, I think you'll find plenty of criticism of Uber around here, it's not one of the most well-regarded companies.
  - binarycrusader 11y ago
    Uber hasn't done anything meaningful to further the technological front yet -- certainly nothing that is or will affect all of humanity. And we are literally talking about Rocket Science here...
    - atrus 11y ago
      And has SpaceX?
      - chronic41 11y ago
        No. They are simply assembling existing missile designs and running MATLAB simulations.
      - pyridine 11y ago
        From wiki article on SpaceX: The first privately funded, liquid-fueled rocket (Falcon 1) to reach orbit (28 September 2008) The first privately funded company to successfully launch (by Falcon 9) Orbit and recover a spacecraft (Dragon) (9 December 2010) The first private company to send a spacecraft (Dragon) to the International Space Station (25 May 2012) The first private company to send a satellite into geosynchronous orbit
        Redoubts 11y ago
        That's not a front though, that's just doing it with a different revenue stream.
        nitrogen 11y ago
        There was a lot of "first" in the previous comment, which might as well be synonymous with "front" in this context. As an example, Linux wasn't the first UNIX-like kernel or the even the first free UNIX-like kernel, but it (with GNU) was the first free UNIX-like kernel to bring a UNIX-like kernel to the mainstream PC world and span the entire vertical range of computing scale from microcontrollers to TOP500 supercomputers. I'd call that expanding the technological front. Edited for GNUtical correctness, which makes it quite a bit harder to read
        Redoubts 11y ago
        >There was a lot of "first" in the previous comment, which might as well be synonymous with "front" in this context. Not really. It's literally doing what was done before, 30 years ago.
        _nedR 11y ago
        None of those things has had any affect on my life or the lives of anybody i personally know (yet). I booked a ride on Uber just the other day. edit: typo
    - intopieces 11y ago
      >certainly nothing that is or will affect all of humanity. If we're setting the goal post for "furthering the technological front" at "helping all of humanity" then technology is at a standstill and the Internet is a failure. After all, fewer than 50% of the world uses the Internet.
- Taek 11y ago
  Uber has improved my quality of life, and improved the ability of my social group to get together despite being fairly spread out. Before installing uber, I paid for transportation maybe twice a year. Now it's closer to twice a month. That's pretty significant. I'm glad SpaceX is doing well, but I'm also glad Uber is going well.
  - jeffwass 11y ago
    Totally tangential, but I'm genuinely curious where you live if you've only needed to pay for transportation twice a year. (Assuming you are counting car and bike maintenance and car fuel in that comment?)
- davnicwil 11y ago
  If people can get around cheaper and more easily using Uber than they could previously using taxis, that's an enabler for better productivity and quality across the entire economy. Not even to mention that Uber, in complete opposition to taxis, is massively incentivised to drive self-driving tech forwards as quickly as possible. That will be a huge, huge multiplier on the above. Your use of 'perverted culture' in reference to demand for improvements in transport services puzzles me. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your intent. People getting around, seeing other people, working with other people is the very basis of, well.. everything in our economy, and in our lives. Even if only on an academic level, I really struggle to see how anyone couldn't be excited by the improvements companies like Uber are making right now, and the potentially more drastic improvements they could make in the future, in this sector.
  - LeoNatan25 11y ago
    Thanks for this. I was not aware of Uber's investments in the field, and I didn't want to compare Uber in particular. By "perverted culture", I meant the high-tech world in general, where Facebook buys Instagram and WhatsApp for billions of dollars for ... uhm ... important reasons. I am not holier than though myself, I participate in the crazy spending myself. But seeing the numbers here just made me think.
  - brianclements 11y ago
    So by that definition, SpaceX is truly going "full Uber".
  - gozo 11y ago
    You somehow think Uber is going to continue subsidize taxi travel forever? Is that what all these investors are putting money into, of course not. The technological mertis of Uber does not take that much money. They might be working on self-driving cars, but so are several other startups and car companies. Just not as some lofty future goal, but as actual incremental improvements. I think most peoples excitment over Uber is reactionary. Because they clearly aren't as excited about all the other companies that are now using similar technology without the poor ethics of Uber.
- pbreit 11y ago
  I'm going to disagree. It's a slippery slope to start making comparisons like that because the logical conclusion is that you only spend money on cancer research. Also, I think transportation is fundamental and worth investing in. And further, it's (currently) a pretty good and very flexible way for a variety of people to earn income.
- imglorp 11y ago
  At least it's not fart apps. They're both selling real services. One of them is concrete and the other overvalued, is all.
- dylanjermiah 11y ago
  Billions of dollars a year already go into cancer research. Infinite funding != faster progress. I'd say the allocation of capital has been fairly efficient. Uber will be doing self driving vehicles(among other companies), and that will be as transformational as the automobile itself.
  - XorNot 11y ago
    Also "cancer" is not one disease. It's thousands of separate diseases. Moreover, technology is not a straight line. For example as far as cancer research goes, computer gaming and the incredible investment in graphics card technology (and the consumer market for it) has done more to help in recent years as a general effort then any other specific advance. But people have definitely sat around saying "we shouldn't spend money on this..."
- hsod 11y ago
  It is very, very popular to say things against Uber here these days.
dpflan 11y ago
It's not clear how or why the comparison exists except due to Uber being at the forefront of the current tech zeitgeist. There are many other things to compare this too. I am not clear on how informing the reader about the amount of funding Uber has raised and SpaceX's revenue from contracts actually clarifies and helps to provide proper perspective of the amount of money SpaceX has under contract. There is only mention of Uber in the title and once in the article, but the mention and comparison have worked to make everyone think about Uber (look at the current comments in this submission :))
- KaiserPro 11y ago
  I would have thought under the current funding systems having an "Uber" in contracted future sales would have limited its value. After all you've got to expand before making money. Or so the current thinking appears to go.
mcv 11y ago
It sounds like an "Uber" is a new measure of money. So Apple would be worth almost 100 Uber. My assets are measured in microUbers.
- testrun 11y ago
  Respect. They don't measure mine, but if they did, the unit of measure will be picoUber.
- SEJeff 11y ago
  Unless you're filthy rich, more like a nano-uber.
  - mcv 11y ago
    If $8 billion is 1 Uber, then a microUber is $8 thousand. It's nice to have, but hardly filthy rich.

djloche 11y ago

Here is the relevant link to the SpaceX press release: http://www.spacex.com/press/2015/09/14/spacex-signs-new-commercial-launch-contracts http://www.spacex.com/press/2015/09/14/spacex-signs-new-comm... and here is the page that has all their contracted future launches: http://www.spacex.com/missions http://www.spacex.com/missions

api 11y ago

So "one Uber funding" is now a unit of economic measurement?

KaiserPro 11y ago
and a unit of anti gravity.
alvarosm 11y ago
actually, it measures stupidity
toxican 11y ago
What's going exchange rate between Uf's and $, again?

Animats 11y ago

Space-X has a big order book, but that's not investment funding. That's potential future sales. Space-X only gets paid when they deliver a successful launch. Space-X has had a huge future launch manifest for years, but they've never been able to keep up with their announced launch schedule. Now they no longer put dates on their launch manifest. Compare the current manifest [1] with one from a year ago [2] They're about 15 missions behind their announced schedule from last year. [1] http://www.spacex.com/missions http://www.spacex.com/missions [2] https://web.archive.org/web/20140917002523/http://www.spacex.com/missions https://web.archive.org/web/20140917002523/http://www.spacex...

ohsnap 11y ago
Advanced payments are very common in the industry. It's why spacex has the cash on hand to put $150M+ in solar city bonds.
rancur 11y ago
well to get it as investment funding it sounds like they just need to emulate Uber's model. So a Spaxe-X app where you can book Space, Space-X, Space-XL, Space-Black, and Space-SUV trips to various solar destinations.
sunstone 11y ago
Clearly since Russia messed with Ukraine SpaceX' well being now has a national security aspect to it. Government support will be there for it if for nothing else but a goad for NASA to work faster. They might be behind schedule but Musk is known for setting unrealistically aggressive targets. His companies may missed the milestones but they're still streets ahead of anyone else. SpaceX' track record has been nothing short of amazing so far and is likely to continue once it get's its supply chain wrinkles ironed out.