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I wouldn't bet on Russia and China still has a lot of catching up to do. If we're talking about putting stuff in orbit cheaply I wouldn't rule out India but th
by Symmetry 10y ago
I wouldn't bet on Russia and China still has a lot of catching up to do. If we're talking about putting stuff in orbit cheaply I wouldn't rule out India but there are also a host of companies with small rockets that show some promise.
And ULA has a good story about their work on in-space reuse of rockets even if they aren't going to be reusing boosters any time soon.
- simonh 10y agoI'm actually quite bullish about Boeing, Lockheed and the other big space contractors even if SpaceX and BO (ho, ho) do eat their lunch on boosters. If access to space costs peanuts, companies and governments are going to want to put a heck of a lot more stuff up there. That means someone is going to have to build it all. Even if SpaceX themselves have no interest in going to The Moon, they're not going to say no to a contract to put a Lockheed/ Boeing/ etc NASA funded Moon mission into orbit for them.
- greglindahl 9y agoIt's worth noting that Boeing's satellite division already did a special design of an all-electric-propulsion GEO satellite, which can launch 2 at a time on Falcon 9 and reduce launch costs even further. They've sold and launched 2 pairs so far.