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You get immense prodictivity benefits from putting stuff into space. You just don't personally notice unless it breaks. Did you check today's weather forecast

You get immense prodictivity benefits from putting stuff into space. You just don't personally notice unless it breaks. Did you check today's weather forecast specific to your location? Compared to what the 2,000 active satellites enable, Slack is just chatter.

bad_user 8y ago
Also see this page on Wikipedia documenting some of NASA’s inventions that have benefited us: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spinoff_technologies https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spinoff_technologies
buboard 8y ago
ULA does that, not spacex and spacex doesnt plan on going public and technically it's russian engines that launch them in any case company valuation is not based on aspirations
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- stanleydrew 8y ago
  > in any case company valuation is not based on aspirations It kind of is though. Valuation is based on future discounted cash flow. Aspirations inform how much future cash flow a company can generate.
  - buboard 8y ago
    but are satellite launches a growing market? there is only so much space up there. Mars is a different beast, but that's quite a few decades ahead before it starts bringing "cash flow"
    - TaylorAlexander 8y ago
      I’m not sure if you’ve checked recently, but there’s a lot of space up there.
      - shaklee3 8y ago
        Not really. Geosynchronous orbital slots are filling up very quickly. They tend to space them about 2 degrees apart due to interference.
    - bagels 8y ago
      Yes, they are. Multiple constellations with thousands of satellites each are planned.
- mikeash 8y ago
  That just reinforces the point; ULA is worth even less.
  - justtopost 8y ago
    Not quite, we are transitioning to our own rockets soon afaik.
    - njarboe 8y ago
      How do you expect to compete with fully reusable boosters a la SpaceX? Are you building your own and when do you hope to have them delivering paying payloads? Or does ULA hope to buy reusable rockets from Blue Origin, not just engines?
- DonnyV 8y ago
  They stopped using Russian engines years ago.
  - darkpuma 8y ago
    Nope, five of the eight ULA launches in 2018 were Atlas V's and Atlas V first stages currently use Russian RD-180 engines. ULA is interested in replacing those engines with Blue Origin engines, or replacing the Atlas V with the Vulcan (probably also using Blue Origin engines), but that hasn't happened yet.
megy 8y ago
Or use GPS?
jayd16 8y ago
>Did you check today's weather forecast specific to your location? No but I used Slack today.
- ehnto 8y ago
  His example was just one of many problems solved by putting stuff in space. The modern world would have a very hard time operating at the current scale of humanity without sats. Flight ops, shipping ops, transit navigation and routing for the stuff that you buy, general communication links you probably don't even know you're using when you are using them. Slack is obviously very useful, but it's also trivially replaced. The ability to put stuff in space is not easily replaced. Conquering the inherit business risk of space operations and engineering when others won't is part the value of space companies. Slack could be meaningfully replaced at a company with a git repo checkout and some local hardware.
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bad_user 8y ago

Also see this page on Wikipedia documenting some of NASA’s inventions that have benefited us: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spinoff_technologies https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spinoff_technologies

buboard 8y ago

ULA does that, not spacex and spacex doesnt plan on going public and technically it's russian engines that launch them in any case company valuation is not based on aspirations

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stanleydrew 8y ago
> in any case company valuation is not based on aspirations It kind of is though. Valuation is based on future discounted cash flow. Aspirations inform how much future cash flow a company can generate.
- buboard 8y ago
  but are satellite launches a growing market? there is only so much space up there. Mars is a different beast, but that's quite a few decades ahead before it starts bringing "cash flow"
  - TaylorAlexander 8y ago
    I’m not sure if you’ve checked recently, but there’s a lot of space up there.
    - shaklee3 8y ago
      Not really. Geosynchronous orbital slots are filling up very quickly. They tend to space them about 2 degrees apart due to interference.
  - bagels 8y ago
    Yes, they are. Multiple constellations with thousands of satellites each are planned.
mikeash 8y ago
That just reinforces the point; ULA is worth even less.
- justtopost 8y ago
  Not quite, we are transitioning to our own rockets soon afaik.
  - njarboe 8y ago
    How do you expect to compete with fully reusable boosters a la SpaceX? Are you building your own and when do you hope to have them delivering paying payloads? Or does ULA hope to buy reusable rockets from Blue Origin, not just engines?
DonnyV 8y ago
They stopped using Russian engines years ago.
- darkpuma 8y ago
  Nope, five of the eight ULA launches in 2018 were Atlas V's and Atlas V first stages currently use Russian RD-180 engines. ULA is interested in replacing those engines with Blue Origin engines, or replacing the Atlas V with the Vulcan (probably also using Blue Origin engines), but that hasn't happened yet.

megy 8y ago

Or use GPS?

jayd16 8y ago

>Did you check today's weather forecast specific to your location? No but I used Slack today.

ehnto 8y ago
His example was just one of many problems solved by putting stuff in space. The modern world would have a very hard time operating at the current scale of humanity without sats. Flight ops, shipping ops, transit navigation and routing for the stuff that you buy, general communication links you probably don't even know you're using when you are using them. Slack is obviously very useful, but it's also trivially replaced. The ability to put stuff in space is not easily replaced. Conquering the inherit business risk of space operations and engineering when others won't is part the value of space companies. Slack could be meaningfully replaced at a company with a git repo checkout and some local hardware.
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