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China's Plan to Compete with SpaceX
- inglor_cz 6y agoWithout reusable rockets, putting tens of thousands of satellites into orbit sounds like a very expensive project. Not to mention the maintenance. The constellation of satellites is never final, you need to lift new ones all the time. SpaceX relies on the fact that reusable Falcons 9 have low marginal cost and on the expectation that Starships will be even cheaper when it comes to $ per kg into LEO. China so far does not seem to be on the track to a cheap, rapidly reusable launch system. This means they would have to subsidize the project from its state budget - it can be done, but perhaps at a great cost, and expensive state projects that are suddenly cancelled are a recurring theme in Chinese history - or ask a noncompetitive price from users.