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> But just like everything it got too popular Keep in mind that it maybe got too popular for an usable service, but it's far from being popular enough to be fi

> But just like everything it got too popular Keep in mind that it maybe got too popular for an usable service, but it's far from being popular enough to be financially sustainable product. You're still at this point having a service paid by investors money, like cheap Uber rides in 2015.

kcb 4y ago
> but it's far from being popular enough to be financially sustainable That feels like it would be true but is there any publically available data to confirm it?
- wmf 4y ago
  There was that leaked email saying "Satellite V1, by itself, is financially weak" https://spaceexplored.com/2021/11/29/spacex-raptor-crisis/ https://spaceexplored.com/2021/11/29/spacex-raptor-crisis/
  - yencabulator 4y ago
    Since January 2021 they've been launching V1.5
- wolfram74 4y ago
  The hobbyist community does estimates based on reported launch pricing and satellite manufacturing costs, but I don't think there's been any company books opened to reporters.
GekkePrutser 4y ago
Basically like Iridium V1. It went bankrupt and only when the network was bought for dimes on the dollar did it become profitable. Eventually it did find a sustainable business model though even for its new satellites.
- coffeeblack 4y ago
  Did Iridium have reusable rockets too?
chrisjc 4y ago
> You're still at this point having a service paid by investors money, like cheap Uber rides in 2015. Ouch! It's hard to tell if this is assertion based on some sort of familiarity with SpaceX's finances or just another of a seemingly endless stream of anti-Musk jabs. Surely you can't put SpaceX and Uber into the same category when it comes to the state of their finances and where that money comes from. Surely a cursory glance at the slew of public, private and government contracts SpaceX already has, plus the ones they have lined up, not to mention the involvement in programs like Artemus, would demonstrate to most people that they are in league far and beyond the likes of Uber with their dubious Vision Fund and questionable private backers. Or are you saying in this case that SpaceX, with all of its money and potential is basically to Starlink, what Softbank is to Uber? If it's the former, I'd love to get a better understand of what you mean?
- BugWatch 4y ago
  Not an answer to your question, but a vent-rant: 95% of anti-Musk "jabs" are reality and facts, and way over-shouted by Musk's fanatics, butt-kissers, and followers of his cult of personality. I have personally tried to set record straight with multiple instances of people in my private life (with legal documents, news clippings, timelines...) – nothing helps, they always find an excuse for him, it's like a bloody religion. And I'm sick of uncritical and butt-kissing media coverage, his fan club, and his egomaniacal loud existence.
  - sennight 4y ago
    It has always struck me that the people expressing the same sentiment that you just did put far more energy into it than the "fanatics, butt-kissers, and followers of his cult of personality"; to the point that you'd bother the "people in my private life (with legal documents, news clippings, timelines...)". It reminds me of the tech journalists who declared bitcoin dead in 2013, and how they'd get more venomous in their attacks year after year, presumably due to some kind deranged ego shielding.

kcb 4y ago

> but it's far from being popular enough to be financially sustainable That feels like it would be true but is there any publically available data to confirm it?

wmf 4y ago
There was that leaked email saying "Satellite V1, by itself, is financially weak" https://spaceexplored.com/2021/11/29/spacex-raptor-crisis/ https://spaceexplored.com/2021/11/29/spacex-raptor-crisis/
- yencabulator 4y ago
  Since January 2021 they've been launching V1.5
wolfram74 4y ago
The hobbyist community does estimates based on reported launch pricing and satellite manufacturing costs, but I don't think there's been any company books opened to reporters.

GekkePrutser 4y ago

Basically like Iridium V1. It went bankrupt and only when the network was bought for dimes on the dollar did it become profitable. Eventually it did find a sustainable business model though even for its new satellites.

coffeeblack 4y ago
Did Iridium have reusable rockets too?

chrisjc 4y ago

> You're still at this point having a service paid by investors money, like cheap Uber rides in 2015. Ouch! It's hard to tell if this is assertion based on some sort of familiarity with SpaceX's finances or just another of a seemingly endless stream of anti-Musk jabs. Surely you can't put SpaceX and Uber into the same category when it comes to the state of their finances and where that money comes from. Surely a cursory glance at the slew of public, private and government contracts SpaceX already has, plus the ones they have lined up, not to mention the involvement in programs like Artemus, would demonstrate to most people that they are in league far and beyond the likes of Uber with their dubious Vision Fund and questionable private backers. Or are you saying in this case that SpaceX, with all of its money and potential is basically to Starlink, what Softbank is to Uber? If it's the former, I'd love to get a better understand of what you mean?

BugWatch 4y ago
Not an answer to your question, but a vent-rant: 95% of anti-Musk "jabs" are reality and facts, and way over-shouted by Musk's fanatics, butt-kissers, and followers of his cult of personality. I have personally tried to set record straight with multiple instances of people in my private life (with legal documents, news clippings, timelines...) – nothing helps, they always find an excuse for him, it's like a bloody religion. And I'm sick of uncritical and butt-kissing media coverage, his fan club, and his egomaniacal loud existence.
- sennight 4y ago
  It has always struck me that the people expressing the same sentiment that you just did put far more energy into it than the "fanatics, butt-kissers, and followers of his cult of personality"; to the point that you'd bother the "people in my private life (with legal documents, news clippings, timelines...)". It reminds me of the tech journalists who declared bitcoin dead in 2013, and how they'd get more venomous in their attacks year after year, presumably due to some kind deranged ego shielding.