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>the uncertain nature of Starship's future launches could impact Starlink's ability to meet" its obligations Lol, what is the FCC on? No one else comes even cl

>the uncertain nature of Starship's future launches could impact Starlink's ability to meet" its obligations Lol, what is the FCC on? No one else comes even close to their launch record [1]. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Falcon_9_and_Falcon_Heavy_launches https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Falcon_9_and_Falcon_He....

stephenr 3y ago
You do understand that "Starship" is the literal name of a prototype space craft that is currently in development, but has not yet made a successful launch to orbit, rather than just a generic term, which may include the earlier, well-proven Falcon 9, right? SpaceX themselves have said that the future of their satellite internet business essentially depends on being able to put up a bigger model to replace the current ones, so much bigger that they can't feasibly use their existing, well-proven rockets to launch them.
- moralestapia 3y ago
  Sure, but if you were to bet on a company to achieve that goal and it comes down to SpaceX vs. <literally who>?, it's not far fetched to go with the first.
  - stephenr 3y ago
    "Well it looks like no one else is going to achieve what you said you could do, and you got kinda close so fuck it, keep the money" doesn't really sound like how you should expect a government subsidy to be managed. For the record: I'm not commenting on whether the government was right or wrong to cancel the subsidy for SpaceX. I'm simply explaining why SpaceX's inability (so far) to get Starship to orbit is referenced, and more specifically, why the launch reliability of Falcon 9 is specifically not relevant in a sentence that says "Starship".
zamadatix 3y ago
I'm not necessarily happy with the outcome here but the FCC never compared their current generation vehicle launch record to anyone else's. They're saying SpaceX planned to launch 12,000-42,000 satellites within a certain timeline using new vehicles to keep up with demand but are currently at ~5,500 with Starship's start not going as smoothly as SpaceX planned for. Starship (or a Starship class vehicle) will get there eventually, almost certainly IMO, but the point here is it is uncertain if it'll get there in time to meet the obligations (part of which is timing) Starlink has made.

stephenr 3y ago

You do understand that "Starship" is the literal name of a prototype space craft that is currently in development, but has not yet made a successful launch to orbit, rather than just a generic term, which may include the earlier, well-proven Falcon 9, right? SpaceX themselves have said that the future of their satellite internet business essentially depends on being able to put up a bigger model to replace the current ones, so much bigger that they can't feasibly use their existing, well-proven rockets to launch them.

moralestapia 3y ago
Sure, but if you were to bet on a company to achieve that goal and it comes down to SpaceX vs. <literally who>?, it's not far fetched to go with the first.
- stephenr 3y ago
  "Well it looks like no one else is going to achieve what you said you could do, and you got kinda close so fuck it, keep the money" doesn't really sound like how you should expect a government subsidy to be managed. For the record: I'm not commenting on whether the government was right or wrong to cancel the subsidy for SpaceX. I'm simply explaining why SpaceX's inability (so far) to get Starship to orbit is referenced, and more specifically, why the launch reliability of Falcon 9 is specifically not relevant in a sentence that says "Starship".

zamadatix 3y ago

I'm not necessarily happy with the outcome here but the FCC never compared their current generation vehicle launch record to anyone else's. They're saying SpaceX planned to launch 12,000-42,000 satellites within a certain timeline using new vehicles to keep up with demand but are currently at ~5,500 with Starship's start not going as smoothly as SpaceX planned for. Starship (or a Starship class vehicle) will get there eventually, almost certainly IMO, but the point here is it is uncertain if it'll get there in time to meet the obligations (part of which is timing) Starlink has made.