3 ms·
No quite; even if 1st and 2nd stages deliver cargo to orbit cheaper than competition, you still has to make sure there is enough demand to pay back the cost of
by avmich 3y ago
No quite; even if 1st and 2nd stages deliver cargo to orbit cheaper than competition, you still has to make sure there is enough demand to pay back the cost of Starship creation. That demand may require not just being cheaper, but to being substantially cheaper than competition, to enable additional uses.
What SpaceX is doing with Starlink reminds of the situation with early versions of Windows, when, as Bill Gates described, the industry wasn't keen to produce applications for it. So Microsoft started writing Word and Excel in house. Similarly, SpaceX created Starlink which needs lots of launches, and which couldn't exist with previous level of launch prices, but is able to make profits if the prices are as low as SpaceX can provide.