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Most of which was for Starlink. Not saying it's not an achievement - it is. But if you exclude their own payload, the picture is somewhat different.
by TheAlchemist 11mo ago
Most of which was for Starlink. Not saying it's not an achievement - it is. But if you exclude their own payload, the picture is somewhat different.
- panick21_ 11mo agoEven if you exclude Starlink SpaceX is overwhelmingly dominant. The stuff they don't launch is mostly China and Russia and Europe they can't compete for.
- dotnet00 11mo agoBlue has similar commercial demand from Amazon (it's easy to forget given Bezos' ownership, but they're actually separate companies).
- TheAlchemist 11mo agoOh, wasn't aware that Amazon is launching something to space - what are they launching ?
- dotnet00 11mo agoTheir own internet megaconstellation, called Project Kuiper until earlier today when they renamed it to Project Leo. It's actually the current biggest commercial launch customer, Starlink is internal to SpaceX, but Kuiper/Leo has bought many launches with ULA, SpaceX and Arianespace (and Blue Origin, of course).
- gnabgib 11mo agoKuiper (now Leo): 2020 Amazon’s Project Kuiper is more than the company’s response to SpaceX (95 points, 126 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24209940 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24209940 2021 Amazon's Kuiper responds to SpaceX on FCC request (72 points, 86 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26056670 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26056670 2023 Amazon launches Project Kuiper satellite internet prototypes (75 poins, 73 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37813711 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37813711 2025 Amazon launches first Kuiper internet satellites in bid to take on Starlink (58 points, 69 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43827083 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43827083
- stinkbeetle 11mo agoYou're telling us that if things were different, then things would be different? Bold claim.
- enraged_camel 11mo ago>> Most of which was for Starlink. I don't think that changes anything because... there's demand for Starlink. Both commercial and non-commercial.
- ls612 11mo agoStarlink prints money, SpaceX is absolutely launch mass constrained right now. They literally spent $17 billion on spectrum to make Starlink better and more efficient because of how constrained they are on the launch side until Starship is fully operational and reusable, which may not be until 2027 even for Starlink launches.