4 ms·

> they've produced the cheapest way Were we struggling to do this before? Was the overall percentage reduction in costs? Was some other achievement held back

> they've produced the cheapest way Were we struggling to do this before? Was the overall percentage reduction in costs? Was some other achievement held back because we couldn't accomplish this? What is now enabled? > to get any payload into space. A limited set of payloads into space. No vehicle can get "any payload" to space at a fixed price. > The benefits are easy to miss, You've listed a bunch of reasons to publish papers. What is the actual ground level change that's occurred? Are those antibiotics produced? Do they actually work just as predicted? Why is that first world problems are exclusively listed but basic problems like world hunger are never even approached? > or wouldn't have within our lifetimes. And your life, your actual life, benefits, how?

JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
> Were we struggling to do this before? We literally couldn't. > Was the overall percentage reduction in costs? Starship will bill NASA 1/20th what SLS does. > What is now enabled? LEO. Artemis. Out of all of these companies, being confused about SpaceX is super weird.
- harimau777 4mo ago
  I think you missed the core of their question: What has actually gotten better in practical terms for the average American?
  - JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
    > What has actually gotten better in practical terms for the average American? Starlink has made connectivity cheaper and more available. Earth imaging has made various food production processes more efficient. Weather forecasts have become more accurate. If you’ve genuinely missed the massive economy that LEO has become, it will be a fun thing to catch up on.
    - autoexec 4mo ago
      > Starlink has made connectivity cheaper and more available. Yeah that's working out great for the average American isn't it (https://natlawreview.com/press-releases/2026-consumer-trust-survey-73-americans-say-their-internet-bill-increased https://natlawreview.com/press-releases/2026-consumer-trust-...) > Earth imaging has made various food production processes more efficient. I'm not even going to bother sourcing the fact that food prices have only massively gone up negating any gains in productivity. The average American struggling to buy basics like eggs and meat aren't feasting on more efficient food production. > Weather forecasts have become more accurate. I'm sure the growing homeless population is happy to know they can better predict the weather they'll be sleeping in. This is all totally worth supporting a nazi billionaire
      - JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
        > that's working out great for the average American isn't it Yeah. It did. My neighbour’s rates went up. He switched to Starlink. > not even going to bother sourcing the fact that food prices have only massively gone up negating This is like arguing fertilisers are useless because prices went up. > homeless population Not super relevant! > all totally worth supporting a nazi billionaire Nobody said that. But it doesn’t mean the benefits go away.
        dh2022 4mo ago
        weather forecasts is really good right now (in my experience forecast for rain/cloud cover/wind speed at hour granularity is amazingly good) and earth imaging for food production has been done for decades. I do not think SpaceX has improved nor will improve on these. SpaceX’s main customer is Starlink. With that in mind: if Starlink takes over all the ISPs in the world its market value should be comparable to Comcast - $89 Billion.
        JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
        > do not think SpaceX has improved nor will improve on these It has massively improved both. The cost, resolution and frequency of imaging has decreased alongside launch cost. > if Starlink takes over all the ISPs in the world its market value should be comparable to Comcast - $89 Billion Why? Comcast isn't "all the ISPs in the world." (And Comcast doesn't get defence contracts to build and maintain military networks.)
  - airstrike 4mo ago
    Stock prices indicate the present value of all future dividends, so it's not about what has happened but about the risk-adjusted expected value of all which is to come. What probability you assign to arrive at that expected value and how you adjust for risk is on you.
  - usef- 4mo ago
    Do we apply a bar this high for any other company/job/business? Saving gov/tax money aka "billing NASA 1/20th what SLS does" doesn't count as worth it to you? Reusing rockets reliably rather than "throwing them away" is a great achievement and I'm surprised people have to justify it on HN
    - mandeepj 4mo ago
      > Reusing rockets reliably rather than "throwing them away" is a great achievement and I'm surprised people have to justify it on HN You can milk a cow only a set number of times!
      - usef- 4mo ago
        Yes, because you're not designing the cow. Progress on rocketry (and reusability) is not completed, btw, there's a lot still to improve.
- alpha_squared 4mo ago
  Granted, I only skimmed some high-line numbers, but isn't their only profitable project Starlink? SpaceX is functionally a satellite internet company that happens to make rockets.
  - JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
    > isn't their only profitable project Starlink? SpaceX is functionally a satellite internet company that happens to make rockets Yes. The thing that’s going public is almost entirely an AI play.
  - HWR_14 4mo ago
    They seems to have decent revenue leasing compute to Anthropic.
- duttish 4mo ago
  If SpaceX was only Starlink or only Starlink and rockets it would be an horrible circumvention of the rules. But now he's also trying to get the indexes to pay for the giant cash fire called X.ai and the far right huddle Twitter too. I have zero interest in owning anything of either of those companies.
- tech_ken 4mo ago
  > Starship will bill NASA 1/20th what SLS does Is that before or after the program achieves profitability?

JumpCrisscross 4mo ago

> Were we struggling to do this before? We literally couldn't. > Was the overall percentage reduction in costs? Starship will bill NASA 1/20th what SLS does. > What is now enabled? LEO. Artemis. Out of all of these companies, being confused about SpaceX is super weird.

harimau777 4mo ago
I think you missed the core of their question: What has actually gotten better in practical terms for the average American?
- JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
  > What has actually gotten better in practical terms for the average American? Starlink has made connectivity cheaper and more available. Earth imaging has made various food production processes more efficient. Weather forecasts have become more accurate. If you’ve genuinely missed the massive economy that LEO has become, it will be a fun thing to catch up on.
  - autoexec 4mo ago
    > Starlink has made connectivity cheaper and more available. Yeah that's working out great for the average American isn't it (https://natlawreview.com/press-releases/2026-consumer-trust-survey-73-americans-say-their-internet-bill-increased https://natlawreview.com/press-releases/2026-consumer-trust-...) > Earth imaging has made various food production processes more efficient. I'm not even going to bother sourcing the fact that food prices have only massively gone up negating any gains in productivity. The average American struggling to buy basics like eggs and meat aren't feasting on more efficient food production. > Weather forecasts have become more accurate. I'm sure the growing homeless population is happy to know they can better predict the weather they'll be sleeping in. This is all totally worth supporting a nazi billionaire
    - JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
      > that's working out great for the average American isn't it Yeah. It did. My neighbour’s rates went up. He switched to Starlink. > not even going to bother sourcing the fact that food prices have only massively gone up negating This is like arguing fertilisers are useless because prices went up. > homeless population Not super relevant! > all totally worth supporting a nazi billionaire Nobody said that. But it doesn’t mean the benefits go away.
      - dh2022 4mo ago
        weather forecasts is really good right now (in my experience forecast for rain/cloud cover/wind speed at hour granularity is amazingly good) and earth imaging for food production has been done for decades. I do not think SpaceX has improved nor will improve on these. SpaceX’s main customer is Starlink. With that in mind: if Starlink takes over all the ISPs in the world its market value should be comparable to Comcast - $89 Billion.
        JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
        > do not think SpaceX has improved nor will improve on these It has massively improved both. The cost, resolution and frequency of imaging has decreased alongside launch cost. > if Starlink takes over all the ISPs in the world its market value should be comparable to Comcast - $89 Billion Why? Comcast isn't "all the ISPs in the world." (And Comcast doesn't get defence contracts to build and maintain military networks.)
- airstrike 4mo ago
  Stock prices indicate the present value of all future dividends, so it's not about what has happened but about the risk-adjusted expected value of all which is to come. What probability you assign to arrive at that expected value and how you adjust for risk is on you.
- usef- 4mo ago
  Do we apply a bar this high for any other company/job/business? Saving gov/tax money aka "billing NASA 1/20th what SLS does" doesn't count as worth it to you? Reusing rockets reliably rather than "throwing them away" is a great achievement and I'm surprised people have to justify it on HN
  - mandeepj 4mo ago
    > Reusing rockets reliably rather than "throwing them away" is a great achievement and I'm surprised people have to justify it on HN You can milk a cow only a set number of times!
    - usef- 4mo ago
      Yes, because you're not designing the cow. Progress on rocketry (and reusability) is not completed, btw, there's a lot still to improve.
alpha_squared 4mo ago
Granted, I only skimmed some high-line numbers, but isn't their only profitable project Starlink? SpaceX is functionally a satellite internet company that happens to make rockets.
- JumpCrisscross 4mo ago
  > isn't their only profitable project Starlink? SpaceX is functionally a satellite internet company that happens to make rockets Yes. The thing that’s going public is almost entirely an AI play.
- HWR_14 4mo ago
  They seems to have decent revenue leasing compute to Anthropic.
duttish 4mo ago
If SpaceX was only Starlink or only Starlink and rockets it would be an horrible circumvention of the rules. But now he's also trying to get the indexes to pay for the giant cash fire called X.ai and the far right huddle Twitter too. I have zero interest in owning anything of either of those companies.
tech_ken 4mo ago
> Starship will bill NASA 1/20th what SLS does Is that before or after the program achieves profitability?