No. of Recommendations: 3
Since someone will come along and say “bbbut Dope is… <insert inane thing here>, let’s leave these here:
https://newsletter.spacedotbiz.com/p/launch-landsc...…as one primer.
If you libs could reason without letting your 3rd grade emotional impulses rule you, you’d understand these numbers:
https://spaceinsider.tech/2024/07/31/ula-vs-spacex... SpaceX is the biggest launch company in the world. Until the recent failure, its Falcon rockets launched roughly every 2.8 days and kept a running streak of over 300 successful missions. In 2023’s fourth quarter, the rockets lifted 382,080 kilograms in spacecraft to orbit: about 318 times what ULA sent up (SpaceX’s closest competitor was China’s state-owned contractor at 40,810 kg). SpaceX is the go-to contractor for NASA missions, launching astronauts, cargo vessels, and space probes; it’s also popular with the US Space Force and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). But while it dominates the commercial satellite launch scene too, about two-thirds of the company’s launches carry its own Starlink internet satellites, building up a thousands-strong constellation in Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The service is designed to be SpaceX’s money-printing machine as it ramps up plans to colonize Mars.SpaceX OWNS the reusable launch market. There’s nothing like it out there.
A thinking person might ask, “If they can refly the same rocket over and over again, doesn’t that make each launch cheaper?” Yes it does.
The technical challenge of landing a first stage is amazing. Landing a second stage is exponentially more difficult, which is what Starship is intended for.
