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noneeeed | on: SpaceX Astronauts Begin Spacewalk, Putting New Spacesuits to Test
The interesting thing for me is how this mission underscore the difference between SpaceX and other space companies. SpaceX have become an entire commercial space agency, able to supply everything from the rockets and capsules, to the ground operations and even the space suites and to do that in a complete package.

If you have enough money you can ring them up and say "I want to go into space" and they can make that happen. That is a pretty big deal.

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paulryanrogers | parent | next
Except for the whole launch facilities thing they lease from the government.
rogerrogerr | root | parent | next
It’s clear they’d be fine without that; they could probably have Texas ready for manned launches fairly quick.

More likely they lease launch facilities from the government to minimize regulatory interference from… the government.

caconym_ | root | parent | next
Given the incredibly hostile regulatory environment they've faced in Texas trying to operate their own private launch site, I think there are very clear benefits in using an established public facility that isn't under threat by constant attempts (often in outright bad faith) to curtail its activity or even get it shut down. It's not a question of money or capability.
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jdross | root | parent | next
which they have also massively refurbished and could have handled themselves if not for regulations around creating a launch site.

there aren’t many technical issues to pouring concrete in a good lat-lon

michaelt | root | parent
> there aren’t many technical issues to pouring concrete in a good lat-lon

Other than when a powerful and explosion-prone rocket destroyed its launchpad, hurling chunks of steel-reinforced concrete thousands of feet. But it's almost 18 months since that happened.

gertrunde | root | parent | next
That incident probably underscores the parent poster's point quite effectively.

That launch was on 20th April 2023, and the next prototype test launch was only 212 days later on 18th November 2023, although I think the pad redesign/rebuild/repair work was complete by the end of July 2023.

So only 3-4 months to redesign/rebuild/repair the pad (although it's probably reasonable to assume some design work had already occurred).

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iknowstuff | root | parent | next
Whats your point
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taneq | root | parent
Haha well that’s gonna happen from time to time when you try new things.
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HideousKojima | root | parent | next
Soon to change with Starship launching from Boca Chica. And planned to be able to launch from essentially anywhere, eventually (in Musk Time so give it a decade).
elif | root | parent
I have seen no plans for a 4th launch/catch tower.. has he even hinted at more sites? Or are you referring to the historical BFR design when musk planned on landing them on the ground like falcon?
panick21_ | root | parent
The government took all the good land for this in the 60s. So the government mostly just has the land in the right places, that's a really important part. Building most of the ground infrastructure, is still custom to every rocket company.
croes | parent
So space will become more expensive.
cwillu | root | parent | next
Go look up the cost of a soyuz launch, let alone a shuttle launch, and then tell us more about how this is making space more expensive.
croes | root | parent
That's why I wrote will become.

SpaceX doesn't have real competition after Boeing failed.

What happens in such a monopoly?

The prices rise.

ben_w | root | parent | next
Not necessarily.

First, the competition is international, and some is from governments who need a non-US supplier.

Second, the goal in most corporations isn't maximum profit per item but maximum profit per year, and if they can indeed deliver the prices Musk is speculating about of getting a million people to pay 100-200 thousand USD each to go to Mars, that allows the overall market to be much larger than if he can only charge 150 million (or even 1.5 billion) for 4-seat rides to a low orbit space station every six months.

tootie | root | parent | next
Boeing hasn't completely failed. Their ship actually worked just not with enough confidence to put people in it. That doesn't mean they're out of the game. There's still Blue Origin and also a bunch of smaller competitors working on different segments besides human transport. Astroforge seems ready to start mining asteroids and got up and running with shockingly little money due in no small part to the growing supply chain of components for commercial space travel.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2023/10/18/this-aster...

mhandley | root | parent | next
Rocket Lab is growing into being a real competitor. They've been very innovative and successful in the small satellite market and, given what we've seen so far, I have confidence they will also succeed with Neutron which is their upcoming fully reusable medium-lift launcher aimed at supporting launch rates needed for megaconstellations. https://www.rocketlabusa.com/launch/neutron/
croes | root | parent
That's the same kind of will be as mine.

One of us will be correct.

indoordin0saur | root | parent | next
With the Starship the price to get a 100 ton object to orbit or one that is greater than 5 meters in diameter will suddenly become possible. Something previously cost infinity dollars will then be whatever price SpaceX charges. This is a decrease.
croes | root | parent
Things you don't do, no matter why, cost $0.

My Rolls Royce which I can't afford is a lot cheaper than the car I can afford which got more expensive than my previous one.

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adolph | root | parent | next
SpaceX is ahead for now and may continue to be ahead but does have very real competition domestically and abroad.

  Tesla : Rivian/Lucid :: SpaceX : Blue Origin/ULA
  Tesla : BYD :: SpaceX : LandSpace [0]/Galactic Energy [1]
0. https://x.com/AJ_FI/status/1833761435362447760

1. https://www.space.com/galactic-energy-ceres-1-sea-launch-vid...

adventured | root | parent | next
Despite their slow pace, it's quite clear Bezos and Blue Origin + ULA will continue to plod forward. They're real competition with plenty of money behind them.
jandrese | root | parent | next
Tesla is another company that had a near monopoly in their market space for a couple of years, but that didn't stop competition from showing up. It is notable how their margins have dropped as competition heated up however.
croes | root | parent
Competitors from China.

I doubt that will happen for US satellites

dmix | root | parent | next
There's plenty of competition, especially from China.
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