Max Q - So many SpaceX rockets launching so many SpaceX satellites

Monday, March 15, 2021 • By Darrell Etherington

Space news this past week was dominated by the usual suspect – SpaceX. The company is making rocket launches as frequent as ferry service to some bedroom communities during off-season, and it’s all about getting its megaconstellation fully operational. That sounds like a supervillain line, but in this case people (mostly) benefit.

SpaceX's No. 1 customer: SpaceX

SpaceX launched 120 satellites since the last time I wrote this newsletter – and 180 if you extend the timeline out just a couple days further. That’s across three Falcon 9 missions in the span of just 10 days – and there’s another tentatively set to happen within the next week. All of those satellites belong to a single SpaceX customer: SpaceX itself, or more specifically, its Starlink broadband internet service.

There’s a reason for the rapid pace of launches; Starlink represents a chance for SpaceX to open up a significant new ongoing revenue source that doesn’t require it to launch rockets in order to get paid. Once the constellation is fully in place, SpaceX will occasionally have to replace aging members of the fleet, but by then, presumably Starship will be in active service, and that’ll amount to throwing in a couple extra spacecraft because you’ve got the room to spare anyway when serving paying launch customers.

The math should work out great for SpaceX once Starlink can sign up customers everywhere, and charge them recurring subscription fees, and once Starship is up and running. But in the meantime, creating both those things is immensely expensive, which explains why SpaceX is pressing hard to get both done.

Image Credits: Internet

Blue Origin really wants to be NASA's deep space pal

Blue Origin announced that it will be adding the ability to simulate lunar gravity to its New Shepard reusable cargo and experimentation capsule. This will provide scientists with a way to perform experiments in a highly accurate low-gravity environment that mirrors conditions on the Moon for up to a few minutes continuously, which is much longer than is possible using current methods.

This is just the latest signal from Blue Origin that it wants to create a deep and broad partnership with the agency on all things pertaining to human exploration of the Moon, and beyond into deeper space, including destinations like Mars. Blue Origin’s goals have always been about founder Jeff Bezos’ dreams of making humanity a space-dwelling species.

Blue Origin really wants to be NASA's deep space pal image

Image Credits: Blue Origin

Relativity Space adds DoD to its client list

Relativity Space has accomplished a lot in just a few short years, including creating its current factory – the biggest large-scale 3D printing facility in the world. But most impressive among its accomplishments might be just how many rockets it’s been able to sell before flying a single one. CEO and founder Tim Ellis tells me he’s confident they’re easily the most pre-sold rocket in history – by a large margin. That shows a lot of confidence in what it’s doing, but it also means there’s a lot riding on its planned first launch later this year.

Its newest customer is the U.S. Department of Defense, which is a huge get for a rocket company that wants a reliable, continuous source of revenue, since national security payloads are just about the closest thing to 100% guaranteed ongoing demand you can get in the space biz.

Relativity Space adds DoD to its client list image

Image Credits: Relativity Space

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