Re:First SpaceX Starlink satellites loaded into Falcon fairing
by hef19898 on Sunday May 12, 2019 @11:32AM
(#19892496)
Hey, you don't have pitch this thing to me, ok? I. don't have the cash make the smallest imaginable difference in any space-born venture! :-)
I tried to explain my line of thought. You disagree, fine. It is just that when I developed an interest in the financial aspects of the launch business around end of 2018 and early 2019, I wasn't the only one with doubts in that regard. I'm no expert on either aspect, so if there facts out there that proof me wrong just share them. We are all hear to learn, right? Just do me a favour and don't cite reddit, ok?
Re:First SpaceX Starlink satellites loaded into Falcon fairing
by SECProto on Sunday May 12, 2019 @05:31PM
(#19894706)
> It is just that when I developed an interest in the financial aspects of the launch business around end of 2018 and early 2019, I wasn't the only one with doubts in that regard. I'm no expert on either aspect, so if there facts out there that proof me wrong just share them.
Here's what the parent comment was getting at:
> SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said Tuesday that the privately held Hawthorne space company is valued at almost $28 billion based on recent funding rounds, and that it is profitable.[1]
[1] https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-spacex-shotwell-20180...
SpaceX is profitable.
> But considering the state of things in less developed countries, I assume space born Wifi is not the top priority. But hey, if investors are buying into I won't complain.
Reliable and fast access to information improves quality of life, even in places with other problems. Much of the USA is like a developing nation itself, with population-scale problems of getting access to clean water and having basic food security. But still, reliable network access can also improve both of those things too - the internet is backbone infrastructure just like the water pipes, and is needed for a developing country - or a developed one - to grow economically.
> I assume space born Wifi is not the top priority.
Countries, organizations, investors, businesses can all work on more than one thing at once. Something need not be 'top priority' for it to be worthy of investment and continuing to do at break-neck pace.
> my cash and profitability remark concerned their operative launch business excl. NASA dev contracts and the like
Do you mean that you are excluding a primary revenue source from their finances in your calculations? I just don't get it.