If you get on a SpaceX ride share, you don't get to choose your own orbit. You'll have to make-do with an orbit that may (or may not) be close to your desired one. Unless you want your satellite to have propulsion, which might eat up any cost advantage. With Rocket Lab, you'll get the orbit you want typically, since you'll probably be the only vehicle on board.

I suppose if SpaceX had an enormous manifest of small sats they could bin them into similar orbits, but that would really depend on just how successful they are.

Slight clarification: SpaceX offers ride shares to distinct orbits, and customers can select what ride works best for their payload. Obviously if you're interested in an equatorial orbit, you're not going to select a launch from Vandenberg...

What are the major differences between the different orbits from the perspective of the passengers?

Well it really depends on what you want to do with your satellite. Are you trying to view earth? If so, then inclination and altitude matter, as they will determine what parts of earth’s surface you can see at all. Do you want to take pictures? Then you probably want something sun synchronous so the lighting is reliable. Need to do communication at high latitudes? You’ll want something like a polar orbit. At lower altitudes your orbit will decay faster due to aerodynamic drag.

It’s totally like riding the bus: you wouldn’t typically get off at just any stop and call it good.

Here’s a good YouTube on different types of orbits. Not sure if it covers everything but certainly entertaining:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=PZAkiXNJIqc

Bus vs taxi. Bus fare is cheap, but it only goes according to its schedule and only to predetermined stops. Recently SpaceX have announced improved schedule for rideshares (up to monthly frequency) but a rideshare still can't choose the day or the exact orbit.

> How can rocket lab compete?

The biggest claimed advantage is that customers get to pick launch date and exact orbit.

How important that is to them (and to how much of them)?

Well, if you're going to a 53 degree orbit, you're in luck. But if you have a specific polar orbit, well... You'll need a special transfer vehicle package (SpaceX is partnering with Momentus), which will increase the mass you need to launch and has its own costs, making it more comparable to RocketLab.

RocketLab will let you go to whichever orbit you choose.

Also, RocketLab is pursuing reusability as well, so that may allow RocketLab to compete more directly on cost. Also, RocketLab can launch smaller payloads (in bundles with other customers) for less than the $1 million minimum SpaceX has.

Still, I think SpaceX has a sizable advantage for a lot of launches.

IF you have a payload that needs a non-standard orbit you absolutely need it to make your project work at all. Problem is that there are 50+ small launchers trying to make it and with the big volume going SpaceX its hard to see how the economics works out for that.

The market size is growing, but not as fast as some people hopped.

Difference between a rideshare and a bespoke delivery orbit I presume. If it ain't going where you want to go, you're going to have to wait/hope that another ride comes along.

SpaceX is bundling more payloads together, so they get better economies of scale (plus the reuse thing).

Given that rocketlab is now tinkering with reuse, they may be able to bring those costs down even more.

Given that space is tinkering with Starship and Superheavy, they will be able to bring their costs massively down. It will just take them a few more years most likely.

In reality, the cheaper access to space opens up so many more opportunities for new customers. When it is affordable for a college to send up some cubesats for research, they're going to do it.

Bloomberg recently did a great video about this explaining the unit economics in more detail - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2019-10-22/why-space-l...

Rocket Lab is currently working on booster recovery. If they're successful, you can expect that cost to come down significantly. I also wonder if they can do a Kerbal approach and stick 3 of their rockets together to get more payload at a lower cost/kg.