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Re:NASA: We're sending humans to Mars by crdoconnor on Wednesday December 03, 2014 @02:14AM (#8692305)
Amazon could start turning a huge profit tomorrow if it wanted. The only reason it doesn't is because of titanic capital expenditures funded by operating profits.

How exactly is a mission to Mars comparable to this?

Re:NASA: We're sending humans to Mars by jp555 on Wednesday December 03, 2014 @01:04PM (#8695293)
Amazon reinvests all operating income from today to build the Amazon of the future.

SpaceX reinvests all operating income from today's offerings (launch vehicles) to build the SpaceX of the future.

Both companies appear to be bootstrapping towards a gargantuan vision that is likely decades away.

Re:NASA: We're sending humans to Mars by crdoconnor on Wednesday December 03, 2014 @02:01PM (#8695661)
SpaceX basically has just one customer which it is entirely reliant upon. The government.

Amazon has millions.

Re:NASA: We're sending humans to Mars by seanflyon on Wednesday December 03, 2014 @05:13PM (#8696653)
> SpaceX basically has just one customer which it is entirely reliant upon.

As far as I can tell NASA accounts for less than half of SpaceX's business. According to their website they have nearly $5 billion in contracts and I can only find reference to just over $2 billion in NASA contracts.

Re:NASA: We're sending humans to Mars by dragonwriter on Wednesday December 03, 2014 @05:20PM (#8696695)
> As far as I can tell NASA accounts for less than half of SpaceX's business.

NASA ⊂ "The Government"

SpaceX also has Defense (USAF) contracts. At least around $900 million already awarded (and that may not be all), and they recently sued to be allowed to compete for much more under the EELV program.

Re:NASA: We're sending humans to Mars by seanflyon on Wednesday December 03, 2014 @09:14PM (#8697543)
Good point, I hadn't realized the USAF contract was awarded to them yet. That puts government funding at significantly more than half of SpaceX's existing contracts. I still wouldn't say they basically have only one customer, but it's closer than I thought.
Re:NASA: We're sending humans to Mars by jp555 on Thursday December 04, 2014 @08:40AM (#8699134)
With the "technological moat" SpaceX is building, does it matter how few customers they have today if no one can compete with them?

Didn't a SpaceX competitor install second-hand 1960s Russian rocket engines in a launch vehicle that failed recently? Its not a fault on the engines - I'm sure they were excellent - but rather an anecdote on the gargantuan barrier to competition inventing new space technology offers SpaceX.