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Which company will give up their rocket plans first? Place your bets now. (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 4 days ago by to c/spaceflightmemes@sh.itjust.works
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Credit: u/Waker_of_Winds2003

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[–] 2 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I don't see the difference between these two and starship doing laps around the moon next year. It's all bullshit.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 days ago (1 child)

    You and I see the same things.

    Makes me wonder what we're missing. SpaceX seems to have beat everyone "to the punch", yet all these other companies keep going (and I wish them well, monopolies are problematic).

    Is there that much more opportunity that we don't see?

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  • [–] 2 points 3 days ago

    These two have a different business case than launch startups. Cowboy and AST are both focused on their satellites (data centers and direct to cell comms, respectively) and a way to launch them.

    SpaceX is pulling back from the commercial market, and a big part of Starlink success is the low internal Falcon 9 pricing vs what Amazon and Oneweb pay commercially. Vertically integrating launch can be a huge leg up IF (giant if) they actually pull it off.

    Blue Origin has announced their own comms and data center constellations. I wouldn't be surprised if Relativity did the same.

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    • [–] 2 points 3 days ago

    Cowboy is trying to make their entire upper stage a data center, so they're more reliant on having their own rocket.

    AST... I don't really get why they wouldn't just work with Firefly to make a custom fairing or something. The launch crunch is still real now, and it'll take years to replace the Falcon cadence, but I don't see any way for them to be faster.

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