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Prior to this year, the most successful launches SpaceX had performed in any given year was eight. But in 2017 the company has been able to put together a more efficient production flow, a maturing Falcon 9 rocket, and an experienced workforce to put its launch capabilities into overdrive. On Monday, SpaceX will go for its 16th launch of the year, doubling its previous record.
This year has seen a number of firsts for the company—first reflight of a Falcon 9 booster, first reuse of a Dragon cargo spacecraft, first national security payload, and a remarkable dozen landings. But probably the biggest achievement has been finally delivering on the promise of a high flight rate.
"They have had a busy and perfect year in 2017, with launches, recovers, and reuses all executed well," said Greg Autry, an assistant professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California. Moreover, the successes this year should set the stage for even greater achievements in years to come.
Autry said insurers no longer are charging a premium on SpaceX's reuse launches, which the company has performed three of in 2017. This suggests reuse is becoming more normal and accepted within the industry. "This should make the job of the SpaceX sales folks even easier," Autry said. "Barring any delays due to launch failures, I think we will see them grab an even bigger slice of the market and could actually approach a monopoly position in commercial launch."
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Virindi on Wednesday November 01 2017, @01:27AM (5 children)
Maybe for awhile. But now that they have demonstrated that reuse can be done with an otherwise mostly conventional first stage, others are going to try to do it too. The more successful SpaceX is with this strategy, the more that people will be willing to invest in potential competitors who are trying to do the same thing. Investors have just shied away in the past because space is too expensive to waste money on unproven concepts.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday November 01 2017, @01:51AM
https://www.theverge.com/2016/1/22/10815800/blue-origin-rocket-launch- [theverge.com]
http://www.businessinsider.com/blue-origin-launches-and-lands-the-same-reusable-rocket-for-the-4th-time-2016-6 [businessinsider.com]
https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/24/15685196/darpa-xs-1-program-reusable-spaceplane-boeing-phantom-express [theverge.com]
scumfucks: http://www.floridatoday.com/story/tech/science/space/2017/04/05/ula-jurys-out-rocket-reusability/100046572/ [floridatoday.com]
https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=17/10/18/129239 [soylentnews.org]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 01 2017, @10:05AM (2 children)
Investors shied away? Isn't SpaceX wholly owned company (no shares on stock exchange)?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday November 01 2017, @02:38PM
(Score: 2) by e_armadillo on Wednesday November 01 2017, @05:19PM
I think you mean "privately held", since shares are not traded in the open market
"How are we gonna get out of here?" ... "We'll dig our way out!" ... "No, no, dig UP stupid!"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 01 2017, @11:54AM
I also doubt that they will soon reach a monopoly status on commercial launches.
Colleagues of mine who dealt with SpaceX told me their commercial customers are second class, having their launches delayed with moving expected dates, while government customers (where the bulk of the money comes from) get first choice.