Lift off
SpaceX, Musk’s rocket company that was somehow one of his more low-key ventures in the last year, is raising $750m in new funding, valuing the company at $137bn. That leaves SpaceX commencing 2023 with a higher valuation than American aerospace company Lockheed Martin ($124bn).
Founded in 2002, SpaceX had humble beginnings. After initially looking to reuse old Russian rockets, Musk and co. realized they might be able to make the rockets cheaper themselves. Since then the company has become a leader in (the) space, with NASA even inquiring recently about returning astronauts from the International Space Station using SpaceX rockets.
SpaceX can be credited with much of the recent reinvigoration of the space sector. Following the breakthrough decades of the 60s and 70s, the era of the Space Shuttle (1981-2011) actually saw little progress on cost-efficient launches, with take-off costs remaining stubbornly high. SpaceX has helped catalyze progress, with the company’s Falcon 9 able to launch a kilogram into low Earth orbit for just $1,400, a 10-20x decrease in cost in roughly as many years, thanks in part to reusable rockets.
Skyfi
Arguably the reason why the company is worth $100bn+ is Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet company that could provide global internet access from outer space. With its first launches in 2019, Starlink now has 3,300 mass-produced small satellites in orbit, which have emerged as a useful tool for Ukraine in their war against Russia. Some of the rosiest projections predict that Starlink may bring in up to $30bn in revenue by 2025, far exceeding that of the launch business expectation of $5bn in the same year.
