“The company is incredibly valuable, I think, right now because of Starlink,” she said. “Starlink will add a zero, probably, at least as we continue to grow the Starlink system.”
That growth comes in many different markets, from residential broadband services to maritime and aviation connectivity. SpaceX will begin offering direct-to-device services “within the next month or so,” she said, with an initial version for “very light data” and text messaging.
However, she argued that Starship will be even more valuable to SpaceX in the long run. “Ultimately, I think Starship will be the thing that takes us over the top as one of the most valuable companies. We can’t even envision what Starship is going to do to humanity and humans’ lives, and I think that will be the most valuable part of SpaceX.”
One example she offered was using Starship to launch a satellite. If that satellite was not working, she explained, the satellite could be brought back into Starship’s payload bay to either be repaired or returned to Earth.
She predicted that Starship will rapidly eclipse the company’s existing Falcon family of rockets, which has launched more than 400 times. “I would not be surprised if we fly 400 Starship launches in the next four years,” she said. That will be in parallel with Falcon 9, but she suggested that vehicle could be retired, along with the Dragon spacecraft used for crew and cargo missions, in as little as six to eight years as customers move to Starship.
I can’t wait for the employee churn to start bringing some of this knowledge to other companies. I love what SpaceX is doing, but we need to foster other options.
There are already a bunch of companies founded by ex-spacex people
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One example she offered was using Starship to launch a satellite. If that satellite was not working, she explained, the satellite could be brought back into Starship’s payload bay to either be repaired or returned to Earth.
So exactly like the Spaceshuttle? I doubt that will be economic in most cases even if Starship launches are significantly cheaper.
I think the more likely outcome will be much cheaper sattelites made with heavier standard components and with more fuel on board to deorbit or stabilize them if something goes wrong.
If they can get the starship reusability close to that of the falcon 9, nevermind what they are aiming for, it will work. The problem with the space shuttle was how hard it was to reuse it.
