SpaceX still has about 10 launches officially scheduled in 2019, but I'd be surprised if they launch half of it. And in total, for SpaceX, this represents less launches than in 2018, not to mention some of these are test launches and others serve their own Satellite venture.
Does this mean that the market is contracting? Is there less money in space launches?
I personnally find this fact more disturbing; SpaceX is a very successful venture, but the US is second in terms of launches anyway (of which SpaceX represents only about 50%) behind China, and I feel like 2019 will be a small year. Their last launch was 84 days ago (!! https://spacexnow.com/stats.php#Turn_Arounds ), and the back order sheet is not gigantic either.
> Does this mean that the market is contracting? Is there less money in space launches?
The reason SpaceX launched so many last year was that they built a very large backlog of launches, and last year their "steamroller" finally came online and because of reuse they could launch at much higher rate. Early this year, the backlog ran out.
SpaceX still has about 10 launches officially scheduled in 2019, but I'd be surprised if they launch half of it. And in total, for SpaceX, this represents less launches than in 2018, not to mention some of these are test launches and others serve their own Satellite venture.
Does this mean that the market is contracting? Is there less money in space launches?
I personnally find this fact more disturbing; SpaceX is a very successful venture, but the US is second in terms of launches anyway (of which SpaceX represents only about 50%) behind China, and I feel like 2019 will be a small year. Their last launch was 84 days ago (!! https://spacexnow.com/stats.php#Turn_Arounds ), and the back order sheet is not gigantic either.