> There's Stoke, Relativity, Rocketlab, Firefly, Ursa Major and a whole bunch more companies (many of which I forgot to mention, sorry) that are trying to come after SpaceX
These are all smallsat launchers. I have worked with a few of their teams and have mad respect for their work. But between launch cadence, fundraising and mission profile, they’re not comparable to SpaceX.
> Similar to how Tesla showed that EVs could be nice and kickstarted the legacy automakers
SpaceX has a global commanding position and domestic political advantage Tesla has never enjoyed. It’s fair to say it has a monopoly in commercial launch outside niche operations, e.g. dedicated smallsat.
> they’re not comparable to SpaceX.
Not yet indeed. If SpaceX were to fail for whatever reason, eg. Musk falling out of grace with his orange buddy or whatever else, there is sort of backup now I guess.
> domestic political advantage Tesla has never enjoyed
Agreed, but I think SpaceX showed that reuse could be done before Musk got any political influence (and went off the rails...).
These are all smallsat launchers. I have worked with a few of their teams and have mad respect for their work. But between launch cadence, fundraising and mission profile, they’re not comparable to SpaceX.
> Similar to how Tesla showed that EVs could be nice and kickstarted the legacy automakers
SpaceX has a global commanding position and domestic political advantage Tesla has never enjoyed. It’s fair to say it has a monopoly in commercial launch outside niche operations, e.g. dedicated smallsat.