The Briefing Room
General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Space => Topic started by: Elderberry on April 20, 2023, 07:10:01 pm
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Markets Insider by Filip De Mott Apr 20, 2023
SpaceX and Rocket Lab are the only consistent and reliable launch companies as other space stocks have trouble raising capital, Bank of America says
• A few years ago, several space-launch companies were coming on the scene, Bank of America said.
• But today, just two companies have proven to have consistent and reliable operations, analysts wrote.
• Meanwhile, most other companies have had trouble raising capital in the risk-averse environment.
Although the SpaceX Starship exploded Thursday during its first attempt to reach orbit, Elon Musk's space company remains a top provider of launch services in what once looked to be a more crowded field.
Just a few years ago, several launch companies were coming to market, raising expectations they would lower costs and make space more accessible, according to a Bank of America note.
"Fast forward to 2023, and there are truly only two launch companies that have proven consistent and reliable operations, only one of which is publicly traded Rocket Lab," analysts wrote. "When presented this reality, most satellite companies expressed their reluctance to being over reliant on certain launch companies, namely SpaceX."
More: https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/spacex-starship-elon-musk-rocket-lab-space-stocks-virgin-orbit-2023-4 (https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/spacex-starship-elon-musk-rocket-lab-space-stocks-virgin-orbit-2023-4)
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When you consider the magnitude of the starship launch, in overall vehicle and payload size, in trying to land a larger booster than ever before for re-use, and that this was the first attempt, I have little doubt that success will come. The only way to find out if it will work, ultimately, is to try, and through failure, learn how not to fail. Address those problems (ideally without creating new ones) and try again. It is how we learn.
If you are the first, others will learn from your experience, but you have no others' failures to learn from, so you have to make them yourself--and in complex systems, you will.
Kudos to the Starship team for for a successful launch, even if the flight had problems.