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Old 14th Oct 2022, 16:21
  #10536 (permalink)  
petit plateau
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Europe
Posts: 204
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Originally Posted by fdr
There has been some interesting analysis done on the economics of Starlink... and the means by which it ever becomes economic seems to be elusive. Unicorn type elusive. Love what has been done with Falcon, the entry burn and landing burns are stunning concepts and implementation, but startling other than interfering with NEO tracking. It has made a difference in Ukraine "tho"...
The Starlink network is currently owned by SpaceX. I've previously looked at the economics of both SpaceX and of Starlink. My memory of Starlink is that about now it should be going cash-flow positive though I haven't followed the data recently to check whether that memory would still hold true with the current launch rate, fee rates, etc. The economics are really really good by the way. The reason I haven't followed the data is that the only route to buying a shareholding in Starlink is by buying a shareholding in SpaceX itself. And since SpaceX is pre-IPO that means one needs to go into the private market. Plus there are restrictions on who can hold SpaceX shares, for example US citizen (or ?? green card holder) only as well as $-million minimum purchase amount. Nevertheless SpaceX economics are also very attractive and so I have actually looked into buying via various US funds that have a over-exposure to SpaceX, but again in practice this is pretty difficult for reasons I won't bore you with. Bottom line though is that don't believe all you read about SpaceX economics being iffy, quite the reverse*. I am sure everyone here does not need to be reminded of the enormous military importance of assured space access.

Credit where credit is due - Musk and SpaceX and US gov (who call the shots) have done a cracking job of giving Ukraine a viable vital communications system in a hurry and for the last 9-months. A real shame that Musk has made some media mis-steps that have turned that positive altruism into ashes in his mouth.

Something else that is relevant is that this is giving Starlink (and US DoD et al) a really good workout at what it takes to harden a military grade Starlink. That's not something you get a chance to do in vivo at scale every day of the week.

* if you want to dig into this some more, try this link
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/thre...-thread.15082/
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