Space company SpaceX: With risks and visions into space

Status: 05/27/2022 4:13 p.m

Elon Musk is not only celebrating success with his electric car company Tesla. His aerospace company SpaceX also rakes in billions in orders and has become a heavyweight in the industry. Why is that?

By Marcus Schuler, ARD Studio Los Angeles

The success story of Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX for short, began almost exactly ten years ago. At that time, a SpaceX rocket took off from Cape Canaveral in the US state of Florida and transported cargo to the International Space Station ISS. For the first time, a private space company took on such a supply flight on behalf of NASA. SpaceX founder Elon Musk was modest shortly after launch in May 2012. His body released all the adrenaline, it was a very intense moment.

Close to bankruptcy several times

The first ten years were difficult for SpaceX, which is based in the Hawthorne area of ​​Los Angeles. The company, which was founded in 2002, repeatedly avoided bankruptcy, Musk said in an interview with Springer-Verlag a few weeks ago. “I assumed there was less than a 10 percent chance of success with both Tesla and SpaceX. In 2008, we had SpaceX’s third failure. And if the fourth launch of our rocket had failed, we would have been bankrupt. Because for a fifth launch, it was no money there,” Musk said.

After the 2003 space shuttle explosion, the United States halted human spaceflight and relied on Russia to transport people to the International Space Station. NASA paid Russia $86 million for a seat on the Soyuz rocket. The Californian company also ended this era and sent two NASA astronauts into space for the first time two years ago.

Rise to heavyweight

Born in South Africa, he achieved something that industrial heavyweights such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin envy him for. Both companies together form the United Launch Alliance, which was founded in 2006 with the aim of splitting up lucrative NASA and military contracts between them. Musk’s rocket company thwarted that. The NASA orders that SpaceX has received since then are worth a good 4.2 billion dollars.

It’s difficult to say how the company is doing financially because it’s private and not publicly traded. However, experts suspect that it should now be in the black. SpaceX has long been a heavyweight in the space industry. Competitors like Blue Origin by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos are just chasing after them.

Commitment to Ukraine

Before the outbreak of war in Ukraine, there was even praise from the head of the Russian space agency. Dmitri Rogozin said in September: “Elon Musk is realizing many of the ideas and thoughts that we had in mind but were not able to implement because our space program was stalled for some time after the collapse of the Soviet Union. We salute him – he has reorganized the space industry, and he’s not afraid of risks.”

Rogozin’s admiration has now evaporated. Musk has donated receivers for his satellite internet to Ukraine. This allows the local military to communicate where there is no infrastructure left because it was bombed by Russia.

Transport costs greatly reduced

On paper, Musk is the head of SpaceX. In reality, day-to-day operations are managed by Gwynne Shotwell, a mechanical engineer. Musk acts more as a manager here, announcing grandiose plans – like a manned flight to Mars. According to experts, many of his ideas are rather distant dreams of the future, but they always make headlines.

SpaceX’s great achievement is that it has radically minimized the cost of transporting supplies into space, from once $54,000 per kilogram of cargo to now $2,700 on a Falcon 9 rocket. In addition, parts of the rocket can be reused.

Second leg Starlink satellites

Transportation of people and cargo is a mainstay of SpaceX. The other is building a global satellite network. This should provide our planet with high-speed internet in a low-earth orbit. Musk senses a billion-dollar business here. However, 42,000 Starlink satellites have to be launched into space. The scientific world is concerned because satellites are blocking their view of space exploration.

Elon Musk and his space company SpaceX

Mark Schuler. ARD Los Angeles, 27.5.2022 8:53 a.m

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