[benjiro]

> (They’re currently “around 260 and 310 kilograms” [2].)

v1.5 is like 300kg, the v2.0 mini (ironic as its far from mini compared to its predecessors) are 800kg.

The V3's are the one's that need StarShip to deploy. But the current launch platform can take 21x v2.0 Mini's per launch vs the 60x v1.5's they did before.

Taking in account that the v2.0 Mini's are way more capably on a kg/capacity. And the tech keeps getting better. SpaceX does not really need Starship, that is more or less a bonus at this point.

[perihelions]

> "SpaceX does not really need Starship, that is more or less a bonus at this point."

Starship is the moat SpaceX needs to be developing today to stay ahead of where the Chinese competition will be in 5-10 years.

[skatingaway]

Moats are for direct competition. China is not a competitor to spacex because the US government is spacex’s largest subsidy/customer. Put another way: nasa won’t be using Chinese rockets. Unless they bribe trump. Which could happen.

[marcus_holmes]

NASA ended up using Russian rockets because the Space Shuttle program got politically awkward. There is definitely a world where they'd use Chinese rockets.

[JumpCrisscross]

> China is not a competitor to spacex because the US government is spacex’s largest subsidy/customer

SpaceX has loads of international launch and connectivity customers. China undercutting SpaceX would significantly compromise its prospects.