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by dmvdoug 235 days ago
> * I'm not seeing what makes SpaceX government funded beyond just that it provides services to the government*

Take away all of SpaceX‘s government contracts. You imagine SpaceX would still be in business?

As you said, every launch provider is basically dependent on government contracts to stay in business because the government is the only entity that has a legitimate need for launch capability such that it’s willing to pay for its development. There are no sufficiently profitable private contracts out there to sustain a launch provider.

2 comments

Do you have any evidence for any of your claims beyond not liking the idiot that owns the company?
It’s true of all private launch providers, not just SpaceX.
Do you disagree that cultivating the launch provider industry in this way has strategic value?
Nope, but that wasn’t what I was responding to, either.