By Al Root
BARRONS
Dec 08, 2023
SpaceX pioneered reusable rockets. ln the process it lowered the cost to reach space, generated billions in value, and restored launch dominance to America.
Its success also enabled several space start-ups to raise money—and could be the biggest headwind those companies face down the road.
SpaceX will launch about half of the rockets reaching orbit in 2023 and will carry more than 80% of the mass reaching orbit this year, according to CEO Elon Musk.
“SpaceX’s launch business is near monopolistic right now,” wrote William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma in a Friday report.
SpaceX’s competitors include United Launch Alliance, or ULA, with Vulcan Centaur. ULA is a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
The others on DiPalma’s list are Blue Origin with New Glenn, Rocket Lab with Neutron, Relativity Space with Terran R, and ABL with RS1. Rocket Lab USA RKLB 2.13% is publicly traded.
Astra Space ASTR 1.56% also is publicly traded, but didn’t make DiPalma’s list. Neither did Arianespace, which is the space launch joint venture of Airbus
SpaceX’s launch franchise is so dominant Amazon.com is using it to send its Kuiper satellites into orbit. Those satellites will offer space-based Wi-Fi and will compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service.
BARRONS
Dec 08, 2023
SpaceX pioneered reusable rockets. ln the process it lowered the cost to reach space, generated billions in value, and restored launch dominance to America.
Its success also enabled several space start-ups to raise money—and could be the biggest headwind those companies face down the road.
SpaceX will launch about half of the rockets reaching orbit in 2023 and will carry more than 80% of the mass reaching orbit this year, according to CEO Elon Musk.
“SpaceX’s launch business is near monopolistic right now,” wrote William Blair analyst Louie DiPalma in a Friday report.
SpaceX’s competitors include United Launch Alliance, or ULA, with Vulcan Centaur. ULA is a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
The others on DiPalma’s list are Blue Origin with New Glenn, Rocket Lab with Neutron, Relativity Space with Terran R, and ABL with RS1. Rocket Lab USA RKLB 2.13% is publicly traded.
Astra Space ASTR 1.56% also is publicly traded, but didn’t make DiPalma’s list. Neither did Arianespace, which is the space launch joint venture of Airbus
SpaceX’s launch franchise is so dominant Amazon.com is using it to send its Kuiper satellites into orbit. Those satellites will offer space-based Wi-Fi and will compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service.
Selling capacity to Amazon shows SpaceX isn’t a true monopoly—it is just better at launching rockets than anyone else.
Competitors such as Rocket Lab, Blue Origin, and Astra should be able to generate launch business. SpaceX can’t carry everything. But if they can’t match SpaceX’s costs, then profits from carrying things to space will be elusive.
“Competition from SpaceX represents the bear thesis for nearly the entire space industry,” added DiPalma.
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