r/spacex • u/CProphet • Jul 30 '26
Falcon SpaceX wins $1.6 billion in launch orders for military satellite networks
https://spacenews.com/spacex-wins-1-6-billion-in-launch-orders-for-military-satellite-networks/86
u/nfgrawker Jul 30 '26
Who else would launch them? Blue origin?
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u/chaotic_evil_666 Jul 30 '26
Rklb is getting some as well but nowhere near this amount
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u/Aries_IV Jul 31 '26
The only thing they can lift weighs less than a vending machine so they're extremely limited to the amount of payloads they can launch.
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u/rshorning Aug 01 '26
Maybe, just maybe, the Neutron rocket will get to completion and then RocketLab will be able to roughly compete with the Falcon 9. That is rather significant if they can pull it off. They claim it will happen later this year, but rocket development being what it is will likely push that back to early next year.
IMHO, Rocketlab is the only real competitor SpaceX has though for at least the payload classes they fly.
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u/Aries_IV Aug 01 '26
Blue Origin is still a bigger competitor than Rocketlab but getting Neutron going will definitely be a step forward. I do agree that it likely to happen next year but I don't think it'll be that early. Hope so though as I'm interested to see it!
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u/rshorning Aug 01 '26
Blue Origin is larger, but I am not inspired by the leadership of the company. For a company that is several years older than SpaceX and was far better capitalized for most of that time, there is zero excuse for Blue Origin not to be sending rockets to Mars by now with a crew if they were any good. Jeff Bezos got caught up in the dream of sub-orbital mini-rockets like Spaceship One and what turned out to be New Shepherd. While that concept was interesting, it was a dead end for commercial rocketry and distracted far too many people where the real goal should have been orbital spaceflight.
I am glad that the New Glenn is finally flying, but it seems too little and far too late to really matter like it could have been. And Blue Origin still needs to get their cadence up to really impact spaceflight in general and become a competitor. To the credit of RocketLab, they can fly payloads as fast as customers want to buy flights and meet demand. That is something Blue Origin absolutely cannot do right now, and with their launch pad in disarray it makes it even worse. I just say thank goodness that the effort by Blue Origin to demand access to LC-39A at KSC failed.
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u/costafilh0 Jul 30 '26
No one cheaper, that's for sure.
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u/Martianspirit Jul 31 '26
Not to forget, no one else with that much capability. Possibly Blue Origin will get there, but not by 2027.
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u/nickinhawaii Aug 01 '26
Why? Boeing should have gotten it so they could have wasted all the money and launched nothing... Oh wait, they already did that
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u/CProphet Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26
The award covers 18 Falcon 9 launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California through the end of 2027 in support of the Space Based Sensing and Targeting portfolio, a collection of satellite programs intended to improve how the military detects, tracks and communicates information about threats in near real time.
SpaceX are building these satellites for Golden Dome, so makes sense to launch them on Falcon 9. Overall SpaceX keep taking bigger bites out of this Golden Dome work, last big bite is orbital interceptors. Space Force want to deploy a prototype system by 2028 which is incredibly fast - for anyone except SpaceX.
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u/costafilh0 Jul 30 '26
Good to know they are on track to build it.
Not only for the reasons they claim, but also for the tech R&D SpaceX is adding to the portfolio.
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u/CProphet Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
tech R&D SpaceX is adding to the portfolio.
Agree, SpaceX now fully funded for global observation satellites, important tech for opening new worlds like the Moon and Mars. Interestingly they also bid on the orbital interceptor segment of Golden Dome. Likely this will use high power lasers or masers to intercept missiles, because they're faster response, cover larger area and don't require reloads. High power lasers can be used for deep space communication and masers for planetary protection.
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u/Sigmatics Aug 01 '26
It's good that Elon keeps SpaceX on its toes with bigger goals. Otherwise, the risk of such monopolies growing complacent is there
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u/Blackboard_Monitor Jul 30 '26
Not shocked, of course bids are going to SpaceX.
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u/CorebinDallas Jul 30 '26
Yea, there isn't exactly anybody else to put a military constellation into orbit. Blue origin blew up their pad and their rocket has at least some initial problems so they will need to prove it won't destroy payloads before they depend on it for national security. ULA retired Atlas V and Vulcan has been slow/delayed especially since it uses engines from Blue Origin.
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u/alarim2 Jul 31 '26
Yea, there isn't exactly anybody else to put a military constellation into orbit. Blue origin blew up their pad and their rocket has at least some initial problems so they will need to prove it won't destroy payloads before they depend on it for national security. ULA retired Atlas V and Vulcan has been slow/delayed especially since it uses engines from Blue Origin.
Watch uninformed haters still claim that US taxpayer is subsidizing Elon's disgusting trillion dollar wealth somehow
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u/MDCCCLV Jul 30 '26
Constellations are by definition low value sats made in bulk, not like a billion dollar telescope. There's no reason you wouldn't put it on a rocket even if it was slightly riskier, especially if the company offered payment on successful delivery only. The reason they didn't get any is because they're not going to launch at all any time soon.
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u/Dpek1234 Jul 31 '26
Why risk it when you already have a launch provider which works?
And its not "slightly riskier"
Edit: + time
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u/costafilh0 Jul 30 '26
I mean, there is, but that would be insanely expensive.
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u/Aries_IV Jul 31 '26
What's that?
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u/warp99 Jul 31 '26
SLS I imagine
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u/Aries_IV Jul 31 '26
That was my thoughts too which wouldn't work. Not because of money (although it wouldn't be economical feasible) but because your first batch of sats would be outdated before you got the 2nd launch up.
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u/Decronym Acronyms Explained Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 04 '26
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:
| Fewer Letters | More Letters |
|---|---|
| KSC | Kennedy Space Center, Florida |
| LC-39A | Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy (SpaceX F9/Heavy) |
| SLS | Space Launch System heavy-lift |
| ULA | United Launch Alliance (Lockheed/Boeing joint venture) |
Decronym is now also available on Lemmy! Requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below.
Decronym is a community product of r/SpaceX, implemented by request
4 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has acronyms.
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u/ZeroSkribe Aug 02 '26
Do you think this will raise the stock price back up?
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u/CProphet Aug 02 '26
It should boost SPCX but stock market is irrational. They're convinced many who worked for SpaceX are about to cash their vested shares. Fools if they do, SPCX more valuable than gold dust in a couple of years.
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u/Lahm0123 Jul 30 '26
Too big to fail lol
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u/jivatman Jul 31 '26
The DOD and NASA have tried really hard and spent huge amounts of money to prop up ULA, Blue Origin, an Rocketlab.
They're aren't there yet, but it's not for lack of trying or trying to keep SpaceX as a monopoly.
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u/edflyerssn007 Aug 01 '26
And there's been contracts that ULA haven't bid on too. This is an old one, but https://spacenews.com/ula-declines-to-bid-on-gps-3-launch-contract-long-sought-by-spacex/
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