Business, Economics, Space, Technology and Society

Morgan Stanley

4 Comments

…says that Elon Musk is building an elevator to orbit. Not literally, but certainly functionally.

[Update a while later]

Some news from Blue Origin as well, revealing more details about BE-4 and New Glenn. I found this curious, though:

Becoming a government supplier doesn’t happen overnight. There is a series of certifications one has to go through. Right now having ULA using our engines and qualifying our engines into that supply system is a good thing for us. They will fly a year ahead of us, in 2019. We will come into the market in end of 2020, 2021. And at that point if we choose to go into government contracting, it will imply setting up cost accounting systems that are geared to the government.

I don’t understand what he means, unless they plan to provide launches cost plus. For a fixed price, their accounting is none of the government’s business.

[Update later morning]

Chris Bergin has an update on the SpaceX launch manifest. Among other things, FH launch in December remains a possibility, NASA is OK with a flight-proven rocket for CRS missions, and first landing at Vandenberg will happen with the Iridium 4 mission. Plus, a mystery payload next month.

[Noon update]

Elon revealed more technical (but not financial) details on an AMA Saturday.

4 thoughts on “Morgan Stanley”

  1. It takes more than technology. I’m thinking about the Avro Arrow. Perhaps if they’d got their first prototypes into the hands of potential customers or focused more on engine sales the Arrow would have become a commercial success.

    I’d forgotten that Blue Origin was founded 2 years before SpaceX. With Amazon money, Bezos hasn’t needed to be a commercial success as most companies require. Is that better or worse for them?

    Is the BFR 9 meter one-upmanship to the 7 meter new Glenn?

    1. There’s a lot to be said for being forced to listen to market feedback, not just imagining you can go off for a decade or more on a preplanned course without adjustments.

  2. Has anyone had access to the original Morgan Stanley report? When I last looked for the report, all I was able to find was second hard reports by journalists who unfortunately were unable to explain why M-S thought SpaceX was going to be a great investment. In particular, much hay was made by the media of Musk’s Mars plans without an explanation for why M-S supposedly thought that made SpaceX worth investing in.

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