Business, Economics, Space

SpaceX’s Finances

12 Comments

[Saturday-afternoon update]

12 thoughts on “SpaceX’s Finances”

  1. I’m probably going to get Starlink shortly. I have landline and DSL but CenturyLink sold us out to Brightspeed. So, my phones went out (no dial tone) but the DSL I still up. A call to tech support reveals Brightspeed has no tech support, all calls are routed to Billing and Sales, where I talked with various nice ladies with cute Chinese accents and no knowledge. I opened a repair ticket, and the next available slot is 5 WEEKS away! Starlink and VOIP it is. I’m still looking for my old Vonage modem. Probably have to buy a new one. They say Ooma is better, but I don’t like the looks of the comoany.

      1. Me too, best internet connection I’ve ever had.
        Very reliable, only dropout I can recall in the last year is when it was snowing heavily, which is not unreasonable.

        1. Beware!

          Watch some of the Falcon 9 droneship landings. As you’ll see, Starlink (which the droneships use for comms) is prone to dropouts whenever a Falcon 9 is landing within a few yards of the Starlink antenna.

          So, if a Falcon 9 first stage lands on your house, you’re at risk of experiencing several seconds of internet dropout.

          🙂

    2. After 3 days of wrangling with Brightspeed and getting nowhere, I ordered Starlink and a Vonage box. Pain in the ass to set up due to my house in the woods. I’m going to mount a pole on my front deck, which means clearing away years of honeysuckle. Starlink charged me a “congestion fee,” I assume because of what’s happened in western NC. Anyway, fuck Brightspeed.

  2. In my RV park last year (I work in Yellowstone NP for a private concessionaire), we started to see a bunch of Starlink antennas. I’d say maybe a quarter of the residents? It’s superior to other satellite internet in speed and ability to handle local obstructions.

    I have had Starlink for two years as well (the more expensive RV version that works anywhere in North America without requiring one to notify SpaceX every time one moves). It’s worked at multiple locations. One location was partially obstructed by a building which blocked off much of the western side of the northern sky as it ran along the side of the antenna location.

    I’ve noticed mild and infrequent disruption of service at the partially obstructed location and very little such disruption elsewhere. It’s extremely reliable.

  3. Send an unmanned artificial gravity station to Sun/Earth L-3. Being at opposite side of the Sun, it’s half way point of Mars to Earth launch window, or 2.1 / 2 =
    1.05. And have supplies for a Mars crew to live on it- some food and enough oxygen- and a lot of water and a means to convert water into rocket fuel. Don’t store rocket fuel, but store water which is radiation shielding and could made to into rocket fuel by a crew which goes there.
    But send artificial station with animal experiments to test long terms of effects of artificial gravity.
    One could also monitor solar weather from opposite side of the Sun.
    So, you making Mars crew abort option. And it should also have medical gear for medical emergencies and it also serve isolation for any Mars contamination issues.
    So could cancel Lunar gateway station or transform/modify it into artificial gravity station.
    Or it’s low amount Delta-v from Gateway lunar orbit to getting to Sun/Earth L-3.
    Why not Sun/Earth L-4/5?
    It has to go one way or other, and takes long time to travel between any of points, so one could say it’s going to the spot where a future Mars crewed mission might need it as abort option. Or if already was at the L-3 point, it might travel for 6 month one way or other, to be in right location for potential abort option. And maybe not going for Mars crew, but a Venus crew mission or whatever.

  4. ” We can’t even envision what Starship is going to do to humanity and humans lives”

    Good, now I don’t feel so bad

  5. I wonder if Space-X (Musk) knows anything about Dava Newman’s Bio suit?

    Dava Newman presents 3D Knit BioSuit™ at 2022 MARS conference

    https://www.media.mit.edu/posts/dava-newman-presents-3d-knit-biosuit-at-mars-conference/

    Fundamentally different concept than the “balloon suit” type spacesuit. It employs physical mechanical pressure from the suit fabric on the body (with the exception of the helmet/head/face connection(s) instead of the gas filled “pressure suit” type derived we have used so far. Supposedly much greater mobility and much lower cost; although the link doesn’t mention anything about cost. NASA isn’t biting (apparently) but maybe Space-X (Musk) is interested.

  6. So, I have the Starlink kit. The gen 3 antenna is heavy. I didn’t realize to install the kit, you have to have either an iOS or Android smart phone. Really? I have no cell service, so I have no smart phone. I have a flip phone that only works once I’m 20 miles from my house in the direction of Raleigh. This is supposed to be for ruricolae? Once I have it up and powered, I’ll try a direct connect through a cat5 cable. We’ll see.

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