How Does SpaceX Make Money? – Read This
by Ankita Tripathy Business Intelligence 26 November 2022
How does SpaceX make money? If that is the question that you have been searching for, then you have reached the right place.
Founded in the year 2002, SpaceX is one of the most successful companies by the richest man on earth, Elon Musk. However, considering the fact that SpaceX is not a company that common people can purchase things from, a lot of people have asked about how does SpaceX make money?
If you are someone who is searching for the answer to this question, you have come to the right place. Keep reading this article till the end to learn more about the same…
What Is SpaceX?
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, is one of the most popular American organizations that deal with spacecraft manufacturing and satellite communication. Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of the company, founded SpaceX in the year 2002, with its headquarters in Hawthorne.
With the goal of reducing the cost of space transportation as well as to be able to make people move closer to Mars, SpaceX has, since then, managed to launch a number of projects which have been successful.
The company has manufactured a number of launch vehicles like Starship, Falcon Heavy, Falcon 9, and many other rocket engines. In addition, it has made history by being the first privately held company to be able to successfully launch and orbit a spacecraft.
But the one thing that a lot of people talk about is the money that they need and the money that they make. So considering the fact that these projects are some of the costliest things to do, how do they make money?
Major SpaceX Projects
There are a number of projects that SpaceX has taken over in its twenty year long journey. The company has been able to manufacture launch vehicles. They are:
- Falcon 1— a small-lift launch vehicle that operated till 2009
- Falcon 9— a medium-lift launch vehicle
- Falcon Heavy— a heavy-lift launch vehicle that can deliver up to 64,000 kilograms
Apart from these, there are several other projects or rocket launchers that SpaceX has worked for. S0me of them are:
- Startlink
- Crew Dragon
- Starship
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The Colonization Of Mars
One of the most fascinating and overarching ambitions of Elon Musk was to colonize Mars. This is the SpaceX Mars Program. Musk, being a member of the board of directors of the Mars Society, first spoke about his plans in the year 2001.
Ever since then, and especially after the founding of the SpaceX, the company has made a number of vehicle concepts for the colonization of Mars.
The SpaceX team manufactured their first rocket, Falcon 1 in the year 2006 hoping to colonize Mars for the “long term survival of human species.” The company has named the launch vehicle Starship.
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How Does SpaceX Make Money?
Now, coming to the most important part of this article— how does SpaceX make money? Unfortunately, the answer is not that simple. Have you ever considered how much does Elon Musk make a day? So, how does SpaceX generate revenue?
There is something that you need to keep in mind about SpaceX. It is a delivery company that delivers goods so that they can be able to launch a satellite. And there are a number of ways in which that is done. Some of the ways in which SpaceX earns money are mentioned below:
1. Government Contracts
The first and the most important source of money for SpaceX are the contracts with the government. Like many other contractors, like Blue Origin and Boeing, SpaceX also places bids to win contracts from the government. Till now, SpaceX has won a number of NASA contracts. In 2020, the Falcon 9 reusable rocket successfully launched two NASA astronauts to the ISS (International Space Station)
2. Civilian Space Flights
What was considered to be a far-fetched dream is not a dream anymore. People can actually take a trip to outer space. The civilians (who can afford it at present) are welcome to take a trip to outer space and explore the area beyond earth. This project helps the organization make a lot of money as the base price of the ticket to fly to space with their Rideshare program is $1.1 million per flight.
3. Starlink
Last but definitely not least is the internet satellite constellation called Starlink. While it is used by a number of people who want to have access to high-speed internet, it is operated and owned by SpaceX. The company makes a huge amount of money as the router is priced at $499 (a one-time fee), and the monthly price is $99.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
As you have almost reached the end of this article, I hope that most of your queries have been answered already. However, here are some of the frequently asked questions that users who search for similar things want to know. You might want to go through them for additional information.
Ans: SpaceX is one of the most popular space transportation companies that take in government as well as commercial orders and customers. It is one of those companies that has made the task of outer space travel come to the reach of the common people.
Ans: The salary of Elon Musk is more than you can imagine. He is the CEO of three of the most popular companies, SpaceX, Tesla, and Twitter, at present. His monthly income is more than two hundred million dollars from all three companies.
Ans: One of the major things that a lot of people do not know is the fact that despite everyone wanting to invest in SpaceX, they cannot. That is because the company is still privately held. So you cannot buy the shares of SpaceX. So that means that even if you want to buy the shares, you cannot.
Bottom Line: Sky Is Not The Limit For SpaceX!
SpaceX is one of the most popular companies in the world that deals with space transportation and manufacturing services. The richest man on the planet, Elon Musk, founded the company in the year 2002, and there has been no one else in this league that is as powerful as SpaceX.
The company makes a lot of revenue from both governmental as well as commercial projects and customers.
In case you want to know the answer to “how does SpaceX make money,” then I hope that this blog has been of help to you. If there are any other queries related to the same, feel free to write them down in the comment section below.
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