Everything You Need To Know About SpaceX (Detailed Overview)
So, what is SpaceX?
SpaceX or Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is an American satellite communications corporation, spacecraft manufacturer, and launcher. The founder of the company is Elon Musk, who started the company in 2002 with the aim of reducing space transportation costs. He was the richest person in the world a couple of months ago. And right now, he is in the second position after Bernard Arnault. Let’s know about the company in detail.
Company Overview
Here is the basic information about SpaceX.
Company Profile
| Company Name | SpaceX |
| Founded | March 14, 2002 |
| Founder | Elon Musk |
| Industry | Space, Communications |
| Type | Private |
| Headquarters | Hawthorne, California, United States |
| Key People | CEO, CTO, Chairman- Elon Musk President and COO- Gwynne Shotwell |
| Services | Satellite Internet Orbital Rocket Launch |
| Products | Several Rocket Engines Several Launch Vehicles SpaceX Starship Dragon Capsules SpaceBEE Starlink |
| Employee Number | 12,000 |
| Revenue | $2 Billion |
| Website | www.spacex.com |
Company Journey
In 2001, Elon Musk joined the board of directors of Mars Society. After a few times, he announced Mars Oasis. The project was about growing plants on Mars and experimental greenhouse. Then he started working with Jim Cantrell. The United States withdrew from the treaty, and Musk started to work on his company.
Early Years
In 2002, Musk started to look for employees for SpaceX. He appointed Tom Mueller and gave him the offer to be a partner. This is how SpaceX was founded. Later, there were other key people who entered the company, such as Gwynne Shotwell, Chris Thompson, and others. Within a couple of years, there were around 160 employees.
First Breakthrough
2010 was the year of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch. SpaceX started to follow its Falcon 1 launch vehicle, but there were so many issues, and finally, the reusable lift vehicle, Falcon 9 was launched. Later NASA accelerated the rocket. In 2006, there was a Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. The contract was around $278 million. And with the Falcon 9, there was Dragon Spacecraft Qualification Unit.
Commercial Launches
2013 was the year when SpaceX did its first commercial mission. In 2014, the company got a total of nine contracts. The company started to work so well that Arianespace started to give subsidies for winning the competition against SpaceX. Then, the company began to launch United States military payloads, and this was the first time that a different company had this other than United Launch Alliance (ULA).
Rapid Growth
From the year 20156, the company started to grow a lot. Fidelity and Google funded the company, and there was a raise of $1 billion in exchange for 8.33% of the company. In 2015, the valuation of the company was around $12 billion. This was the time when the company announced to development of Starlink, which will provide internet service with 4,000 satellites.
Reusability Milestone
In 2016, the company was successful to in landing its rocket on a spaceport drone ship. Also, this was the same year when the company started to give 10% discounts to its customers. But, soon after that, there was a rocket failure that the company had to face. A Falcon 9 exploded, and then AMOS-6’s destruction cost the company around $200 million. After one year, there was SpaceX launched the SES-10 satellite.
Global Launch Provider
Within one year, they again raised another $350 million. And the valuation of the company increased to $21 billion. There was a 45% global market share achieved by SpaceX. In 2018, the company had a total of 100 launches. And there was a revenue of $12 billion. There were both government and commercial customers. There was a subsidiary of the company, and that was The Boring Company. And The Boring Company started to act as a corporate entity that had 6% equity.
Current Scenario
Since 2019, SpaceX announced that there would be two new projects named Starlink and Starship. This is the main reason that the company laid off 10% of its employees. The company moved to SpaceX South Texas Launch, which is situated in Florida and Texas. There were around 60 Starlink commercial satellites. In that year, the company was successful in raising $1.33 billion, and the value of the company reached $36 billion in revenue.
Company Products
Though most of the company products you already know, here is again a reminder that will be a better understanding.
- Launch Vehicles
- Rocket Engines
- Dragon Spacecraft
- Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ships
- Starship
- Starlink
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
Here are some questions and answers that you may find interesting.
Ans. The headquarter of SpaceX is in Hawthorne, California. The company was founded by Elon Musk, and he had a vision of creating an aerospace industry where he could make cheap and affordable spaceflight. The company came to the arena with its Falcon 1 rocket. The rocket has a design of two-stage liquid-fueled that can send small to medium satellites into orbit.
Ans. There are a couple of reasons why SpaceX is widely known. This is the first private-owned aerospace company that is successful in sending a spacecraft into Earth orbit. The spacecraft also returned successfully after docking with the International Space Station (ISS). Also, the company’s name was widely known when Elon Musk became the world’s richest person.
Ans. If we talk about rocket technology, then SpaceX has an advantage. But, when it comes to space exploration, SpaceX is not even close to NASA. Also, you need to understand that SpaceX is constantly in the media, and most people talk about the company, so common people start to think that one day it can replace NASA. Right now, SpaceX is making a portion of spaceflight, so the answer is NO. SpaceX is not as good as NASA.
Final Words
So, I hope now you have a nice idea about where is SpaceX located, who owns SpaceX, what the products are, and other important information. Most people also curious about when is the next SpaceX launch will be, so you must know that yesterday there was a launch, and there is no data on when the next launch will be.
I hope you will find this article interesting. If so, then please share and give your feedback.
Thank You.
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Mashum Mollah is the feature writer of Search Engine Magazine and an SEO Analyst at Real Wealth Business. Over the last 3 years, He has successfully developed and implemented online marketing, SEO, and conversion campaigns for 50+ businesses of all sizes. He is the co-founder of Social Media Magazine.