alt Hacker NewsThere's competition.
So there's already evidence.
Don't forget NASA has its traditionally built vehicle
SpaceX also has benefits from its volume. So yes, if you buy in bulk and you'll get it cheaper. Pretty sure NASA isn't making its planes either even though it does aeronautics. It doesn't make Satellites even though it has earth observation people.
We've heard accusations SpaceX is getting government subsidies, losing VC money, but they opened the books and their cost advantage is ridiculous.
Don't think NASA is building a vehicle like Falcon 9 for $20 million per launch operationally in ten years.
People are getting hung up on how spacex reached that cost and how yes, it took innovation, iteration, and whatever else. I'm not denying that.
What I am denying is that you needed to make musk the richest man on earth to achieve this. That you needed to go to ipo. That it needed to give a dime to any initial investors.
All I am saying is in another universe, Gwynne Shotwell could have ran a kickass team at JPL with the exact same people doing the exact same thing and delivering the exact same rocket for even lower cost.
Profittaking was not necessary for any of this is all I am suggesting. Shame all the replies pushing back on me in my other comment thread on this are missing the forest for the trees.