What does this mean? SpaceX built a better truck. Communications satellites are what everyone puts on trucks. They’re more than happy to be everyone else’s truck; the EU and Kuiper will pay SpaceX to lift their birds.
What does this mean? SpaceX built a better truck. Communications satellites are what everyone puts on trucks. They’re more than happy to be everyone else’s truck; the EU and Kuiper will pay SpaceX to lift their birds.
Starlink was just something that might provide some ongoing revenue to defray the costs of rocket development.
Spacex and Starlink are not really trying to turn a profit from each other.
But the EU will be paying others to construct and launch satellites, and the equation is probably different.
Imagine if the US government decided leo communications satellites were important, and it signed contracts with a satellite contractor and ULA to build and launch a similar number of satellites into orbit. I suspect it would be uneconomical and the communications service would not be competitive.