00:00After two postponements, all eyes are on SpaceX's Starship test flight today.
00:05The mission includes upgraded Starlink satellites that will intentionally burn up during re-entry.
00:10The launch comes as SpaceX makes a major strategic bet on Starship.
00:15Bloomberg's learned the company's already turning away some potential Falcon 9 customers beyond 2028
00:21as it shifts resources to its next-generation rocket.
00:25That's all according to sources.
00:27Bloomberg's Sana Pashanka broke the story and joins us now.
00:31Really interesting to work with you on this one.
00:33There's a lot of detail in there, right?
00:35Tell us about what we've learned SpaceX's attitude is to those satellite companies coming to them
00:42wanting either a dedicated ride on Falcon 9 or a rideshare ride.
00:47What do we know?
00:48So what we know and what we've been hearing from sources and customers
00:53is essentially that SpaceX is fully booked through 2028
00:58and they're turning away customers for dedicated Falcon 9 launches past that time point.
01:05So a dedicated launch is when a satellite company will buy the entire rocket
01:10and launch multiple of their satellites to orbit.
01:12And they're also turning away customers for their rideshare missions,
01:15which is when multiple satellite operators can all, you know, put one or two satellites
01:21and hitch a ride to orbit to test satellites or if they only need a couple to get to space.
01:27And yeah, this is a really big deal.
01:29For a long time, Falcon 9 has commanded a near monopoly on the launch industry.
01:35It launches more than any other rocket in the world.
01:38So it's a pretty big deal that they're, you know, halting these reservations for now.
01:44Sander, the background point, not just in our reporting, but tonight as well with the test flight,
01:49is Starship matters.
01:50Very quickly, explain why Starship matters so much.
01:54Starship matters because it's key to Musk's ambitions for SpaceX,
01:58which are to, you know, build data centers in space.
02:02It's key to expanding the Starlink communications network
02:06and it also will be the vehicle that is intended to land humans on the moon and Mars.
Comments