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The SpaceX origin story?
It's even crazier than you know.
This is part three in our Charts & Crafts series on top private tech companies.
In 2001, Elon Musk had an idea to launch a greenhouse to Mars, so he went to Moscow trying to buy a refurbished ICBM from the Russians.
They said no, and on the flight home, he decided to make the rocket himself, and make it reusable.
Here's how a reusable rocket works.
Once it launches, the booster, bottom part, separates from the upper stage, and while the payload, stuff on it, continues on its course, the booster flips itself around using nitrogen thrusters, going further up and then back down again, burning the engines two more times to very slowly re-enter and touchdown vertically on a drone-operated ship in the ocean.
It's all autonomous.
The rocket lands itself.
It took 14 years to perfect this technology, but now each booster has 20 or so uses before repairs.
Reusing rockets is way cheaper.
NASA's SLS costs about $1.5 billion per launch.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 is $67 million, 20 times less.
When you look at total 2025 launches globally, their dominance is clear.
SpaceX launches account for the vast majority of the total, followed by China and then everyone else.
Okay, so you'd think these launch services are a majority of the revenue, right?
Wrong.
The vast majority actually comes from what's on the payload, Starlink satellites.
Their sneaky huge telecom business.
More than two-thirds of last year's revenue came from Starlink, and only a third came from launch services.
Starlink's business is deeply intertwined with the launches, though.
Together, they're a flywheel.
Cheap, reusable rockets means more satellites, which means R&D from higher revenue, which means even more cheap, reusable rockets.
SpaceX currently sits at a trillion-dollar valuation and has only raised $12 billion to date.
Their valuation is 90 times their revenue.
They filed for an IPO this month, and if successful, it's going to be the largest IPO in history, by more than double.
Which company on this list do you want to see unpacked next?
It’s actually a telecom business wrapped in a rocket company
#spacex #elonmusk #tech #space #vc