A starlink launch takes lots of money but results in dozens of new satellites in orbit that in theory could be sold to some other company looking to create an internet constellation. That doesn’t seem that different from a factory where it takes money to build the factory, but then the factory can, in theory be sold. Yes the launch disappears, but the thing the launch did doesn’t.

Their whole deal is not (entirely) consuming rockets, but yeah I get what you mean.

It's cool that a tech change can also change the accounting.

> By definition, spending on something that is consumable (like a rocket launch) is not a capital expenditure.

Uh, I was talking about the Starlink satellites which SpaceX owns, not the rockets. I am not, in fact, an idiot. But thanks for assuming so and giving me capex 101. Much appreciated.

Depreciation happens over several years, whereas other expenses are immediate, right?

It's both. The Starlink satellite construction is cap ex (maaaaybe arguably part of the launch, which is required to make the satellite operational? Not sure...) while the launch and operating the network is ongoing op ex.