And while SpaceX currently has a monopoly on the affordable launch market, my understanding is that's about to go away. I wouldn't like to be SpaceX seeking new government contracts under the next Democratic administration.
And while SpaceX currently has a monopoly on the affordable launch market, my understanding is that's about to go away. I wouldn't like to be SpaceX seeking new government contracts under the next Democratic administration.
I think the limits of government contracts are why they've diversified into Starlink. Even without political aspects (which Musk may not have planned correctly for), the global mobile broadband market is just bigger than the pot of money governments want to spend on spying and weather forecasts.
What may well mess him up that side is that even if he gets a monopoly in the USA satellite broadband industry, China has no reason to sit back and just allow US dominance over their geopolitical zones of influence, and will fund their own. Even aside from Kessler cascade risks (I have absolutely no idea how far away that really is), the competition risk is real.
But yeah, vibes are shifting from "well more realistic European launch options would be a nice thing to have but SpaceX's cost/kg and schedule is very good" to "actually it may be necessary for security for governments to back launch competitors and OneWeb"