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Comment by downrightmike | Hacker News Reader

China launched a direct competitor on June 2nd

"China launches debut mission of Falcon 9-like rocket with no advance notice" https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/...

Spacex is going to get rekt, China has all the materials and workforce

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This comment is very clearly an exaggeration even if there is a grain of truth to it. You should consider addressing the fact that there can be multiple "leaders" at any given time, and geopolitical boundaries can shape those leaders.

Perhaps at least wait until Long March proves to be recyclable/reuseable before you call it a direct competitor.

Well, SpaceX is supposed to be more about AI than low cost orbital launches. At least that’s what their roadshow is claiming.

But either way, yeah, I’m not willing to bet much money on USD4.3T unless we can get some serious financial engineering, (read “circular deals”), going.

We've seen through Tesla that software, government regulation, and to a smaller degree build quality are the only moats against China that still currently hold.

Tesla build quality? Early Chinese EV's were a joke, but Tesla's aren't exactly built reliably either

Once you learn how to spot their misaligned panels it becomes impossible not to

I've owned older USA made cars so a little panel alignment doesn't bug me. I like the lack of beer bottles stashed in the doors, missing screws, welds from the obviously inebriated, etc.

> Spacex is going to get rekt, China has all the materials and workforce

According to their brief, most of the revenue is going to come from AI!

The rockets are apparently just "minor" now.

That must be a mistake, revenue isn't the word for the money you're going to throw in the furnace.

Who's going to buy launch services from CASC besides Chinese companies? Serious question, I don't have an answer in mind.

It's possible SpaceX will get "rekt", but the US has decades of experience and manufacturing processes set up for aerospace, as well as established customers. As long as SpaceX doesn't become heavily unionized I suspect they'll be able to compete strongly with anything China develops.

China has multiple reusable rocket programs, the reuse will become key to driving down costs.

yeah, and it will slice $T off of spacex easily

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