{"id":19106,"date":"2017-01-13T20:38:23","date_gmt":"2017-01-13T12:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-gets-ready-to-return-to-flight-amid-revelations-about-rocket-finances\/"},"modified":"2017-01-13T20:38:23","modified_gmt":"2017-01-13T12:38:23","slug":"spacex-gets-ready-to-return-to-flight-amid-revelations-about-rocket-finances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-gets-ready-to-return-to-flight-amid-revelations-about-rocket-finances\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX gets ready to return to flight amid revelations about rocket finances"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_302856\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-302856\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-302856\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/170113-spacex-iridium-630x315.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/170113-spacex-iridium-630x315.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/170113-spacex-iridium.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-302856\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket is readied to launch 10 Iridium Next satellites into orbit at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. (Iridium Photo via Twitter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As SpaceX prepares for its first Falcon 9 rocket launch in five months, a new report about the company\u2019s finances is pointing to the importance of getting back to routine operations&nbsp;\u2013 and the importance of SpaceX\u2019s satellite operation in the Seattle area.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s report in The Wall Street Journal&nbsp;is based on a look at the privately held company\u2019s internal financial documents. Those documents indicate that the company lost&nbsp;$260 million on revenues of nearly $1 billion in 2015. The main factor behind that loss was the schedule disruption caused by the breakup of a Falcon 9 shortly after liftoff in June of that year.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX traced the cause of that failure to a flawed helium tank strut, and resumed launches the following December. Over the months that followed, it succeeded&nbsp;in its strategy of landing Falcon first-stage boosters after launch and separation. But last September, a launch-pad failure forced another suspension of flights.<\/p>\n<p>September\u2019s pre-launch explosion destroyed&nbsp;the Amos-6 telecommunications satellite and did heavy damage to the Florida launch pad. Just last week, SpaceX issued a report that blamed the blow-up on a helium tank failure and said it was changing its fueling procedures to head off further problems.<\/p>\n<p>Now SpaceX has the go-ahead to launch 10 advanced Iridium Next telecommunications satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on a Falcon 9. Liftoff is scheduled for 9:54 a.m. PT Saturday, with a 60 percent chance of acceptable weather.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX plans to&nbsp;live-stream coverage of the countdown, launch and anticipated booster landing at sea.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Iridium-1 Hosted Webcast\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tTmbSur4fcs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The California-based company is anxious to get its launch schedule back on track. It has more than 70 launches stacked up, representing more than $10 billion in contracts. Those launches including cargo resupply flights to the International Space Station and the first liftoff of its Falcon Heavy rocket, which been repeatedly postponed over the course of four years.<\/p>\n<p>A couple of&nbsp;launches have been shifted to other providers&nbsp;due to schedule concerns, but so far, SpaceX\u2019s customers have voiced strong support for the company. \u201cOur confidence in them is not shaken,\u201d Iridium\u2019s chief financial officer, Thomas Fitzpatrick, said after the mishap in September.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past few years, SpaceX has revolutionized the launch industry by dramatically reducing the cost of access to orbit. Its published price for a Falcon 9 launch is $62 million, which is just a little more than half the cost of a bare-bones Atlas 5 rocket launch.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX\u2019s chief financial officer, Bret Johnsen, indicated&nbsp;that the company has weathered its recent setbacks thanks to its past successes \u2013 and deep pockets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith over $1 billion in cash reserves and no debt, the company is in a financially strong position and is well positioned for future growth,\u201d Johnsen said today in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The Journal\u2019s report suggests that one of the keys to that future growth will be a 4,425-satellite constellation that SpaceX plans to put into orbit to provide global internet access.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_251878\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-251878\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-251878\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/20160525_Planetary_Resources_40-630x421.jpg\" alt=\"SpaceX Redmond office\" width=\"630\" height=\"421\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/20160525_Planetary_Resources_40-630x421.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/20160525_Planetary_Resources_40-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/20160525_Planetary_Resources_40-1240x828.jpg 1240w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/20160525_Planetary_Resources_40.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-251878\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SpaceX\u2019s Redmond office is the center for its satellite operations. (GeekWire Photo \/ Kevin Lisota)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>SpaceX\u2019s engineering office in Redmond, Wash., has a leading role in developing the satellite network. The company\u2019s schedule calls for the first wave of satellites to be deployed in the 2018-2020 time frame.<\/p>\n<p>When SpaceX founder Elon Musk announced plans for the satellite operation during a Seattle visit in 2015, he said it would \u201cgenerate a significant amount of revenue, and help fund a city on Mars.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Journal\u2019s report suggests that Musk wasn\u2019t kidding. It cites documents anticipating that the satellite network would have more than 40 million subscribers and bring in more than $30 billion in annual revenue by 2025,&nbsp;which is just about when Musk expects to start sending settlers to the Red Planet.<\/p>\n<p>The documents also indicate Musk owned 54 percent of SpaceX stock in 2015 and held 78 percent of the company\u2019s votes. Google\u2019s holding company, Alphabet, and Fidelity Investments have significant stakes in the company&nbsp;\u2013 and Fidelity\u2019s valuation of its stake suggests SpaceX is valued at $15 billion.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX isn\u2019t alone in setting its sights on sateliite internet services as a financial frontier: Another venture called OneWeb is planning to start deploying a similar network by 2019. Just last month, Japan-based SoftBank Group announced it would invest $1 billion in OneWeb, joining an array of global industrial heavyweights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 rocket is readied to launch 10 Iridium Next satellites into orbit at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. (Iridium Photo via Twitter) As SpaceX prepares for its first Falcon 9 rocket launch in five months, a new report about the company\u2019s finances is pointing to the importance of getting back to routine [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1045,20,316],"class_list":["post-19106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-elon-musk","tag-satellite","tag-spacex"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19106"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}