SpaceX Explained by an Aerospace Engineer / The Boom Company

Video from the channel Detrás de Sergio Hidalgo about SpaceX, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 23:02. Language: Spanish. Video type: News.

A few days before SpaceX's stock market listing, Sergio Hidalgo explains how the company is organized, without making any investment recommendations. According to his description, SpaceX rests on three legs: Starlink, the rocket and space business, and an artificial-intelligence and social-media branch made up of xAI, Grok and X, which is already integrated into the company.

Starlink is the large satellite connectivity constellation and, according to the author, the part that generates the most revenue; it already serves airlines and remote areas. In launch vehicles, the Falcon 9 recovers its first stage with a success rate above 99%, and some units are approaching 30 reuses. The second stage is discarded because recovering it doesn't pay off. The Falcon Heavy adds two side first stages to a Falcon 9. The Dragon capsule only serves low Earth orbit and is today the only American way to carry astronauts to the International Space Station, because Boeing's Starliner is not operational. Starship, 9 m in diameter and over 120 m tall, is still in the prototype stage. Its first stage has already been recovered with the tower's arms; the main sticking point is the upper stage's reentry and its heat-shield tiles.

The author considers Starship's delays normal and is convinced it will succeed, because the next generation of larger Starlink satellites and the American lunar program depend on it. In the current architecture, the SLS launches astronauts in the Orion capsule and Starship acts as the lunar lander. In his view, a recent explosion at Blue Origin, which was developing an alternative lander, reinforces that role, tied to the race with China and the future lunar station NASA is planning. He sees Starship as viable for cargo, large satellites and space tourism, but not for carrying civilians point-to-point on Earth. He also admits he's not able to assess the bet on artificial intelligence.