Stretching my knowledge here, a Reuters news article stated that Spacex will not take bookings for launches for 2028 and 2029. I’m not sure of the reason, perhaps Starlink launches have filled the slots. Another article cited the possible end of Falcon 9 operations. I may be entirely wrong.
Something to watch out for is the possibility of delay for the launches required for the Telesat constellation. Further proof that Canada needs a sovereign launch capability.
Thanks Scott. I looked into this a bit further myself and it looks like the guidance from SpaceX is that they will not be booking customers for Transporter and Bandwagon rideshare missions beyond late 2028. These are secondary or tertiary payloads typically comprising cube sat buses or small form factor satellites of similar volumetric dimensions and utilizing cube sat-compatible payload integration systems. SpaceX also periodically books missions for a prime integrator that buys a mission or payload space and then sells the slots to small sat customers. This will have significant impact on the smaller industry actors, start-ups, and academic SpaceX customers that are able to tag along on missions at extremely low cost (all things considered).
Maxinomics did a recent video essay about how much more spacex makes off launching starlink satellites over other people's hardware. I had also heard that the falcon 9 program was getting shutdown, but I hadn't heard precise details, and got the impression that alot would depend on the success of starship. If starship works, it will be so much more cost effective, they may decide to abandon falcon 9 as not efficient enough. You never know with Elon, it might be something strange and our of nowhere that will just result in him getting richer, and leave everyone else scratching their heads...
Noah, could you clarify what you meant in this sentence of your Noah Note?
"CHORUS is set to launch onboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which will soon not be an option, something to keep an eye out."
Stretching my knowledge here, a Reuters news article stated that Spacex will not take bookings for launches for 2028 and 2029. I’m not sure of the reason, perhaps Starlink launches have filled the slots. Another article cited the possible end of Falcon 9 operations. I may be entirely wrong.
Something to watch out for is the possibility of delay for the launches required for the Telesat constellation. Further proof that Canada needs a sovereign launch capability.
Thanks Scott. I looked into this a bit further myself and it looks like the guidance from SpaceX is that they will not be booking customers for Transporter and Bandwagon rideshare missions beyond late 2028. These are secondary or tertiary payloads typically comprising cube sat buses or small form factor satellites of similar volumetric dimensions and utilizing cube sat-compatible payload integration systems. SpaceX also periodically books missions for a prime integrator that buys a mission or payload space and then sells the slots to small sat customers. This will have significant impact on the smaller industry actors, start-ups, and academic SpaceX customers that are able to tag along on missions at extremely low cost (all things considered).
Thanks, much appreciated!
Maxinomics did a recent video essay about how much more spacex makes off launching starlink satellites over other people's hardware. I had also heard that the falcon 9 program was getting shutdown, but I hadn't heard precise details, and got the impression that alot would depend on the success of starship. If starship works, it will be so much more cost effective, they may decide to abandon falcon 9 as not efficient enough. You never know with Elon, it might be something strange and our of nowhere that will just result in him getting richer, and leave everyone else scratching their heads...
Goos comments. He is as unpredictable as his president.