How SpaceX Has Become So Successful

How SpaceX Has Become So Successful

When looking at current and future space missions SpaceX is often in the conversation. SpaceX’s consistent progress and impressive feats have helped it stand out as one of the industry’s most successful private space companies. With hundreds of successful launches and many big plans for the future, it can be hard to keep track of their work.

Due to risk-taking, an aggressive timeline, innovation, awarded contracts, and commercial deals, SpaceX has become one of the most successful private space companies in the world. All of these different factors have played a key role in SpaceX’s growth over the last two decades.

While there are plenty of additional factors that have helped SpaceX become so successful I believe these are the most important. From SpaceX’s start in 2002 till now they have done things no other company or many agencies have done. Below will explain exactly how they were able to become so successful over the years.

Risk-Taking

One of the most important factors includes the large risks SpaceX has decided to take on. SpaceX has continued to strive for ambitious goals and do something no one else has in the world because it’s too risky and complex. SpaceX was called crazy for wanting to create a partially reusable rocket that would land on a drone ship but they did it. While it would have been much easier to create a regular rocket, SpaceX was willing to take risks for better technology.

This ties in with another aspect of SpaceX and Elon that has helped them succeed and that is encouraging and not being afraid of failure. Elon once said, “Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.” This quote is a perfect example of the progress and failures along the way that SpaceX has endured. In the process of trying to land the first Falcon 9 booster on a drone ship, they crashed many expensive boosters. SpaceX however posted a video online poking fun at their failures in a failed rocket landing compilation. This mindset has helped the company learn from its mistakes and quickly create a solution to fix the problem.

Aggressive Timeline

From the start of SpaceX, they have always had a very aggressive timeline. What I mean by this is they set very ambitious dates and work day and night to reach those goals. An example of this could be their rocket currently in development Starship. Starship is going to be one of the most powerful fully reusable rockets in the world and is meant to go to Mars. Starship has already progressed so much that the first orbital test flight is just around the corner. Crews in Boca Chica, Texas where Starbase is located have been working 24/7 on the project. With the original date of sending a Starship to Mars by 2024, nobody at SpaceX will be slowing down. These aggressive timelines have helped continue to push SpaceX forward and ensure they are always working towards the next milestone.

Innovation

Almost everything SpaceX does involves a huge amount of innovation. When looking at each of their projects and rockets there is something very unique about it that separates them from every other company. Currently, in the space industry, there is practically no reusability. This has caused other space programs and launches to take a long time and cost immense amounts of money. SpaceX from the start stated that reusability was the future of the space industry and that’s what they have continued to work on.

Originally they made the Falcon 9 which was partially reusable. They now have over 100 successful launches with the rocket and it has brought humans to the International Space Station and back. They then created the Falcon Heavy and made the most powerful operational rocket in the world with three boosters that would land after launch. Now they are working on arguably the most innovative rocket in the world. A fully reusable rocket standing at 120m tall that is supposed to be caught out of mid-air when returning to Earth. SpaceX knows what they have to do to succeed in their ambitious goals and one of the biggest aspects is innovating.

Awarded Contracts

An important part of SpaceX’s current success is the contracts they have been awarded throughout time. So far SpaceX has won billions in contracts from different companies and agencies including NASA, the United States Air Force, and more. These contracts have helped give SpaceX a big boost in funding and allowed them to continue to innovate and create rockets.

The reason SpaceX has won so much in contracts is because agencies like NASA understand the importance of the private space industry. They also realize how successful SpaceX has been up to this point and how that could benefit them in the long run. An example of this could be the most recent large contract SpaceX was awarded from NASA. SpaceX was awarded $2.9 billion for the lunar lander contract. SpaceX won because of its unique design, cost efficiency, capable hardware, and more. If you want to learn more about this contract and why SpaceX won check out another one of my articles here. This large sum of money will be a massive help and another reason why SpaceX has become so successful.

Commercial Deals

The last big reason that has contributed to SpaceX’s continued success has been their commercial deals. While a lot of SpaceX launches have been for Starlink or other missions a good portion has been commercial. Different companies want their technology orbiting the planet but don’t have a way to get it there. They pay SpaceX a large sum of money and they launch their cargo into orbit. With almost 130 launches the Falcon 9 has put a lot of cargo into orbit.

Even agencies like NASA have started using SpaceX as their main transportation to the International Space Station. Every time they put new astronauts up in Space they pay SpaceX to get them there. Over time this has helped SpaceX test their technology and get paid in the process. Commerical deals will likely be even more important in the future as SpaceX continues to work on Starship. With the plan of using Starship as a possible Earth to Earth transportation system, we will have to wait and see what exactly ends up happening.

Conclusion

In a short period of time, SpaceX has become one of the most successful space companies in the industry. Their continued success has not been easy but was made possible for multiple different reasons. Mainly because of risk-taking, an aggressive timeline, continued innovation, awarded contracts, and commercial deals. Each aspect has played a part in the creation and continued hard work of each thing SpaceX puts their minds to. At first when SpaceX said they were going to do something the common reaction was disbelief. Now when SpaceX talks about their next crazy project it’s hard to not believe them. If SpaceX continues at this same pace they will end up being responsible for some incredible things in the future. These are just some of the bigger reasons why SpaceX has become so successful.