Space Exploration Technologies wants to be the go-to cargo
company of the future. Also known as SpaceX, the company is
developing space launch services that it claims could help the
Department of Defense save up to $1 billion a year by providing
competition. The company's Dragon spacecraft became the first
commercial spacecraft to visit NASA's International Space Station
(ISS). Its Falcon family of vehicles includes Falcon 9, which was
successfully launched in the same flight to the ISS with the
Dragon, and the Falcon Heavy, which can carry twice as much as
NASA's former flagship craft and successfully launched a test
payload in 2018. Hauling cargo is just SpaceX's day job. Its longer
term mission: transport people and equipment to the moon and
Mars.
Operations
SpaceX pays its bills by putting satellites in orbit. It does
work for government agencies and telecommunications and satellite
companies. The company designs, develops, makes, and launches its
rockets. A key feature of SpaceX is that its rockets are designed
to return to Earth for re-use. Two of the three booster rockets
that launched the Falcon Heavy in 2018 touched down on the launch
site after they sent the payload - a Tesla Roadster owned by Elon
Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla Inc. - into space.
Geographic Reach
SpaceX is based in Hawthorne, California. The company has launch
facilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, Vandenberg
Air Force Base, California, and Boca Chica, Texas. It also has a
rocket-development facility in McGregor, Texas; and offices in
Houston; Chantilly, Virginia; and Washington, DC.
Strategy
SpaceX aims to achieve space flight economically by using a more
open management structure, carrying out its own manufacturing, and
focusing on simple designs. A critical element is that its rockets
are designed to be used again and again rather than splashing into
the ocean. The company has contracts with public agencies and
private companies for more than 100 launches valued at more than
$12 billion.
In 2018 the company branched out and launched its two of its own
satellites as the start to an internet service. The plan calls for
the service, called Starlink, to have some 11,000 satellites to
provide internet service to rural areas.