SpaceX vs Blue Origin

 

there's pretty much nothing that we do  as citizens of this world  that isn't tied to space the u.s space  force is here to stay got it  let's go get it general the idea first  coined by president trump gained  traction was ratified in legislature and  has commenced its collaborative efforts  with nasa  but the newest armed force is still in  its infancy and will need plenty of  civilian aid to help  launch missions into space a few titans  of industry are in the race for  lucrative military contracts but who  will partner with the u.s space force  long term  welcome to fact nominal today we're  exploring which private company will  partner with the first military space  organization  in spacex versus the rest who will  partner with the us space force long  term  space force is moving along right on  schedule despite spawning a parody tv  series of the same name  on netflix starring steve carroll and  lisa cudrow  openly ridiculing the idea of  militarizing space operations  borrowing heavily from or some say  blatantly plagiarizing starfleet  command's logo insignia  and then calling their troops guardians  that henceforth  the men and women of the united states  space force  will be known as guardians  of the galaxy does leave them open to  being poked fun at though  nevertheless the u.s space force has hit  the ground running with a central focus  to strengthen the u.s presence and  leadership position in space  with other nations looking to cement  their positions in the heavens in  particular china and russia  the need to secure safe passage for nasa  astronauts and scientists to complete  their research unfettered is of  paramount importance  but they can't do it alone just like any  branch of the armed forces  civilian run firms will be contracted to  help research and develop bleeding edge  tech  design and manufacture hardware and  vehicles and in this case  help launch the guardians into the  galaxy  the billionaire space race is a  well-publicized phenomenon  earthly bounties will not push someone  into the almost god-like status of the  world's first trillionaire  commercialized space travel will this  new age gold rush draws some scary  parallels to the californian gold rush  in the 1800s  it's more common for people to become  wealthy not by mining and selling the  fruit of their labors  in that case gold but supplying the  miners with food  equipment and transportation services  the man who arguably fostered this  interplanetary wonderlust was peter  diamandis  he was a successful engineer and  physician before turning his hand  towards entrepreneurship  he founded the students of exploration  and development of space or  seds in the 80s a society which laid the  groundwork for space tourism  a society that had the one and only jeff  bezos as chapter president  after a decade diamondis decided to  dangle a carrot  the x prize was a competition to  encourage technological advancements  that benefit humanity  in particular sub-orbital space flight  the systems of the winning entrant were  quickly snapped up by richard branson  and formed the basis of virgin galactic  the runners in this intense rivalry are  a trio of visionary entrepreneurs  each making their fortune in the attack  in it world before turning their gaze  towards the stars  sir richard branson virgin galactic  british billionaire sir richard branson  has a simple yet complicated dream  low-cost orbital launchers and  intercontinental suborbital transport  in layman's terms cheap tickets to space  and even cheaper tickets for extremely  fast air travel  virgin galactic has test flights under  their belt and last year a rocket  booster was attached to the wing of a  decommissioned jumbo jet in an attempt  to make it orbit  unfortunately an error caused the test  to prematurely terminate  recently the second launch proved  fruitful deploying 10 tiny cubesats into  space  this put branson's team well out of the  race to put civilians into space  however he's hoping to enter the niche  market of launching satellites into  orbit  for a price jeff bezos blue  origin amazon kingpin savvy american and  long time richest man in the world  is none other than bicentennial  billionaire jeff bezos  he heads up blue origin a company that  he started in an effort to realize his  high school dream of people working and  living in space  even in his valedictorian speech he  expressed his vision for hotels  amusement parks luxury yachts and human  colonies containing millions of people  all orbiting the earth in the vacuum of  space  the goal is a dichotomy on one side  space travel and eventual colonization  through the use of reusable launch  vehicles  on the other side the prospecting and  harvesting of asteroids to replenish  resources to aid and alien earth  also to develop a system of solar energy  collection closer to the sun as a means  of clean future energy  the new shepherd space tourism rockets  have had successful launches and  landings back on earth putting blue  origin  in a good position elon musk  spacex even before elon musk established  tesla and pretty much  built what the electric car industry is  today he was a wizard for spotting a gap  in the market  he started paypal now the world's  premier safe electronic funds transfer  service  the south african native sold a  self-designed computer game to a  magazine for 500  at age 12 and has dual degrees in  physics and economics from the  university of pennsylvania  not bad his other company spacex is  similar to blue origin in that it seeks  to further aerospace development by  sending paying customers into space  aboard reusable launch vehicles  his other vision is the eventual  establishment of a human colony on mars  the falcon series of rockets have proven  capable in both launches and returns  back to earth even if a few didn't make  it along the way  the big three it's not just getting up  into space it's the vehicle that moves  around once the space force is up there  there are companies that have proved  their worth by working with the us  air force and are looking to expand into  the new realm of space defense  boeing airplane manufacturer boeing has  been a mainstay in the skies for almost  90 years  constantly pumping out the best  passenger planes to ever grace the skies  not only that they produced the vc25  which is essentially a militarized  version of their popular 747 liner  tasked with carrying the u.s president  safely callsign air force one  northrop grumman the name northrop  grumman is synonymous with the united  states government  they built the apollo lunar module that  put man on the moon  they've also supplied the u.s air force  and navy with the elite level aircraft  that helped maintain their air  superiority since world war ii  the a-10 thunderbolt f-35 lightning 2  and f-18 super hornet were all  revolutionary fighter jets for their  time  likewise the b-2 stealth bomber and the  b-21 raider bolstered the long-range  strike capability of the united states  acting as a deterrent for those nations  seeking to bring harm to the american  people  factor in their almds laser mine  detection system  hawkeye reconnaissance aircraft and  omega space launch vehicle  and you have a very strong contender  lockheed martin you don't become the  world's largest defense contractor  without a proven track record  their skunk works division  revolutionized long-range reconnaissance  with the sr-71 blackbird  an incredible machine that was  performing hypersonic sorties way back  in the 60s  this was a craft that had no answer from  any other nation  for decades their stable of air  superiority fighters developed over the  years arguably made the u.s the  superpower it is today  the f-22 raptor the f-117 nighthawk the  p-38 lightning  weapons of war that control disguise for  countless conflicts  sometimes it's best to stick with what  and who you know  the tender virgin galactic failed to  submit a tender to the department of  defense for the new space launch  contracts  however rivals spacex blue origin and  northrop grumman  jumped at the opportunity a joint  venture between boeing and lockheed  martin called the united launch alliance  or ula  is seeking to prove two heads are better  than one  the winners spacex effectively  outmaneuvered blue origin and other  rivals to snatch  victory and earn a space force launch  contract worth potentially  billions they were awarded 40 of the  lucrative contract with the other 60  going to the ula it's a landmark win in  the sense that spacex effectively  outperformed other companies who had  previous history working with the us  government  spacex will send 14 military and  intelligence satellites up into space  forming a network for the newly  established space force  the ula will take on the remaining 20  launches that make up the 34 mission  contract  the triumphant duo of companies pulled  ahead of the pack during the second  phase of tinder where innovation and  agility in ensuring the u.s military's  launch of payloads into orbit was  assessed  during phase one the companies were  almost neck and neck  the controversy to get to a point where  you're in a position to win  spacex had to fight off the other  companies and even sue the u.s air force  effectively changing the rules of the  high-stakes game of currying the  pentagon's favor in order to get across  the finish line first  spacex fought the u.s air force in a  court of law for the opportunity to  compete with other traditional rocket  manufacturers and aerospace industry  competitors in the race for a government  contract  this was after an investigation into  boeing by lockheed martin over  possession of stolen rocket data by an  ex-employee  boeing themselves had alerted their  rival company in an act of corporate  honesty when the documents were found  resulting in a coalition between the two  companies a few years later  the ula has been in operation now for 15  years  and effectively reducing the playing  field to just a single launch provider  causing heavy rocket pricing to soar  spacex filed its lawsuit against the  government citing that the ula merger  created a monopoly that prevented an  open market system in any competition  from other launch providers  the terms of the lawsuit were not to be  awarded any launch contracts but for the  opportunity to compete  now here we are with spacex and ula  sharing a contract that was fairly  contested by all parties involved  the lawsuit paved the way for the space  force tender process  and arguably the competition has kept  both prices down  and the contract honest throughout the  process  the future spacex's crew dragon  spacecraft and falcon 9 rocket have now  been given the stamp of approval and  green light certified to carry nasa  astronauts they will form part of the  national security space launch or nssl  program  replacing the evolved expendable launch  vehicle or eelv  program which ran during the 90s before  being retired last year  boeing's delta iv rockets and lockheed  martin's atlas v rockets have been used  by the military for years  but it's spacex's reusable transport  craft that will prove the game changer  in getting both astronauts and guardians  into space  it's safe to assume that should spacex  prove itself a capable new contractor  supported by the great track record of  the ula they could share the workload  for the next few decades