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SpaceX Discussion Thread


Skylon

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19 minutes ago, Lukaszenko said:

I've been watching many replays lately because I missed the live show. But, then it's more of a background watch than something that I focus on. The suspense just isn't there once you know that it succeeded

I like any rocket launch with a live cam, it's cool to see a vehicle fly into space in real time.

Even better with return footage...

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1 hour ago, Geonovast said:

I read that first sentence about 8 times (without the rest of it) before I realized that they weren't talking about vertical payload integration on Falcon 9.

There was a lot of talk last year about ULA & BO delays 

SX likely not patient with that 

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Vertical integration is usually assumed to be more expensive than outsourcing work to suppliers, but it can be riskier to outsource.

Often the assumption is that you can squeeze suppliers on price better than you can your own employees. Also, if somebody has a better way of making something than you do, you can take advantage of that efficiency by hiring them to do it.

But you end up putting your entire schedule (or even product viability) in the hands of your suppliers. For example, if a hypothetical rocket company decides to outsource engine making, and then one of their engine sources is unavailable because of geopolitical concerns while the other one is many, many years late providing the engine they were contracted to provide, that can be a problem.

Edited by mikegarrison
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Outsourcing things that are fungible is fine. Like, nobody expects a company to make their own pens and paper, right? Or office chairs? (Unless they are in the pen, paper, or chair business.)

But when you have a sole source supplier that you can't live without, all of a sudden that company gets tremendous power over you.

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