This is truly incredible stuff. The mind-boggling concept, the speed of execution, and a successful government contract within 2 years. Reminds me of what made "Silicon Valley" a magical space for the "believers" and not the "corporate warriors looking for their next Pre-IPO career opportunity".
There's something missing in the presented space-manufacturing economics and is aggravating with time which are the environmental costs of launching as they become part of manufacturing logistics. If space-manufacturing is to become mainstream it has to account for these costs. Now it the space-manufacturing is to avoid exactly the environmental impact, then other niche areas might be more interesting other than the pharmaceutical industry.
Even ignoring initial launch cost - SpaceX launch cost per additional kg is $5500.
Seems like a pretty big cost.
Then there's rent: how much is the cost of actually keeping an operating manufacturing plant in space? Employee cost? Cost to bring back down from orbit?
This is truly incredible stuff. The mind-boggling concept, the speed of execution, and a successful government contract within 2 years. Reminds me of what made "Silicon Valley" a magical space for the "believers" and not the "corporate warriors looking for their next Pre-IPO career opportunity".
Wow the most impressive thing in this article is they only slipped a quarter to the right for aerospace that's practically unheard-of.
Incredible piece. Thank you!
How long does the varda flywheel continue? Doesn’t the DoD get all the testing completed that it needs within a few years?
Will Bruey has been different from the beginning. So happy for him and the amazing team he’s put together.
There's something missing in the presented space-manufacturing economics and is aggravating with time which are the environmental costs of launching as they become part of manufacturing logistics. If space-manufacturing is to become mainstream it has to account for these costs. Now it the space-manufacturing is to avoid exactly the environmental impact, then other niche areas might be more interesting other than the pharmaceutical industry.
Even ignoring initial launch cost - SpaceX launch cost per additional kg is $5500.
Seems like a pretty big cost.
Then there's rent: how much is the cost of actually keeping an operating manufacturing plant in space? Employee cost? Cost to bring back down from orbit?
Now compare this vs. terrestrial cost.
Not the least bit clear there is a win here.