I think you’re missing the amortization of the r+d and capital upkeep of the whole launch complex. Since the satellites have such a short lifespan you can’t only count the upfront costs of manufacturing and launching, you have to include the whole shebang. The starlink system has to include the entire Falcon 9 architecture as overhead. And since it’s so integral to their ultimate business model you should also include all the development costs of starship to each starlink satellite. The ROE probably doesn’t look so good including all that, which explains Space Ai.
GamingChairModel@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I think the $1.5 million per satellite includes the amortized costs from everything else. They’ve launched 10,000 satellites so far, so the other fixed costs are spread around across all the satellites and the service itself. And they have lots of paying customers, including maritime and aviation customers. The rural customers who can be served by the network are already additional revenue, and don’t cost any extra to serve.
Similarly, the development costs of each rocket should be amortized across all the ways the rocket is used, including external paid customers unrelated to Starlink, who just pay for their own payloads to go to space.
Looking it up, SpaceX had $11.4 billion in revenue from Starlink in 2025. As far as I can tell, that segment of their company is profitable, and it’s everything else that is a disaster.
But my point is simple: the useful lifespan of a satellite just changes the amortization calculation. If there are enough customers who will use it, then it can still be cheaper than fiber trenched to a single customer.