There are many timelines without spacex where something like starlink isn’t achieved for many more decades, possibly centuries. Very few thought this was possible.
I hope so. As much as I don't really care for that man, Starlink has been an absolute gamechanger. It's much faster & more stable than anything including 3/4/5g in my region. It hasn't gone down even once on my roof even in really bad weather. Allows me to live in nature comfortably.
I don't trust Elon Musk words, at all. It doesn't mean I think it is wrong, but that it can be right or wrong, and material evidence may point to either direction, but what Elon Musk says is random noise to me. At least when he is talking about his business. He is like a professional poker player, you never know when he is bluffing.<p>In the case of Starlink, on what grounds does it "breakeven"? It is a department of a private company, there is no way to know. In particular, Starlink is entirely dependent on SpaceX launches. How much does Starlink pays SpaceX for its launches? It is a completely arbitrary value. In reality, the money doesn't leave the company.<p>For what I know, it may just be a pumping scheme for a future IPO, with the goal of eventually funneling investor money from a public Starlink to a private SpaceX. Or maybe not, Elon Musk is way smarter than me when it comes to business, that's why he is a billionaire and I am not, I can't predict his moves, but I know enough not to trust him.
> In 2021, Musk said SpaceX would spin off and take Starlink public once its cash flow was reasonably predictable.<p>As long as authoritarian governments predictably shut off all internet to their extremely ironic ghettos
I am really curious how much Musk extracted from American taxpayers. Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink everything is or was substituted by tax money. Without the Ukraine war and all the terminals and monthly payments from different governments Starlink would have no chance to break even so early.