# The Satellite Renaissance  ## Metadata - Author: [[Anna-Sofia Lesiv]] - Full Title: The Satellite Renaissance - Category: #articles - URL: https://every.to/p/the-satellite-renaissance ## Highlights - After NASA retired its space shuttle program in 2011, the Baikonur spaceport, a Soviet-era launch pad based in Kazakhstan, was the [only place](https://abcnews.go.com/International/russias-crumbling-baikonur-spaceport-earths-launchpad-manned-flights/story?id=59677739) on Earth that could launch manned missions to space. For years, the route to the International Space Station, the floating laboratory where research on microgravity and space is done some 250 miles above the Earth’s surface, was paved through Kazakhstan. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h2zn08sgz74402ccnbx2tzzv)) - With no demand for space services, and only a few remaining domestic players capable of doing so, the cost of building a weather satellite or a communications satellite fell in the range [between](https://globalcomsatphone.com/costs/) $200-$300 million. It typically fell on the big primes—massive organizations with government support and a history of military or space-related manufacturing—to build the satellites that ended up going into orbit. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h2zn0pnp6z6tqrccv7qgrbv6)) - One study [conducted by TelAstra](https://spacenews.com/companies-are-flying-old-satellites-longer-study-finds/) showed that over 30% of satellites we rely on are already operating beyond the scheduled expiration dates. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h2znstgx0bdbzj7pjqp0pem4)) - A rocket whose cost could be amortized over dozens of trips was a significantly cheaper option. The barrier to entry fell, and after 2015, many more customers became interested in experimenting with satellites. That’s when SpaceX changed the game yet again, by rolling out a ridesharing service on its Falcon 9 space bus. The bus could take payloads of up to 200 kilograms up into space for a price of roughly [$275,000 per kilogram](https://www.spacex.com/rideshare/) ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h2zntrmmvjhxwnd9rhxya31q)) - Rather than launching one massive satellite into geostationary orbit servicing a massive geographic area with higher latency, it became possible to launch a constellation of little satellites into low-Earth orbit, which could collectively cover the same area as one satellite up in GEO, only with a better connection. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h37ka1rpmtbtb2vzt9mqzpk1)) - It costs SpaceX somewhere in the ballpark of $2,750 to send 1 kg into space on its Falcon 9. However, SpaceX’s forthcoming Starship is planning to bring that cost down to just $100. [Republic Capital](https://republiccapital.co/), a prolific investor in space tech and SpaceX, believes that Starship is likely to change the world. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h37kqaazkbrr326pvv2ngmg1))