There are several players in this general "launch micro/nanosats to LEO"
already, and a few more who can sell you an engine in that general thrust
class. Assuming a market exists, what do you offer that they don't?
If the answer is "cash" you may get more bang for your buck partnering with
an existing team that has already solved some of the problems - even a team
of experienced amateurs (see: Armadillo). Just the stand-up and initial
recruiting costs for this kind of thing can be a good fraction of a
megabuck.
On Sep 26, 2016 12:14 PM, "William Claybaugh" <wclaybaugh2@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Monday, September 26, 2016, Randall Clague <rclague@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Mon, Sep 26, 2016 at 5:26 AM, William Claybaugh <wclaybaugh2@xxxxxxxxxRandall:
wrote:
How much money did John Carmack waste before he gave up?
Waste? Not a dime of it. John Carmack ran the most cost effective
rocket vocational school in the world for 15 years, my former employer not
excluded. If Armadillo never made money, it was never supposed to.
-R
A fair point if John's intent was to offer Voc Ed...which I do not think
it was.
However, if Max's intent is to make money, this is not the investment for
him; ignoring the personal financial gains that are largely a consequence
of the equity valuation bubble, not one of the startup launch companies
since the turn of the millinium has generated an economic profit. Nor are
any likely to ever so do.
There appear to be ways to use network effects to generate an economic
profit across an integrated space enterprise, but the launch business
itself is not the correct bet.
Bill
