China Races to Catch Up to SpaceX
On Oct. 9, SpaceX completed its 14th satellite launch so far this year, putting 10 satellites into orbit for Iridium. Two days later, SpaceX completed launch No. 15 -- this time for SES -- en route to a record-breaking 20 launches anticipated by the close of 2017. Next year, SpaceX plans to increase that launch count by 50%, sending 30 rockets into orbit.
At that point, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said at the 2017 International Astronautical Congress in September, the company will account for "approximately half of all orbital launches that occurs [sic] next year on Earth." But who's doing the other launches? And how close are SpaceX's rivals to making the space race into a real "horse race"?
With its Oct. 11 Falcon 9 launch, SpaceX secured its position as the world's biggest rocket-launch company of 2017. Image source: SpaceX.
Source: Fool.com