SpaceX (SPACE) deserves considerable credit for reinvigorating interest and investment in the private space industry. Its rockets have succeeded in delivering satellites into orbit and cargo payloads to the International Space Station. CEO Elon Musk has successfully stoked investor enthusiasm, raising billions of dollars across numerous funding rounds. Musk’s well-heeled backers have been promised a big slice of the future space economy.
Unfortunately, rocket launches alone cannot justify SpaceX’s $33.3 billion valuation. This has led SpaceX to sell investors on another vision: a constellation of 11,000 interlinked satellites, dubbed Starlink, that promises