SpaceX is moving to buy swarm, a smaller satellite start, in a rare acquisition for the private space company founded by Elon Musk. Typically, Spacex does not buy or merge with other companies, which causes the offer to buy highly unusual swarm, although on paper it does not seem like a bad idea.
According to CNBC, SWARM does not have almost the number of satellites in Spacex orbit, but has FCC licenses that will now be transferred to Spacex once the agreement is completed and the swarm becomes a “Total Property Direct Subsidiary of Spacex “
The terms of the agreement have not been revealed, but a previous assessment put the value of SWARM at approximately $ 85 million. It only has 120 of its SPACEBEE satellites in orbit, and those are comparatively small next to the Satellites StarLink Starx.
StarLink is a SPACEX lateral bustle when it is not transforming other people’s satellites or brings upload, and now people, to the International Space Station. StarLink is a planned network of thousands of satellites that will provide satellite broadband Internet access to almost all land points.
Satellite internet is nothing new, of course, but satellites are not stationary above the surface of the earth and move too fast to provide a stable and reliable Internet connection, so they are usually reserved for specialized equipment that It does not need constant access but needs a connection in a remote location where the infrastructure does not exist.
The StarLink solution to this problem is essentially surrounding the earth in a giant housing of connected satellites so that even if a satellite passes from the line of sight necessary to maintain a connection, another satellite in the network will be close enough to it. Above where he left him, providing a reliable connection wherever he is on the surface of the earth (as long as he can see the sky, that is).
This is a pretty bold plan, honestly, and Spacex seems committed to StarLink, as it is for the ISS and government contracts that maintain the company rinse with cash.
StarLink is not without his problems, especially for astronomers and Stargazers who now have thousands of bright satellites that extend throughout the sky, ruining carefully planned telescopic observations and interfere with our vision of the stars beyond.
This is one of the reasons why there are licenses for satellites. Musk, which is notoriously thorny when it comes to government interference, certainly sees the value on the red tape involved in obtaining new or modified FCC licenses for SATELLINK satellites if you can and could have come to the conclusion that simply buy the Licenses from other people is more efficient.
While this could be the case, we really hope you do not. The consolidation of the technical company in the last decade has led to an absolute suffocating competition and, frankly, innovation.
Now we live in a world where “entrepreneurs” and the only goal of the founders of home seems to be large enough to be large enough to be noticed by one of the dozens of technology giants, such as Apple, Uber or Facebook , and it is checked to the melody of hundreds of millions, if not billions, dollars. And there is a growing evidence that all these acquisitions do not produce innovation, but suffocating it.
For all complaints, one could have ELON Musk and Spacex, have not followed this type of unicqual, anything, the trajectory that resembles remote appearance to growth.
In any case, they have made it the good American way to the old and corrected it in a constant flow of government contracts of NASA and the Department of Defense of the United States. But Spacex has also built an exceptional team of dedicated scientists and engineers who are in it for the right reasons, at least.
Commercial
And, honestly, it is working. Spacex has a clear cushioned track by fat-fat batteries that allows him to take risks, innovate and do great things. Elon Musk, to the credit of him, has given the Emposters’ engineers a lot of space to try things, even if it fails. The rockets that exploit on the launch pads are received with laughter and, sometimes, greet, no horror and recrimination.
Honestly, it would be a big mistake for the company to let go out of the track at this stage by reducing the process through the acquisition. The arduous work of the company has paid great dividends to date, so anything that has not been doing will already be inherently risky.
Spacex said that his interest in swarm is “access to intellectual property and experience developed by the enjambres team.” Maybe it’s not anything, and we really hope it’s. If the engineers and SWARM staff are experts in their field, then Spacex would be smart to take them to help with Starlink. But if this acquisition is more about paperwork and impatience, we would definitely be worried. The impatience and science of rockets are not mixed.
The swarm is a small business. A valuation of $ 85 million is probably less than the cost of Rocket Spacex fuel has used in the last two years, so this is not likely to be a big problem in the great scheme of things. But when you are at the beginning of the fourth quarter, complacency is an easy way to lose the game.
Even if it’s just a small satellite startup, there will always be another ground founder around the corner, ready to put a price on the only product, service, algorithm or government license of your company. This type of acquisition of Quicksand would be a disaster for Spacex and should be avoided at all costs, no matter how attractive the offer or how much red ribbon promises to avoid.
