Launch is the foundation of the space industry, to the point that many conflate it with the space industry in entirety because it is literally the loudest, most spectacular element we see. But the quietly orbiting satellites overhead are what really drive the space economy. Even if launch capabilities drastically increase as SpaceX promises with Starship, satellite deployment bottlenecks will continue to hold the space economy back. The satellite industry is now doubling the number of active objects in low Earth orbit (LEO) every two years, a growth rate with which no plausible expansion of launch capacity can keep pace.
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