# SpaceX

> The rocket company that also runs Starlink, internet from thousands of satellites.

- Level: Basic
- Topics: Tech companies, Networks
- URL: https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/spacex/
- In Spanish: [SpaceX](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/es/spacex/)

**SpaceX** is an American aerospace company founded by Elon Musk in 2002. Its main business is launching things into space for governments and companies, and its big technical bet was **reuse**: the first stage of its **Falcon 9** rocket flies back and lands upright so it can fly again, which made launches far cheaper and more frequent. Its Dragon capsule has carried astronauts to the International Space Station since 2020, and it is developing **Starship**, a fully reusable giant rocket meant for the Moon and Mars.

For most people, though, SpaceX means **Starlink**: satellite internet from a constellation of thousands of small satellites in low Earth orbit. Because they fly much closer than traditional satellites, the signal makes a shorter trip and latency is low enough for video calls and gaming. You get a small dish, point it at the open sky and it connects; it reaches rural areas, ships and planes where fiber optic or mobile networks do not.

Cheap launches and Starlink feed each other: SpaceX launches its own satellites on its own rockets, and Starlink subscriptions became its largest source of revenue. In 2026 it absorbed xAI, Musk's AI company, and went public on the Nasdaq. Astronomers have raised concerns about so many satellites crowding the night sky, and the company's control over internet access in conflict zones has turned it into a geopolitical actor.

## An analogy

A trucking company that got so good at reusing its trucks that it started its own delivery business, using those trucks to build a network of stations in the sky.

## Keep in mind

- Founded in 2002 by Elon Musk; known for rockets that land and fly again.
- Starlink provides internet from thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit.
- Low orbit means lower latency than traditional satellite internet.
- In 2026 it absorbed xAI and went public.

## Go deeper

- [SpaceX (official site)](https://www.spacex.com/)
- [Starlink (official site)](https://www.starlink.com/)
- [SpaceX on Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX)

## Related terms

- [Satellite internet](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/satellite-internet/): Internet access beamed from space to a dish, where cables and cell towers don't reach.
- [Bandwidth and latency](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/bandwidth-and-latency/): How much data fits per second, and how long each trip takes. Two different things.
- [Fiber optic](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/fiber-optic/): Thin strands of glass that carry data as pulses of light, fast and over long distances.
- [xAI](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/xai/): Elon Musk's AI company, maker of the Grok chatbot built into X.
- [Artificial intelligence](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/artificial-intelligence/): Getting computers to do things that, until recently, only people could do.
- [Internet](https://tidbit.legios.com.ar/internet/): A worldwide network of networks that lets any connected device reach any other.