When people talk about SpaceX being a private company, I have to wonder how different it really is from a government run space program when every single dollar of income they have comes from the US government (via NASA. I'd be happy to to be wrong on this, let me know if I am) I am not complaining about this, I'm a big fan of SpaceX, but it doesn't seem to me that they're actually a "private space company." in a meaningful way when their funding is just as prone to political whims as NASA's.
I guess the difference is that as a private company, they're free to go find funding from other countries' governments too. But have they? And is anyone other than a government going to buy their services?
P.S. I don't really know what I'm talking about, those are actual questions, not sarcasm.
Because SpaceX is private, it creates a proven market for selling space exploration vehicle use to the government. Other players will be able to join them. The government will then have options in which space companies to use. That creates competition. Competition fosters innovation. Eventually, space exploitation will become economically feasible to be funded by private interests. Once that happens, the real "space race" will be on.
As an example of the value of privatization, look at the history of the Internet [1]. The protocols and useful infrastructure were worked out and available in the 70s. When I was in college in the 80s, we had internet connections. I played games with it, read usenet, traded files with people around the world, etc. I thought it was really cool, but couldn't imagine how my mom would ever get a chance to use it. Then around 1995, the Internet was opened up to private interests. Growth exploded. Billions of extra dollars from all sectors of the economy were willingly poured into expanding the internet so that everyone's mom could access it.
Yes, that's actually why I mentioned some of them get their funding indirectly. Hopefully, SpaceX will be able to diversify its sources of revenues and get some more contracts from the private sector. I'd be really surprised however if they are allowed to take funding from foreign governments despite being a private company.
Their second launch was a Malaysian satellite, and they are scheduled to launch satellites for Intelsat and AsiaSat, so they have private customers providing income, and foreign governments as well.
I guess the difference is that as a private company, they're free to go find funding from other countries' governments too. But have they? And is anyone other than a government going to buy their services?
P.S. I don't really know what I'm talking about, those are actual questions, not sarcasm.