SpaceX's "Record Launch Cadence"? More Like a Monoculture of Mediocrity

So, another SpaceX launch. Yawn. I swear, if I have to watch one more overly-produced livestream of a Falcon 9 blasting off to deploy another batch of Starlink satellites, I'm gonna scream. They're bragging about launch cadence, about "reusability enabling a massive cadence"... Give me a break. It's like celebrating the fact that you can pump out a million identical plastic forks every day. Sure, it's efficient, but is it inspiring? Is it pushing boundaries, or just filling low Earth orbit with more space junk?

Don't get me wrong, I understand the appeal. Cheap access to space is theoretically a good thing. Blah blah blah, "democratizing space," "building an economy in low Earth orbit." We've heard it all before. But let's be real: the vast majority of these launches are just for one thing: Starlink.

Sixty launches this year alone dedicated to Starlink. Sixty! That's not a space program; that's a glorified internet service provider with delusions of grandeur. And sure, maybe some people in rural areas are finally getting decent broadband thanks to Elon's space internet. But at what cost? We're turning the night sky into a freaking billboard.

And the local economy gets a boost? Offcourse it does. More minimum wage jobs for people serving food to the engineers and technicians. Big deal.

The "Reusability" Racket

They keep hammering on about reusability. Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX's VP of Launch, even trots out this ridiculous analogy about airplanes where "the wings fall off and the fuselage falls off." Okay, Kiko, settle down. We get it, rockets used to be disposable. But acting like reusing the first stage of a Falcon 9 is some kind of revolutionary breakthrough? It's incremental progress, not a paradigm shift.

And let's not forget the environmental impact. All those rocket launches aren't exactly eco-friendly, are they? Burning tons of fuel, leaving a trail of exhaust in the upper atmosphere... I'm no Greta Thunberg, but even I can see that this relentless launch schedule can't be good for the planet.

Beyond the Hype: What Are We REALLY Achieving?

Ed Mango from Eastern Florida State College says "The more, the better" when it comes to launches. Well, Ed, that's easy for you to say. You're churning out graduates to feed the machine. But are we actually exploring anything new? Are we pushing the boundaries of science? Or are we just getting really good at launching the same damn satellites over and over again?

I saw one photo from Florida Today, a "one minute time exposure" showing the Starlink launch arching over the "super Beaver moon." Beautiful, right? Except the beauty is artificial. It's the beauty of industrialization, of relentless progress for the sake of progress. Where's the sense of wonder? Where's the exploration? SpaceX launches Starlink 6-81 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida

Maybe I'm just being a grumpy old cynic. Maybe this is all leading to something amazing. Maybe Starlink really will connect the entire world and usher in a new era of global understanding. Maybe... but I doubt it. It feels more like we're just paving the way for a future where the night sky is nothing but a grid of corporate satellites, all vying for our attention.

So, What's the Real Point?

SpaceX is great at launching rockets. They’re really, really good at it. But all this "record launch cadence" is starting to feel less like a triumph of human ingenuity and more like a symptom of our insatiable need for more, more, more, without ever stopping to ask why.