← Aerospace & Space
Critical node· Aerospace & Space · Critical anchor
SpaceX, Falcon 9 & orbital launch
Hawthorne (Californie), United States33.92°N 118.33°W
computed criticality24/100
reading
≈84% of world mass put in orbit (2024); ≈134 orbital launches
2024Fault line
A single reusable launcher puts into orbit the overwhelming majority of the mass sent up by humanity each year. This unprecedented concentration, rocket, factory and operator merged, is a single point of failure for Western access to space: a prolonged grounding of Falcon 9 would paralyse government satellites as much as the Starlink rollout. The exact figure varies by source and year.
Actors
SpaceX (Hawthorne, Cape Canaveral, Vandenberg)
Depends on 3
Aerospace carbon fibre, TorayAerospace & Space · Critical anchor↗Inertial units & gyroscopes, Honeywell, Northrop, SafranAerospace & Space · Link↗SpaceX engines, Merlin & RaptorAerospace & Space · Critical anchor↗Feeds 3
Starlink, SpaceXAerospace & Space↗GPS & GNSS, Space Force / global constellationAerospace & Space↗Deep Space Network, NASA / JPLAerospace & Space↗Shocks endured
Russia cuts off the RD-180 enginesMar 3, 2022↗Sources