Blue Origin is a leading aerospace equipment manufacturer. It is the brainchild of Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and the world’s richest man with an estimated net worth of $206bn. Bezos has sold about $1bn in Amazon stocks to fund Blue Origin. The company has over 2500 employees but generates only $20 million in annual revenues.
Virgin Galactic is a spaceflight manufacturer founded by British billionaire Richard Branson. It is part of the Virgin Group and develops commercial and suborbital spacecraft. The company is on the same level as SpaceX and Blue Origins in terms of development and tech. But its revenue lags behind the top competitors. Unlike SpaceX, Virgin Galactic is not profitable. In 2020, it made a loss of $210 million. In Jun 2021, Branson soared 53 miles to space aboard the Virgin Galactic rocket and returned safely to the spaceport. This milestone was the rocket’s first fully crewed test spaceflight.
ULA is a joint rocket-building venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin. The company provides launch services, manufactures rockets, and conducts orbital spaceflights. In 2020, ULA had around 2,500 employees and made $2 billion in revenues.
Rocket Lab is a private aerospace manufacturer and small satellite launch service provider. It has several smallsat launch contracts with NASA and US Space Force. Rocket Lab’s launch business generated $33 million in 2020. It is on track to hit $127 million in revenues in 2021.
Northrop Grumman is an aerospace specialist with 90,000 employees. It is one of the world’s largest weapons manufacturers and military tech providers. In Jun 2018, Northrop Grumman acquired Orbital ATK and absorbed it into its Space Systems.
Arianespace was the first company to offer commercial launch services globally. It operates the heavy-lift Ariane 5 for dual launches to GEO, the Soyuz-2 for medium-lift, and Vega for lighter payloads. The company’s first commercial spaceflight was in May 1984 and has launched over 850 satellites in 41 years. For fiscal 2020, Arianespace generated about $1.2 billion in revenues.
Astranis is a space startup that manufactures the next-gen of telecommunications satellites at a lower cost than other competitors. It offers MicroGEO satellites, smaller and cheaper geostationary communications satellites designed to provide connectivity to specific points on Earth. In Apr 2021, Astranis raised $250 million in a Series C funding round at a valuation of $1.4 billion. This round brings its total to over $350 million.
Spaceflight Adventures is a space tourism broker that organizes suborbital spaceflights for wealthy clients. Since 2001, Space Adventures has helped seven people get seats on Russian Soyuz mission flights to the International Space Station. Its orbital travel packages cost $42 million to more than $100 million.
SES S.A. is a telecommunication and data connectivity service provider with over 70 geostationary and medium-Earth satellites. The company has around 2,100 employees and offers its services globally. For full-year 2020, its revenue declined by 5.44% to $1.6 billion.
Relativity Space is a small-launch vehicle startup that manufactures aerospace equipment for commercial orbital launch services. It uses 3D technology to build components for launch vehicles and rocket engines. Relativity Space raised $500 million and $650 million in the first half of 2021, bringing its total funding to more than $1.2 billion. The company has around 400 employees and expects to add more than 200 more by the end of 2021.
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