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afterburners_engaged t1_j7s9e5d wrote

Reply to comment by ragnarmcryan in SpaceX prepares for a massive test this week: Firing all 33 Starship engines at once by upyoars

Did Spacex get any subsidies?

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coldblade2000 t1_j7sxt8l wrote

They got seed money from NASA, and plenty of contracts, but not much that could be considered a "subsidy". At worst, they may have gotten some fat contracts as an investment by NASA, who desperately needed private companies to fill the LEO hole, and quick.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_SpaceX#Funding

Supposedly, by 2012, about half of their funding had been government contracts that provided down payments, while the rest were private investments. A year later, they would be undercutting the costs of the Ariane 5 and Proton-M

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AlexandersWonder t1_j7sdtyi wrote

NASA has contracts with them for their rockets. So in a way I guess some of our taxes might go to them. But not a lot, NASA has a pretty small budget compared with other government agencies

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afterburners_engaged t1_j7sk0oi wrote

But those are payment for services rendered or services that will be rendered right? A subsidies main purpose is to keep the cost of something low. Kind of like the $7500 income tax credit for electric cars

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AlexandersWonder t1_j7skurs wrote

it’s not a subsidy, I was just speculating as to why this first commenter brought up taxpayer dollars

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