Starlink is SpaceX’s global satellite‑internet network — and it has become the company’s main profit engine, responsible for the majority of SpaceX’s revenue and essentially all of its operating profit. I wrote last weekend on how Elon Musk intends to use it to finance his long term vision for Starship, a series on integrated and squential steps to get mankind (read "haves" not the "have nots" out into space to secure mankind's long term existence.

Let's start with having a look at the satellite itself. It's a decent bit of kit in its own right. Weighing in at between 573 lbs (260 kg) for older units and roughly 1,760 lbs (800 kg) for the newer, massive V2 models, each spacecraft is equipped with a single, massive solar array that charges its onboard battery. As a contrast to traditionally devised blocky satellites, Starlink satellites feature a compact, flat-panel, aerodynamic design that allows SpaceX to stack up to 60 of them inside a single Falcon 9 rocket fairing. Equipped with state-of-the-art optical laser space links to communicate with neighboring satellites each satellite is able to minimise reliance on ground stations, and utilise advanced Star Tracker navigation sensors to determine their exact orientation in space.

Again, as I posted recently, Skynet has arrived!

Each Starlink satellite, of which there are >10.600 currently out there, "floats" in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at an altitude of roughly 340 to 370 miles, traveling at speeds around 17,500 mph (28,000 km/h). Operated by SpaceX, these flat-panel spacecraft use highly efficient argon thruster propulsion to maneuver and maintain their position in space. Together they deliver integrated high‑speed, low‑latency broadband internet almost anywhere on Earth and play a key global role in supporting residential, mobile, maritime, aviation, enterprise, and government customers. With speeds up to and greater than 400+ Mbps in many regions it is currently available in >150 countries worldwide and has become an essential infrastructure for rural communities, airlines, ships, emergency services, and military forces. Starlink really is a cashcow and a quick look at increasing revenues demonstrates this. In 2024 Starlink exceeded its launch business (set up costs) with a turnover of $11.8B and in 2025 it moreorless held at $11.4B. In generating so much money it now represents 69% of all of SpaceX's revenue and is the only part of SpaceX that is currently generating any kind of a profit.

I suppose that a bit like Amazon (Jeff Bezos) beforehand and Diamond Cable in the UK, it is all about getting up and running and then just letting it draw income. In the case of Amazon Jeff Bezos was able to weather years of huge losses just while he got the infrastructure in place. In the case of Diamond Cable they were unable to and were finally taken over after spending all that money on laying cable, which is at the heart of a significant part of the UK broadband network, as they ran out of resources (read money).

So the bottom line is that once the satellites are in orbit, each new subscriber adds high‑margin recurring revenue and in 2025 Starlink recorded an adjusted profit of $7.17B which represented an 86% growth year on year. In layman's terms each new subscriber costs almost nothing - as the infrastructure is already there, and therefore almost the entire subscription cost represents profit. In 2023 Starlink had 2.3m subscribers, in 2024 4.4m and last year it more than doubled again to 8.9m. It is estimated that there are currently 10.3m subscribers with that figure projected to increase to 16.8m by the end of this year (2026).

Starlink has a lot of advantages that make a strong business cost. Starting from the beginning satellite launch costs are cheap (relatively speaking). SpaceX reuses Falcon 9 boosters up to 24 times (and remember each one can carry 6 satellites in its payload), reducing the cost of deploying satellites dramatically. Only 6% of 2024 launches used new boosters for example. When it comes down to it, SpaceX can launch satellites cheaper than any competitor, and this makes Starlink's dominance extremely difficult to challenge. Furthermore, with it being a space-based technology, it does not need ground infrastructure (it is probably not far off being able to be run from a single bedroom - although that might be a slight exaggeration - but only slight!). Its reach is global and we as the public probably became more aware of this when Ukraine started using it for intelligence gathering against the Russians. In fact looking back it seems that while Elon Musk offered Starlink's availability for free it may not have been as magnanimous as originally thought. It raised awareness and curiosity, which is tantamount to effective marketing.

So with everything in place it is almost a case of sitting back and letting subscribers subscribe and then raking in the money

So in the end Starlink is much more than a side project, it is SpaceX's core business and the most reliable and only source of profitable income. This profitablility is real, scalable and and accelerating. It is also fair to say that, in addition to funding Musk’s long‑term ambitions (Starship, Mars, orbital data centers, AI), it is reshaping the global telecom market and the future development of mankind.

Now, that is a bold statement to finish with if I ever head one! 

As always stay safe and well my friends