SpaceX's satellite ambitions squeeze out rivals reliant on its rockets

WASHINGTON, Aug 4 : SpaceX is increasingly reserving space on its rockets to launch its own Starlink satellites, crowding out rival space companies that have long depended on Elon Musk's company to get their payloads into orbit.Starlink's share of SpaceX missions has grown year after year, rising from 54 per cent of the Falcon 9 rocket's manifest in 2020 to about 79 per cent so far in 2026, according to a Reuters analysis of launch data compiled by astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell.In recent months, at least seven spacecraft companies have been told that Falcon 9 is fully booked for all types of missions until 2028 or 2029, eight sources told Reuters. They added that the bottleneck is driven by SpaceX's plans to transition to the new Starship rocket, designed to be fully reusable and cheape