Startups in a World of Abundant Space Access

Launch costs are set to fall by orders of magnitude as SpaceX's Starship scales. YC wants companies started now for business models that only work once reaching orbit is 100x cheaper.

SpaceX projects a near future of 10,000 Starship launches a year. Even an expendable Starship already costs about as much as a reusable Falcon 9, at a much lower cost per kilogram, and a reusable Starship at scale could cut launch costs per kilogram by several orders of magnitude.

The ask: companies whose business models don't quite work today but would once launch costs fall 100x or more and an orbital economy takes off. YC's view is that these companies should be started now, ahead of the cost curve.

Read the full request on YC →