Two weeks ago, we launched Payload Research, a new division within Payload dedicated to providing incisive, insight-driven analysis tailored for industry leaders and investors. Today, we welcome Jack Kuhr, the esteemed Research Director of Payload, to go under the hood of our new venture. We explore the motivations behind its inception and offer a glimpse into what the future holds. In addition, they discuss:

The Starship Report: This is Payload Research's inaugural publication, offering comprehensive insights into SpaceX’s heavy lift launch vehicle
SpaceX’s 2023 Financial Overview: An in-depth analysis of SpaceX's financial performance in 2023, including a detailed breakdown of its revenue and the methodology employed by our team

• Chapters •

00:00 - Intro

00:36 - Jack's history with Payload

04:14 - Why are we building Payload Research?

10:34 - The Starship Report

15:58 - When will we see Starship commercial payloads?

20:12 - Starship cost-analysis

27:35 - What is Starbase like?

30:13 - SpaceX’s 2023 financials

33:18 - Launch assumptions

34:52 - Starlink assumptions

39:38 - SpaceX’s Other revenue

42:44 - Payload's next research newsletter

43:18 - What should people expect from future Payload research editions?

44:50 - What is Jack looking forward to covering the most this year?

46:18 - How to sign up

• Show notes •

The Starship Report — https://payloadspace.com/starship-report/

Payload Research’s website — https://www.payloadspace.com/research

Jack’s socials —https://twitter.com/JackKuhr

Mo's socials — https://twitter.com/itsmoislam

Payload’s socials — https://twitter.com/payloadspace / https://www.linkedin.com/company/payloadspace

Pathfinder archive — Watch: https://www.youtube.com/@payloadspace Pathfinder archive — Listen: https://pod.payloadspace.com/episodes

• About us •

Pathfinder is brought to you by Payload, a modern space media brand built from the ground up for a new age of space exploration and commercialization. We deliver need-to-know news and insights daily to 15,000+ commercial, civil, and military space leaders. Payload is read by decision-makers at every leading new space company, along with c-suite leaders at all of the aerospace & defense primes. We’re also read on Capitol Hill, in the Pentagon, and at space agencies around the world.

Payload began as a weekly email sent to a few friends and coworkers. Today, we’re a team distributed across four time zones and two continents, publishing three media properties across multiple platforms:

1) Payload, our flagship daily newsletter, sends M-F @ 9am Eastern (https://newsletter.payloadspace.com/)

2) Pathfinder publishes weekly on Tuesday mornings (pod.payloadspace.com)

3) Parallax, our weekly space science briefing, hits inboxes Thursday (https://parallax.payloadspace.com/)

Space Research 2.0, with Jack Kuhr (Payload)

Valley of Depth