EsSpaceX is due to launch the first manned mission from U.S. soil since the end of NASA’s Shuttle program on May 27. That follows a years-long process to establish launch capabilities as part of the firm’s longer-term space exploration plans. The availability of launch capacity by SpaceX and United Launch Alliance among others has greatly reduced the need to send satellites and other space systems to other countries for launch.
Panjiva’s data shows that U.S. exports fell 76.4% to $640 million in 2019 compared to their peak in 2017. Exports are dominated by communications satellites which were worth $619 million in 2019 and were equivalent to 97.9% of exports over the past 10 years.
Source: Panjiva
Like any industrial manufacturing business, SpaceX has a wide range of import requirements including heavy components. Panjiva’s U.S. seaborne import data shows there has been a three-fold increase in shipments linked to the firm in the three months to April 30 compared to a year earlier.
Leading suppliers in the past two years have included aluminum components suppliers Constellium and Berkshire Hathaway’s Western Specialty Alloys, fuel and handling systems from Airbus’s ArianeSpace and tooling equipment from Kobe Steel’s Quintus AB and MK Technology.
Source: Panjiva
