I have a strong suspicion that SpaceX has been deploying and testing the sensor platform for a while now. The payload mass trend of the starlink satellite had large jumps in the most recent two iterations (doubled twice).
That makes sense. Their first customer was the US Army. Civilians are great for stress-testing a new thing. Civilians were the first to test the internet but it was built for war even if the first iteration was a bit short sighted. Falcon-heavy seems like a great fit for putting heavy weapons in space whereas I think most here know how silly the whole mars discussion is.
schiffern•9mo ago
For military aerospace the usual rule is "lose money on the product, make money on the service contract."