[With a big smile on my face] Yes. Yes, it is.

Competition forces everyone to continually improve or lose their place in the market.

Competition is why we can call foreign countries for pennies on miniature, portable cellular telephones (that do more than make phone calls).

Competition is why our cars are so inexpensive, yet have excellent safety features and common conveniences that were luxuries only a decade or so ago.

Competition is why innovations happen at such a rapid rate.

Competition is why food is inexpensive and why we worry about the price and availability of rocket launches, international phone calls, or automobile conveniences rather than worry about where our next meal will come from.

It took a few centuries to get here, but we have all these, and more, because of free market competition between countries and between capitalist companies.

I was very interested that the article spent so much space — about half the text — discussing the price for a launch. Although we talk a lot about price per pound (or kilo), pricing has many other factors than only the weight of the payload. This is especially true for lightweight payloads. Transaction costs and service requirements also have an effect on price.

Launch costs to the customer have become very important in determining the feasibility of a space company’s business plan.