Earlier this week, SpaceX launched for the 75th time this year, continuing a flight cadence that should see the company come close to 100 missions by the end of December.
"With our 2 million users, (we) need that constellation refreshed," the SpaceX official told Ars on background.
SpaceX's success in recovering and reusing Falcon 9 boosters and payload fairings has been vital to making this possible.
Technicians can swap out parts like engines, fins, landing legs, and valves that malfunction in flight or show signs of wear.
Engineers have shortened the time needed to reconfigure SpaceX's busiest launch pad in Florida to less than four days.
Supply chain management isn't as eye-popping as landing rockets on a floating platform in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, but it's still important.
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Of course it has an effect on the environment. Everything does. Tim Dodd did a nice analysis: How much do rockets pollute?
TL;DR: Falcon 9 is better than most rockets, as it doesn't use SRBs, and the first stage and fairings can be reused many times. Starship will be better still, as it uses methane instead of RP-1 (reducing soot), and the entire vehicle is designed with reuse in mind.