"The fact that SpaceX is now winning opportunities to launch satellites globally is a huge deal," said Carissa Christensen, managing partner at commercial space industry consulting firm Tauri Group. "They've changed the conversation and shifted the ground to focus on price from the very beginning. And now they're starting to get a piece of this market that the U.S. hasn't been in for years."  Indeed, the U.S. went from launching basically all the world's commercial satellites prior to the 1980s to launching virtually none of them a decade later as launch costs spiraled and companies like Arianespace offered less-expensive options. Currently, the U.S. government regularly spends upward of $200 million launching its most expensive and sensitive satellites into orbit, hiring United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, under non-competitive contracts to do so.  SpaceX may soon be eating away at ULA's market as well, one worth tens of billions of dollars. In April, SpaceX filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Air Force demanding it open up a block of 36 launches recently awarded to ULA under an exclusive contract. ULA claims it requires $225 million to launch a military satellite into orbit. SpaceX says it can do so for $100 million per launch, making it an appealing option if it can force the government to open the contracts for competition. Global events may work in the company's favor as well, as tensions continue to build between the U.S. and Russia, from which ULA sources some of its rocket engines.  "If they can get access to the military launch market, that is a substantial market," Christensen said. "It also has historically been a fairly predictable and stable market, and that could be very significant for SpaceX."  Read MoreHave an investing idea? Build your own ETF?  When SpaceX's next-gen heavy-lift rocket, the Falcon Heavy, flies for the first time early next year, SpaceX will also have the world's largest rocket in its portfolio, preparing it to compete with anyone in the marketplace on capability while leaving everyone behind on price, thanks to full ownership of its own product ecosystem.  Therein lies another major differentiator between SpaceX and its more traditional rivals: Rather than using old technologies or integrating existing products into a new product, SpaceX largely creates its own. It's a technology company doing business as a space services provider.
With its cost-effective technology, Space X is disrupting an industry that promises to be the biggest innovation economy in human history.