A fully reusable single stage to orbit "plane" completely changes the dynamics of putting stuff in orbit both on cost and turn around time.
The Falcon 9 is privately funded as is the Merlin engine it uses however pretty much all the materials science, initial engineering etc required to design and build a merlin was publicly funded.
There are times when a public/private partnership makes sense and this is one of them.
A fully reusable single stage to orbit "plane" completely changes the dynamics of putting stuff in orbit both on cost and turn around time.
The Falcon 9 is privately funded as is the Merlin engine it uses however pretty much all the materials science, initial engineering etc required to design and build a merlin was publicly funded.
There are times when a public/private partnership makes sense and this is one of them.