Private spaceflight is starting to look a lot more like a viable business.

During the FAA's Commercial Space Transportation Conference earlier this week, SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwelll said the company plans to increase its rocket production this year and the next, and move up the pace of launches. The announcement signals more rockets for the future.

From Space News

"Now we're in this factory transformation to go from building six or eight a year to about 18 cores a year. By the end of this year we should be at over 30 cores per year," [Shotwell] said. "So you see the factory start to morph."

Those changes, she said, include doubling the number of first stages that can be assembled at one time from three to six. The company is also working to accelerate production of the Merlin engines that power the Falcon 9 since, at the higher production rates planned for this year, the company will need to build hundreds of engines a year.

Business has been booming for SpaceX. The company carries supplies to and from the International Space Station, and launches commercial satellites into orbit.

Geopolitics are also on SpaceX's side. United Launch Alliance, a joint venture by Boeing and Lockheed Martin, builds its rockets around engines purchased on the cheap from Russia. With Congress eager for a domestic alternative, the Air Force is awarding more contracts to SpaceX for its reconnaissance satellite launches.