Musk says SpaceX to fly greater, absolutely reusable Starship in 2026

Following the success of its newest Starship check, SpaceX is readying an even bigger model of the rocket that needs to be absolutely reusable subsequent 12 months, Elon Musk mentioned.

The newer Starship shall be able to carrying greater than 100 tons of payload to orbit, the SpaceX chief govt officer mentioned, talking through video at an All-In Podcast convention on Tuesday.

The present iteration of Starship, which the corporate calls Version 2, has capability of about 35 tons and SpaceX has been in a position to get better simply its booster. Musk has lengthy promised full reusability and far bigger payload capability.

SpaceX suffered from two explosive check flights and different growth challenges with Starship assessments this 12 months, however had a profitable check final month.

Now the corporate is specializing in the shift to the larger rocket, Musk mentioned.

“There’s only one booster and ship left that’s in the Version 2 design, and thereafter it’s Version 3, which is a gigantic upgrade,” he mentioned.

“Unless we have some very major setbacks, SpaceX will demonstrate full reusability next year, catching both the booster and the ship and being able to deliver over 100 tons to a useful orbit,” he added.

Musk additionally answered questions on SpaceX’s plans to make use of Starlink satellites to offer service to customers’ cell phones and different units, a enterprise that obtained a lift on Monday with the corporate’s settlement to buy wi-fi spectrum from EchoStar Corp. for about $17 billion.

SpaceX must work with handset makers to make use of the brand new frequencies, Musk mentioned, including that the telephones needs to be prepared in round two years. At the identical time, SpaceX should additionally construct new satellites for the spectrum, he mentioned.

“We’re not going to put the other carriers out of business,” he mentioned of market leaders like AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. “They’re still going to be around, because they own a lot of spectrum.”

The purpose for SpaceX, he mentioned, is to supply customers “a comprehensive solution for high bandwidth at home and for high bandwidth direct to cell.”