The development of the largest ultra-super- heavy launch system ever designed in history has been progressing at a jaw-dropping pace, and CEO Musk is comfortable that it will reach space sometime next year.
The National Academies held their first virtual joint fall meeting of the Space Studies Board and the Board on Physics and Astronomy. Musk was given the opportunity to respond to questions from Academy members on the next-gen system during the Q&A session after the talk.
Musk wants to have the launch pad and tower at Starbase, the company's expansive facility in Boca Chica, Texas, completed by the end of the month. Musk said there would be at least a dozen additional launches throughout the rest of the year.
Musk was careful to note that it doesn't mean that the spaceship will reach its destination in January. There is a lot of risk associated with the first launch. I don't think it will be successful, but I think we will make a lot of progress.
Regulatory approval is one of the major barriers to a January launch. The Federal Aviation Administration is assessing the environmental impact of the launch activities at Starbase. The FAA said earlier this week that it would wrap up the review by December 31, so if all goes according to Musk's plans, a January launch is the earliest feasible date.
Musk estimated it could start selling Starship launches at prices cheaper than the Falcon 9 in around two years, which is earlier than the proposal for NASA's Human Landing System. The first humans to go to the moon since the days of Apollo will be transported by SpaceX. Artemis 3 is scheduled to launch in the year 2025.
The ship is moving fast.
It is hard to overstate the scale of the system, which includes the Super Heavy rocket and the Starship spaceship. It is fully assembled and stands . Musk said that Starship could have the ability to launch more than 100 tons into the air and function as a generalized transport mechanism for the solar system.
He estimated that humanity may need around 1,000 launch systems to make life truly multiplanetary. The factory built by the company is close to mass manufacturing.
The company has been moving quickly. In May, the 15th prototype of Starship was flown by the company, and the launch vehicle reached around 30,000 feet with a successful upright landing. It was the first time a test ended with the launch vehicle undamaged.
He told the National Academies that the overarching goal of the company was to advance space technology so that humanity can become a multiplanet species and eventually, a spacefaring civilization.
This is important for the preservation of the light of consciousness.
His talk can be watched here.
