Elon Musk recently shared a key update on SpaceX's Starship program from their Starbase facility in Texas, where the fully stacked vehicle stands ready. The company is targeting a breakthrough orbital flight this year, a crucial step toward Mars exploration.
SpaceX's Starship is a revolutionary fully reusable rocket system designed for missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. While prototypes have so far completed only low-altitude tests, Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and CEO, expressed strong confidence in achieving orbit soon.
"I am very confident at this point that we will get into orbit this year," Musk stated Thursday evening from Starbase in South Texas. He spoke in front of the towering 119-meter Starship stack—the tallest rocket ever built.
SpaceX anticipates the vehicle will be flight-ready around the time the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) completes its environmental review of Starbase, potentially by month's end. Musk is optimistic about approval, but the company also holds launch permissions at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Building a launch tower there could add six to eight months.
Beyond Starbase and Florida, SpaceX is repurposing two former oil rigs into offshore platforms, Phobos and Deimos—named after Mars' moons—which could be operational by year-end.
Early orbital attempts may face challenges. "We'll probably lose a few vehicles along the way," Musk acknowledged. "With Falcon 9, it took us fourteen or fifteen tries to land the first booster. Starship won't take that long thanks to our experience, but we won't nail it on the first go."
The Super Heavy booster will soon feature 33 Raptor engines, up from 29, while the Starship upper stage upgrades from its current six Raptors to nine for enhanced power.
