Elon Musk said that SpaceX has made more than 1,000 changes to Starship following the vehicle’s first test launch in April, which failed to reach orbit.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp. has changed how the vehicle operates on its path to orbit and it now stands a much improved chance of success with its second attempt, according to its chief executive officer.
“So I think the probability of the next flight working — or getting to orbit — is much higher than the last one,” Musk said. “Maybe it’s like 60%; it depends on how well we do at stage separation,” he said on a Twitter Spaces on Saturday with Bloomberg senior reporter Ashlee Vance.
Investment in the Starship project is likely to approach $3 billion this year, Musk said. Starship is SpaceX’s next-generation rocket, designed to carry cargo — and eventually people — to deep space destinations like the moon and Mars.
Musk announced that SpaceX has “made a sort of late breaking change” to the way that Starship separates during launch, when the large Super Heavy booster breaks free from the Starship spacecraft mid-flight. He noted that SpaceX has decided to do hot staging, a process where the engines on the Starship vehicle ignite while the Super Heavy booster is still attached.
“This is something that the Soviets and Russians have used in their space designs,” he added.
During Starship’s first test flight, which launched from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, the rocket successfully cleared its launchpad, but suffered multiple engine failures during the vehicle’s climb. When Starship was meant to separate from Super Heavy, the two vehicles remained attached as the entire rocket spun out of control. SpaceX was forced to activate the rocket’s flight termination system, which blew up the rocket.
Musk was pressed on whether his commitment to space exploration has wavered in light of his acquisition of Twitter.
“We’re trying to get to Mars as fast as possible,” he said.
Musk declined to discuss several topics broached by Vance, including the status of his recently created artificial intelligence company that might rival OpenAI. He also said it would be “illegal” to talk about plans for a possible initial public offering for Starlink, SpaceX’s constellation of satellites that provide high-speed internet access in remote areas.
