SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Thursday hailed the Starship’s Super Heavy Booster 19 following the rocket’s successful static fire test.
Most Powerful Moving Object
In a post on X, Musk quoted a post by SpaceX, which showcased the first successful test for the Super Heavy V3 booster, which is powered by over 33 Raptor engines. “Starship Super Heavy Booster, the most powerful moving object ever made by far,” Musk said in the post.
Starship V3 Will Achieve Full Reusability
Musk had earlier shared that he believed the Starship V3 rocket would be fully reusable. “I am highly confident that the V3 design will achieve full reusability,” he said, adding that SpaceX would only try to catch the rocket after two perfect ocean landings.
It’s worth noting that SpaceX recently shifted its focus from Mars to missions targeting the Lunar surface. The commercial space flight company is planning an uncrewed mission to the Lunar surface by 2027. The shift comes as Musk said that the timelines for missions targeting the Moon were quicker than those for Mars.
SpaceX IPO
SpaceX’s upcoming IPO has been all the buzz recently, with the company targeting a valuation of $1.75 trillion and aiming to raise over $75 billion through the listing. The IPO is further boosted by Nasdaq’s recent rule changes, which allow for an expedited entry for a stock into the Nasdaq 100 index, among other revisions.
However, some analysts have cautioned against participating in the IPO, citing major concerns with the Musk-led commercial space flight giant’s valuation.
FCC Welcomes Amazon GlobalStar Deal
Meanwhile, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chair Brendan Carr signaled his approval of Amazon.com Inc.‘s (NASDAQ:AMZN) acquisition of satellite communications company Globalstar Inc. (NASDAQ:GSAT), sharing that the agency was aware of the importance of competition in the sector.
The deal could help Amazon scale its Leo (formerly Project Kuiper) satellite internet service to have a better chance at taking a bite out of SpaceX-backed Starlink’s pie in the space-based internet sector. He also said that the agency was reviewing Starlink’s 1 million datacenter satellite application, but added that there were other companies submitting datacenter requests at the FCC.
SpaceX also has deals in place with multiple airline companies like Virgin Atlantic and United Airlines Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:UAL). The company is also reportedly exploring a possible deal with American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ:AAL) to provide its satellite internet service on board the operators’ aircraft.
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