SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has outlined that engine reliability is a crucial aspect for rocket reusability, being equally important to heat shield integrity.
‘Crazy Hard Problem’
Responding to user @GeniusGTX on X, who had shared a clip of Musk illustrating the importance of heat shields and figuring out a way to make reusable heat shields on rockets.
“High-cycle, reliable engine reflight without replacement, refurbishment or laborious inspection is about the same degree of difficulty as a rapidly reusable heat shield,” Musk said in his response.
Musk then shared that there were “thousands” of other smaller challenges on the entire rocket structure that could affect the rocket’s functions. “This is a crazy hard problem,” he said.
Starship V4 To Be Longer
In a separate response, this time to a post by Tesla Owners Silicon Valley which hailed the Starship V3 being the tallest rocket ever built. “V4 will be 15% to 20% longer,” Musk said, teasing enhanced capabilities of the Starship V4 rocket.
Last year, Musk had said that the V4 rocket would also boast enhanced load-carrying capacity. He had shared that the V4 rocket would feature a booster height of 81 meters (265 feet) and a ship height of 61 meters (200 feet).
SpaceX’s Orbital Datacenter Push
The news comes as investor Cathie Wood-led ARK Invest outlined that the commercial space flight giant’s Starlink satellite internet service, which, according to ARK’s projections, could fetch over $160 billion in revenue. However, Musk’s orbital datacenter ambitions could “dwarf” that figure.
However, SpaceX, in its filings ahead of next month’s IPO, has cautioned investors that orbital datacenters and Mars colonies rely on “unproven” technology and may not be commercially viable.
On the other hand, SpaceX’s potential listing has generated considerable buzz and rule changes on the Nasdaq 100 index, as well as proposed rule changes to the S&P 500 index, could expedite its entry into the indices.
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