SpaceX – The World’s Rocket Giant

Falcon 1

The first of SpaceX’s rockets was dubbed Falcon 1, named for the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars, with a single Merlin engine that powered the first stage. Initially, Falcon 1 seemed as if it would be the only rocket SpaceX would ever fly, as the first three launches all ended in failure. The fourth launch was a last chance for the company. Luckily, on 28 September 2008, Falcon 1 successfully placed a dummy payload into low Earth orbit, opening the company up to a new wave of funding. Elon Musk was later quoted, “Fortunately […] the fourth launch worked, or that would have been it for SpaceX”. After a final launch that put the Malaysian satellite RazakSAT into low Earth orbit, SpaceX retired Falcon 1 after five flights, paving the way for their next rocket: Falcon 9.

Falcon 1 operated between 2006 and 2009. The 21-metre-tall rocket aimed to launch payloads of around 670 kilograms to low Earth orbit, though the maximum payload mass of the five launch attempts was 180kg. Each flight cost SpaceX $7 million, with customers being charged approximately $9 million to send their satellites into space.

Starship

SpaceX has been hard at work developing and testing their newest rocket, Starship. It is a fully reusable launch vehicle, consisting of two stages. The first stage, simply called Booster, will provide much of the thrust needed to get to orbit, before returning to the launch pad, much like a Falcon 9 first stage. The second stage, the Starship vehicle, can be compared in many ways to the Space Shuttle, in that it drops a payload off into low Earth orbit, before re-entering the atmosphere and landing at the launch centre. Instead of gliding down to a runway, however, Starship will land vertically using its engines, ready to be remounted to the Booster, refuelled, and reflown. SpaceX aims to launch Starship as many as three times a day, far eclipsing any other current launch vehicle.

Elon Musk has suggested that Starship will cost only $1 million per launch, even cheaper than Falcon 1. This would negate the need for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches, leaving Starship as SpaceX’s only launch vehicle. However, until Starship begins carrying commercial payloads to orbit, it’s difficult to confirm whether this will be the true cost.

The first crewed test of Starship will be with the final flight of the Polaris Program. Consisting of up to three missions, this program led by Jared Isaacman (the entrepreneur behind Inspiration 4 – the first orbital spaceflight with only private citizens), will aim to demonstrate new technologies and conduct extensive research to help advance human spaceflight capabilities.

In 2021, NASA awarded $2.9 billion to SpaceX to help develop Starship as a lunar lander as part of their Artemis program, known as HLS or the Human Landing System. The first crewed mission utilising Starship to land on the Moon will be Artemis 3, expected to launch no earlier than April 2025, however there will be an earlier uncrewed test flight of the system.

SpaceX also intends to use Starship to send astronauts to Mars, with the aim of creating a crewed base on the planet. The most recent date for the first Martian mission is 2029, though this date is in contention. Elon Musk has previously set target dates of 2024 and 2026, so it is possible that large scale cities on Mars may have to wait.