The US space enterprise is desperately waiting for Starship-will it finally deliver?

SpaceX has pursued large deals tied to Starlink expansion, orbital data centers, AI and chip manufacturing, and ground-based compute sales. An impending IPO is expected to value the company around $1.5 to $2 trillion. Despite the shift toward telecommunications and AI data services, SpaceX’s long-term ambitions over the next 25 years depend on a new launch vehicle, Starship. Starship has had a mixed success record, has not flown in seven months, and is expected to return to flight soon. Starship is described as revolutionary, and its development has involved years of testing, setbacks, and three years of test flights. SpaceX also released a video showing the Starfactory and emphasizing testing practices.

"SpaceX paid $17 billion-more than it has spent developing every one of its rockets-to EchoStar for wireless spectrum to boost its Starlink network. It revealed plans to launch 1 million orbital data centers. SpaceX merged with xAI in a deal that valued Elon Musk's artificial intelligence firm at $250 billion, and it announced plans to become a major computer chip manufacturer. And earlier this month, SpaceX sold an enormous amount of ground-based compute to Anthropic."

"As a result of all this activity, an impending IPO will value the company at something like $1.5 or $2 trillion. That's trillion, with a t. So yes, one might reasonably ask what SpaceX does these days. Because all the buzz, all the Wall Street euphoria, and all the financial frisson are only tangentially related to what SpaceX cut its teeth on during its first 25 years: becoming the globally dominant player in launch."

"And yet everything SpaceX aspires to accomplish in the next quarter of a century, all of its enormous valuation, is predicated on a new launch vehicle. A rocket that, to date, has a decidedly mixed record of success. A rocket that has not flown in seven months. A rocket that, finally, may return to the skies on Wednesday. We are speaking, of course, of Starship-a truly revolutionary rocket. If it works."

"A few weeks ago, SpaceX released a visually stunning video that takes viewers inside its massive new Starfactory in South Texas and provides up-close views of its rockets and engines. The "Test Like You Fly" video also outlines t"

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