Elon Musk‘s SpaceX has made significant strides in 2023, breaking its previous launch records and achieving the capability to send text messages via its Starlink satellites.
Highlight: Musk unveiled SpaceX’s most remarkable achievements during a comprehensive speech, updating both employees and investors.
Musk kicked off the address by celebrating SpaceX’s major feat in 2023: completing 96 rocket launches, excluding the two Starship test flights without commercial payload.
SpaceX set a scorching pace, averaging one rocket launch every four days in 2023. This exceeded its own 2022 record of 61 launches.
“The next best is the Soviet [Union]’s Soyuz, which recorded 60 launches in a year, and we did 96,” Musk exclaimed.
See Also: SpaceX Bids Farewell To Workhorse Falcon Booster That Launched 2 Astronauts, Over 860 Satellites To Orbit
Musk also chuckled over the fact that SpaceX, in addition to launching satellites for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA), also launched satellites for rivals such as the satellite connectivity rival OneWeb.
SpaceX even launched satellites for Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, the parent company of its competitor Blue Origin. Musk and attendees found humor in that.
“There’s a lot of ‘wow.'”
In 2024, Musk disclosed SpaceX’s goal to launch 144 rockets, aiming to maintain its exceptional record of achieving a 50% increase in the pace of rocket launches.
Investing In Reusability
Colonizing Mars has been one of Musk’s primary fascinations, and he remains ardently committed to it. However, before that feat is attained, technological milestones in space must be conquered.
According to Musk, reusability is the linchpin to transforming humanity into a spacefaring civilization.
“Many doubted that it could be done, and even if it could, deemed it a foolish notion, claiming it wouldn’t yield benefits,” Musk remarked.
“Yet, we’ve unequivocally proven its merit. Reusability is the cornerstone of a prosperous future in space. It is indispensable.”
Musk reminisced about the first booster landing almost eight years ago. SpaceX has since accomplished 262 landings, which, while an astounding feat for space enthusiasts, still managed to excite Musk himself.
“The pivotal innovation required for humanity to become a multi-planet species is a fully reusable, swiftly reliable rocket,” he asserted.
“It’s truly remarkable what transpired in eight years. One can’t help but wonder what the next eight years will hold.”
Musk speculated that by then, we might set foot on Mars and the Moon again, and, ideally, send humans to Mars as well.
You can view the entire hour-long address below.
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Image: Created with artificial intelligence on MidJourney and Official SpaceX Photos on Flickr