SpaceX isn't superstitious. The company has scheduled the 15th test flight of its huge, fully reusable rocket, Starship, for Friday the 13th.
That's this coming Friday, according to the company's website. The landing site listed is, notably, "Mechazilla."
Mechazilla is essentially the launch tower that can catch the rocket on its return to Earth with mechanical arms, which SpaceX sometimes calls chopsticks.
Catching the rocket is an incredible engineering feat. It will also aid in rapid reusability. SpaceX plans to launch Starship thousands of times a year. Right now, SpaceX launches its Falcon 9 partially reusable rocket hundreds of times a year. That's still impressive. SpaceX carries a majority of the world's cargo into orbit.
Starship is much larger than a Falcon 9, designed to carry more than five times the mass to orbit, some 100 metric tons, with each launch. SpaceX needs Starship to deploy its AI data center satellites and its next-generation Starlink satellites.
SpaceX plans to build Starmind, an AI data center in orbit. Starlink is SpaceX's space-based broadband product serving more than 13 million customers in more than 170 countries. Eventually, SpaceX plans to offer mobile wireless service using a combination of space and terrestrial wireless infrastructure.
Starship is the technology that unlocks those space-based applications, which is why the test is key for investors.
Catching the rocket will be another milestone in its development. SpaceX is planning to catch the upper and lower stages for the first time. SpaceX plans to deploy more third-generation Starlink satellites during the 15th test.
The company hopes to have Starship fully operational by late 2027. Investors will watch that date closely. If it slips, it means slower progress on space-based AI and Starlink.
Through Friday's trading, SpaceX stock was just below its June $135 IPO price after falling 9.1% over the past two weeks as investors became more worried that a Democratic midterm sweep would slow AI growth.
SpaceX won't have to worry much about Blue or Red state AI policies if it can rapidly build a low-cost AI data center above the clouds.
Comments