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Founded in 2002 by visionary entrepreneur Elon Musk, SpaceX was created with the ambition of reigniting global interest in space exploration and generating much-needed funding for NASA. Musk’s personal passion also included sending giant rockets into Earth’s orbit—because, really, who could resist that challenge?
The South African-born innovator has set his sights on a bold mission: making human life multi-planetary by drastically cutting the cost of sending materials into space. Current technology makes escaping Earth's gravitational pull a tough and expensive feat.
Take NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), for example. Sending this powerful rocket—currently the most advanced ever built—into low Earth orbit with a 70,000 kg (150,000 lb) payload will cost around $500 million.
In comparison, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, the company's most recent and powerful rocket, can achieve the same mission for a mere $90 million—just a fraction of the SLS's cost. So what’s behind this remarkable efficiency, and how does Elon Musk envision the future of space exploration?
10. SpaceX: From Humble Beginnings to Industry Leader
In 2002, starting an aerospace technology company was undeniably a high-risk venture. With the industry already dominated by major players like Boeing and Lockheed Martin, launching a start-up came with numerous hurdles, the biggest of which was securing adequate funding.
Elon Musk had already made a name for himself by going against the grain, having left a Stanford PhD program after just two days to dive into entrepreneurship during the dot-com boom. However, early setbacks in 2006 and 2007, when the SpaceX Falcon 9 prototypes failed to launch, nearly left the company financially crippled.
Musk had already poured up to $100 million of his own money into making his vision for the space technology company a reality, and by 2008, it was a make-or-break moment. Luckily, billionaire entrepreneur and PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel stepped in at the 11th hour, becoming SpaceX’s first external investor. Thiel’s capital infusion revitalized the struggling company, setting it on a path of steady progress ever since.
That’s not to say SpaceX hasn’t faced its share of challenges since its resurgence. If it hadn’t, it wouldn’t have earned its place in the aerospace industry, right? Setbacks and failures are just part of the journey in this field.
Between 2014 and 2015, SpaceX found itself in a legal tussle with the United States Air Force over exclusive launch contracts being awarded to the United Launch Alliance, a partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. This was just one of many hurdles, compounded by its numerous launch and landing failures in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
But now, SpaceX’s triumphs far outnumber its setbacks. The company has secured numerous contracts with the government, military, and private satellite companies, successfully launching around 50 Falcon 9 rockets, many of which have been reused. With a valuation exceeding $20 billion, it’s clear that SpaceX’s future is reaching for the stars.
9. The Merlin 1D: A True Masterpiece in Rocketry
The Merlin 1D is the fourth iteration of the Merlin engines that power the Falcon 9 rocket. In February 2018, the Falcon Heavy soared into the skies, traveling hundreds of miles above Earth. A single Merlin engine, operating at full capacity, produces 845 kilonewtons (190,000 lb) of thrust while weighing just about 470 kilograms (1,030 lb). This gives it the highest thrust-to-weight ratio of any booster engine ever conceived. To put that into perspective, the force generated by a single Merlin engine is comparable to the combined weight of 17 full-grown African elephants.
Each Merlin engine is self-cooled by the rocket's high-pressure kerosene fuel, eliminating the need for separate coolant tanks and reducing the engine’s overall mass. The Falcon 9 booster is equipped with 9 Merlin engines, and the incredible design allows for the failure of up to two engines mid-flight without compromising the mission’s success.
Furthermore, these engines are engineered to meet the rigorous structural and thermal standards needed to carry astronauts. This suggests that, in the near future, we will likely see a private company successfully sending humans to the International Space Station (ISS)!
8. Rinse and Repeat: Turning Rockets into Airplanes
In the early 2000s, after realizing that buying refurbished Russian ICBMs to fuel his dreams of space exploration wouldn’t be financially sustainable, Musk opted to create his own rockets. The plan was to produce about 85 percent of the necessary components in-house, drastically reducing production costs which would otherwise be inflated by outsourcing parts.
The next leap towards efficiency involves the full reusability of the rocket. This makes perfect sense, as it would be wasteful to design and build a multimillion-dollar rocket only to discard it after one use. It’s like flying on a new airplane every time you travel—imagine how much that would cost!
While reusability is commonplace in many industries, it’s far more challenging to apply it to rockets that stand 20 stories tall. SpaceX is the first to employ propulsive landing on Earth. Each Falcon booster is equipped with onboard telemetry systems, retractable grid fins, landing legs, and booster engines that can adjust their thrust to ensure a safe landing.
On December 21, 2015, the Falcon 9 achieved its first successful landing after a series of near-misses earlier that year. Since then, SpaceX has successfully landed 21 out of 26 attempts, with the most recent 17 landings being consecutive, including those of the Falcon Heavy.
Musk's long-term vision is to reuse the Falcon boosters thousands of times, reducing the cost per launch from around $60–$90 million to under $50,000. By focusing on a fully reusable system, the only expenses for each flight would be the cost of fuel (which is a fraction of the rocket’s construction) and other overhead, like prelaunch inspections.
With a solid track record through 2017 and into 2018, SpaceX appears to be on the fast track to meeting the growing demand for its services.
7. Cargo Deliveries to the International Space Station: That’ll Be $150 Million
In 2009, NASA awarded SpaceX a $1.6 billion contract to begin resupplying the ISS. This marked a new era for the space agency, as it was the first time NASA entrusted a private company with the responsibility of delivering cargo to the station, following the retirement of the space shuttles.
Over the next eight years, SpaceX was tasked with delivering at least 20 metric tons of supplies—including food, water, and scientific instruments—to the ISS in low Earth orbit. In 2015, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell revealed that each of the three missions planned for that year was estimated to cost around $150 million. Since 2016, NASA has contracted SpaceX for an additional 14 resupply missions.
The agreement between NASA and SpaceX follows a traditional model of exchanging money for services. Although $150 million per mission might seem steep, it's a fraction of the cost that NASA and American taxpayers would incur if they were to manage the development of their own launch and payload vehicles. NASA is also helping SpaceX develop its crewed Dragon capsule. Together with the Falcon 9, the Dragon will transport astronauts to the ISS in the near future.
Like the much cheaper resupply missions, the development of the manned Dragon capsule is estimated to save NASA about $17 billion compared to building their own vehicle, the Orion. Each launch of the Dragon is expected to be considerably more affordable. It seems that the future of space exploration will be shaped by collaboration between private space companies and government entities.
6. Planned Mars Colonization: When Can I Get My Ticket?
SpaceX’s mission so far has been guided by its original goal: transforming humanity into a multiplanetary species. In 2017, Musk shared his vision, saying, “You want to wake up in the morning and think the future is going to be great—and that’s what being a spacefaring civilization is all about. It’s about believing in the future and thinking that the future will be better than the past. And I can’t think of anything more exciting than going out there and being among the stars.”
For the past decade, SpaceX has focused on refining propulsive landing technology, maximizing booster reusability, and testing carbon fiber space frames to create lighter, stronger vehicles that are less expensive than traditional designs.
The goal behind all these innovations is to make a trip to Mars affordable—around $500,000 per ticket, as opposed to several billion dollars. Musk envisions that with further advancements in reusable technology, the cost could eventually fall below $100,000.
The Mars timeline is aggressively paced, with at least two cargo missions slated for 2022. Just two years later, Musk and his team plan to launch four missions to Mars: two for supplies and two to carry astronaut crews. The backbone of these missions is the colossal rocket known as the BFR.
5. The BFR: One Rocket to Rule Them All
Once built, the Big F—king Rocket (BFR) will stand as the most powerful rocket ever created—and for good reason. It must be capable of lifting a load equivalent to the weight of a blue whale, transporting both cargo and people into orbit. The rocket features a single-stage design, unlike the current Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, which rely on two stages. This makes the entire rocket fully reusable.
As a result, the BFR, a design nearly 12 times more powerful than the Falcon 9, will be more cost-effective to launch and offer much greater versatility. The ultimate goal is for the BFR to replace all of SpaceX's active vehicles: the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and the Dragon capsule.
A spaceship or tanker can be placed atop the booster. The spaceship is designed to land anywhere in the solar system and can carry up to 100 people, along with their cargo and other supplies, for a total mass of 150 tons. With a pressurized volume of 825 cubic meters (29,000 ft), it offers more space than the main deck of an A380 airliner.
In its Mars-bound configuration, the spaceship is planned to have 40 cabins (each comfortably housing two to three individuals), a galley, several large communal spaces, an entertainment center, a solar storm shelter, and a sizable cargo hold.
If that doesn’t sound impressive enough, you could fit a whole family of blue whales—parents and baby—inside the spaceship. The tanker vehicle, while similar in design to the spaceship, will be filled with liquid methane and liquid oxygen fuel.
The BFR’s design is truly monumental. With the booster and payload vehicle combined, it stands 106 meters (348 feet) tall and has a diameter of 9 meters (30 feet), comparable to the Saturn V rocket that sent astronauts to the Moon. This system is designed to send the spaceship, along with its passengers and cargo, into a 'parking orbit.'
While the spaceship is waiting, the booster will return to its launchpad via a propulsive landing and be equipped with the tanker. The booster will then take off again and deliver the tanker to rendezvous with the spaceship. After refueling the spaceship, the tanker and booster will return to Earth as the spaceship heads off toward Mars.
Traveling at a speed of 100,000 kilometers per hour (62,000 mph), passengers aboard the spaceship will become the fastest humans ever, reaching Mars within just three months.
4. Rockets for Global Travel: Fly Anywhere in the World in Under an Hour!
In addition to Musk's vision for Mars, he has raised an intriguing question: If SpaceX is designing a rocket to reach the Moon and Mars, why not use the BFR to travel between distant locations on Earth as well? Given the BFR's total reusability, it is conceivable that it could enable lightning-fast travel between countries.
Musk suggests that suitable launch and landing locations for the rocket would need to be situated away from major cities because, as he puts it, 'rockets are quite noisy.' However, the bulk of your travel time would be spent getting to the launchpad. Once airborne, the flight would be quick and 'silky smooth,' free from turbulence or bad weather, as you would be above Earth's atmosphere.
Some of the busiest airline routes, such as LA to New York, London to Paris, LA to London, and London to Hong Kong, could be completed using the BFR in just 25 to 35 minutes. While the ticket prices haven’t been officially confirmed, it’s likely they’ll be quite high at first due to the emerging nature of this kind of space travel technology.
3. The Starlink Project and the Quest to Recover Falcon 9’s Nose
On February 22, 2018, the PAZ and Starlink satellites were launched into orbit aboard a Falcon 9 booster. PAZ, a Spanish military satellite, is designed for security and defense purposes. The Starlink satellites are part of the initial phase of SpaceX’s Starlink initiative, which seeks to offer global broadband internet by 2024.
Known as Tintin A and B, these two satellites will act as proof of concept while SpaceX waits for FCC approval to deploy hundreds—and eventually thousands—more. They will communicate with each other and with ground stations through optical lasers, bringing internet access to areas ranging from Antarctica to remote African villages.
After the launch, SpaceX tried to recover half of the upper stage's fairing using their fairing recovery boat, named Mr. Steven. The fairing is the nose cone of the rocket, essential for protecting the payload during ascent and maintaining the vehicle’s aerodynamic integrity.
Once the second stage has exited Earth's atmosphere, there’s no longer air resistance, and the fairing splits into two parts, falling back to Earth. Each piece is worth around $3 million, collectively accounting for about 10% of the launch's total cost.
In a meticulous effort to make every component of the rocket reusable, the fairing, along with the booster, must be retrieved. This is where Mr. Steven comes into play. The boat positions itself beneath the falling fairing and uses a massive net (similar to a baseball glove) to catch it.
The fairing itself employs cold gas thrusters and a large parachute to guide it to a precise location over the ocean, slowing it down from its reentry speed of eight times the speed of sound. Unfortunately, Mr. Steven missed the fairing by just a few hundred feet this time, but it ultimately succeeded in recovering the nose cone and returned to harbor with it in tow.
SpaceX plans to eventually operate multiple Mr. Stevens, though likely under different names, to accommodate their growing and busy launch schedule.
2. Track Starman’s Journey Across the Solar System
Following the Falcon Heavy's launch on February 6, 2018, aerospace engineer Ben Pearson created a website, www.whereisroadster.com, which allows users to track Starman and his red roadster as they travel through space.
The website offers real-time data on velocity and position relative to Earth, Mars, and the Sun, as well as a simulation of Starman's orbital path around the Sun. It also features lighthearted details, such as the roadster's estimated fuel efficiency and how many times it has surpassed its warranty limit.
The simulation is powered by data from the JPL HORIZONS system, which tracks solar system objects like asteroids, comets, and satellites. Pearson has calculated a series of close approaches, showing when the roadster will come within a certain distance of Earth or Mars, measured in astronomical units, which is about 150 million kilometers (93 million miles) from the Sun.
Shortly after the launch, Pearson set up the website, realizing there would be plenty of people, including himself, interested in following the entertaining spectacle of Starman and the roadster.
1. The World’s Most Powerful Rocket – Falcon Heavy's February 6 Launch
The Falcon Heavy is an upgraded version of the Falcon 9 and serves as the current heavy-lift vehicle for Musk's company. It is the most powerful rocket since the Saturn V. Though similar in height to the Falcon 9, the Falcon Heavy features two additional Falcon 9 first-stage boosters, giving it a three-core engine configuration with a second-stage payload rocket mounted on the center core.
At liftoff, the Falcon Heavy generates 22,819 kilonewtons (5.13 million pounds) of thrust. It can carry 64,000 kilograms (140,000 lb) to low Earth orbit, 17,000 kilograms (37,000 lb) to Mars, and almost 3,600 kilograms (8,000 lb) all the way to Pluto!
On February 6, 2018, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket launched from the historic Pad 39a at Cape Canaveral in Florida, the same site where Apollo missions sent astronauts to the Moon. This was a monumental moment for SpaceX, cementing its status as the only commercial space company capable of sending a payload beyond Earth's gravity.
The simultaneous landing of the two side boosters showcased SpaceX's growing expertise in reusable rocket technology. As the outer cores reentered, the distinct sound of six sonic booms could be heard, emanating from the lower sections of the boosters’ landing legs and grid fins.
The middle core fell short of its target landing zone by approximately 100 meters (330 ft), crashing into the Pacific Ocean at around 485 kilometers per hour (300 mph). Musk later explained that the core failed to reignite two of its engines for the essential landing burn, which would have slowed its descent from supersonic speed to a soft landing.
In true SpaceX fashion, the dummy payload used to test the rocket's capacity was none other than Elon Musk’s own Tesla Roadster. Sitting in the driver's seat was an astronaut mannequin dubbed “Starman,” a tribute to David Bowie’s song. The mannequin was dressed in the spacesuit currently being developed by SpaceX.
The roadster was set on a trans-Mars trajectory, meaning it's now speeding toward Mars at roughly nine times the speed of sound. Its elliptical orbit will carry it millions of miles beyond Mars before it loops back around the Sun.
Due to the car's carbon composite material and the harsh conditions of space, including intense radiation and tiny debris, experts believe that most of the car will likely disintegrate within a year.
