Despite the massive rocket’s explosion earlier this month only seconds after leaving the launchpad, Elon Musk still has huge ambitions for SpaceX and its Starship rocket this year.
The software entrepreneur spoke candidly about the failures and achievements of the April 20 launch on Saturday in a subscribers-only Twitter Space. According to the media, Musk stated that without acquiring more funds, SpaceX will spend around $2 billion building the Starship rocket in 2023.
Michael Sheetz, a space correspondent for CNBC, live-tweeted the debate led by the CEO of Twitter. The creator of SpaceX stated, according to Sheetz, “We do not anticipate needing to raise funding… we don’t think we need to raise funding.”
After the megarocket exploded, Musk tweeted his congratulations to the SpaceX team for a “exciting test launch.”
After the megarocket exploded, Musk thanked the SpaceX team for a “exciting test launch” and tweeted that he had “learned a lot for the next test launch in a few months.”
According to Sheetz, Musk told listeners on Saturday that the conclusion “was roughly in line with what I expected, and maybe slightly exceeding my expectations, but roughly what I expected, which is that we would get clear of the pad.”
According to Musk, there is an 80% possibility that the Starship will enter orbit in 2023, and those odds are significantly better for the next year.
He stated, “I believe there is a near to 100% chance of reaching orbit within 12 months. The 40-story mega-rocket’s engines launched debris into the air during liftoff on April 20, and some of it even reached a community five kilometers away. The booster then failed to separate at a height of around 24 miles, causing the rocket to crash and forcing the SpaceX team to destroy it in an explosion.
The launchpad was damaged and a crater was left behind by an unanticipated “rock tornado”. According to CNBC, Musk guaranteed that the launchpad’s damage “was actually quite small” on Twitter and that it will be swiftly fixed.
Since the failure of the launch, Musk has maintained his confidence in trying once more in six to eight weeks because SpaceX is developing multiple Starship prototypes.
He praised his team’s efforts throughout the Twitter Space as well. He stated, “I believed the SpaceX team performed outstanding work. This is undoubtedly a contender for the hardest technical challenge undertaken by a person.
