SpaceX’s Elon Musk confirmed Tuesday that the corporate will try and catch Starship’s higher stage with a tower throughout the car’s subsequent flight.
The plan to catch and get well each the higher “Ship” portion of the rocket and its booster throughout Starship flight 15 helps SpaceX’s plan to develop a quickly reusable platform to launch gobs of broadband, direct-to-device (D2D) and AI knowledge heart satellites into orbit. That additionally suits with the corporate’s plan to make use of Starship for future missions to the Moon and Mars.
Throughout SpaceX’s Q3 name, Musk did not present a date for that flight, but when it succeeds, it’ll mark “the primary time that an orbital launch car has been absolutely recovered.”
A screenshot of a simulation reveals a tower catch of the higher ‘Ship’ stage of SpaceX’s Starship launch car. (Supply: SpaceX Q3 2026 investor name)
He expressed confidence, holding that it is “extra seemingly than not that this [attempted tower catch] succeeds subsequent flight.”
As envisioned, it will be a follow-on step from Starship flight 14, the primary to ship the higher stage into orbit and deploy the brand new, high-capacity Starlink V3 satellites into orbit and full operation. The prior take a look at flight deployed 20 V3s, however SpaceX “demised” these broadband satellites and despatched them into the environment to expend after a collection of checks.
SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell stated the corporate might want to deploy a “few hundred” V3 satellites for Starlink prospects to “actually really feel the influence” by way of improved speeds. She instructed that the corporate might obtain that by mid-2027.
SpaceX expects to ramp up Starship launch cadence. Musk stated he expects it to fly weekly sooner or later within the first half of 2027, after which twice weekly (and probably extra regularly) by the top of subsequent yr.
Whereas some refurbishment will likely be wanted between every Starship flight, the intention is to “land the rocket and launch it similar to an airplane,” Musk stated.
Shotwell stated the corporate will try on-orbit refueling subsequent yr and plans to start out deploying its V2 D2D satellites and new “Starmind” AI knowledge heart satellites in 2027.
For the broader area program, SpaceX performed 35 launches within the quarter, together with 12 buyer launches and 23 “inner” launches, delivering a complete of 476 metric tons to orbit. Twenty-one have been Starlink satellite tv for pc flights aboard the Falcon 9 rocket.
Starlink provides 1.6M client subs
Starlink added 1.6 million client prospects within the quarter, extending its complete to 13.6 million. That got here in under the 14.3 million anticipated by ISI Evercore.
Starlink’s complete buyer base additionally features a “tons of of 1000’s” of enterprise and aviation prospects, Shotwell stated. SpaceX ended the quarter with about 3,800 Starlink-equipped plane.
Starlink’s client common income per unit (ARPU) dropped to $69 from $83 within the year-ago quarter.
Starlink ended the interval with protection in 174 nations and 11,100 satellites in orbit.
SpaceX’s connectivity unit, which incorporates Starlink, generated Q3 income of $5.24 billion ($3.12 billion from shoppers and $2.12 billion from enterprise/authorities), in contrast with $1.76 billion for the area phase and $7.56 billion for its AI division.
Consolidated SpaceX revenues rose 161% to $14.6 billion, and internet revenue improved to $4.4 billion from a internet lack of $1.1 billion a yr in the past.
SpaceX capex totaled $19.59 billion for the quarter, cut up into $1.60 billion for area, $1.54 billion for connectivity and $16.44 billion for AI.
SpaceX shares have been up $12.31 (8.33%) to $160.10 every in after-hours buying and selling Tuesday.
Cell mission continues
SpaceX stated it expects its 800MHz spectrum cope with Grain Administration to shut within the first half of 2027. The corporate plans to make use of it to develop a hybrid satellite tv for pc/terrestrial cellular community. SpaceX’s cellular community plan faces criticism over whether or not it’ll have the spectrum and the community to drag it off, and whether or not it could possibly obtain that aim within the US with out an MVNO cope with AT&T, T-Cell or Verizon.
Shotwell stated SpaceX expects its S-band spectrum to offer most of that cellular connectivity, with lowband spectrum used to penetrate buildings. She additionally reiterated a plan for SpaceX to construct out that community utilizing smaller radios on Starlink terminals and deployed on towers.
Musk instructed that the corporate ought to conduct an extended presentation on the sport plan for Starlink connectivity, noting that business watchers are “lacking some items.”
“We do see a transparent path to a number of hundred billion {dollars} a yr in connectivity income,” he stated.
