Elon Musk said Thursday he is "very confident" his new SpaceX Starship,
designed to travel to the moon and Mars, will reach Earth orbit for the
first time this year, although a number of technical and regulatory hurdles
have yet to be overcome.
The billionaire founder and CEO of SpaceX spoke to news media and supporters
at his company's "Starbase" facility in Boca Chica, Texas.
It comes nine months after the California-based private space venture
achieved the successful launch and landing of the first Starship prototype
rocket in a test flight after four previous landing attempts ended in
explosions.
Musk acknowledged the difficulties SpaceX faced developing the "Raptor 2"
engine for its Super Heavy rocket, a reusable, next-generation launch
booster designed to bring the Starship spacecraft into orbit.
He mentioned the problem with melting in the engine boost chamber from the
intense heat.
But he said, "we're very close to getting it done," and expects to increase
production to about seven or eight engines a week by next month and produce
a new Starship and booster every month by the end of the year.
"I feel at this point very confident that we will orbit (with Starship) this
year," said Musk, who also heads electric car maker Tesla.
Such a timeframe would mark an ambitious feat, even for the unmanned orbital
test flight of the Super Heavy/Starship combo, the next step up from
SpaceX's current Falcon 9 rocket, which Musk says has flown 144 successful
launches and 106 return landings.