Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the world’s richest man, successfully completed 96 launch missions in 2023. After sending the US military’s X-37B space plane into space again, it broke the previous annual orbital rocket launch record and continued to dominate the US satellite market.
SpaceX has completed 91 launches this year using Falcon 9 rockets and another five launches using Falcon Heavy rockets, averaging one rocket launch every four days, breaking the company’s previous launch in 2022 Achieved an annual record of 61 orbital launches.
At 1:07 pm (GMT) on Thursday (December 30), SpaceX began to break this record, launching a Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the US military’s X-37B space plane, sending the aircraft to an unprecedented height. . Less than three hours later, Falcon 9, carrying 23 Starlink network satellites, lifted off.
This is the shortest launch interval in Florida since NASA’s Gemini 11 mission in 1966.
The X-37B is similar to NASA’s miniature space shuttle, reusable and fully autonomous. This is the seventh mission performed by the X-37B.
According to relevant data, SpaceX has launched the Falcon 9 rocket more times this year than in the entire first decade after the rocket’s debut, and continues to push the limits of rocket reuse.
In addition, SpaceX’s number of launches this year does not include the company’s two Starship (Starship, or Starship) test flights. The two test flights carried no commercial payloads into orbit.
Jon Edwards, vice president of Falcon launch vehicles at SpaceX, wrote in a social media post that just a few years ago, Musk proposed a “100 launch goal,” which he called a “thought experiment.” .
“We did it,” Edwards wrote. “I’m extremely proud to work with the best team in the world and excited to see what we can accomplish next year.”
SpaceX officials said the company aims to launch as many as 144 Falcon missions in 2024 while continuing to deploy satellites for the Starlink system. The system accounts for a major portion of the company’s $180 billion valuation.
Starlink is a low-Earth orbit satellite network project that uses satellites orbiting the earth at an altitude of between 200 kilometers and 2,000 kilometers to provide network services. Through satellite, users can access network data even in the most remote places.
Currently, the Starlink giant network consists of more than 5,200 operating satellites. SpaceX plans to deploy up to 12,000 satellites and hopes to increase their number to 42,000.
According to CNBC, SpaceX’s valuation reached around $180 billion in early December