SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Sunday said that the importance of reusable rockets was crucial for humans to become a multiplanetary civilization amid the billionaire\u2019s Mars colonization goals.<\/p>\n
Cannot Become Multiplanetary Without Reusable Rockets<\/p>\n
Responding to a post by Tesla Owners Silicon Valley, which shared that SpaceX had reduced costs per kg to orbit by 500x from approximately \u201c$54,500 (Shuttle era) to ~$1,500.\u201d<\/p>\n
Musk said that the assessment of a technology lies in calculating how \u201cit improves fundamental metrics,\u201d adding that to achieve multiplanetary status without reusable rockets \u201cis impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n
He then drew parallels to the colonial powers reaching America, saying that it would\u2019ve been \u201cimpossible to colonize America with expendable boats.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elon Musk Says Starship Will Exceed Saturn V<\/p>\n
In a separate post, Musk said that the Starship V4 rocket, which is touted to be SpaceX\u2019s flagship space vehicle, would exceed the NASA Saturn V rocket from the Apollo program between the late 60s and the early 70s.<\/p>\n
Musk said that the rocket aims to achieve over \u201c10k metric tons of thrust at liftoff or ~22M pounds of force,\u201d which would amount to over \u201c~3 times the power of the Saturn V Moon rocket.\u201d<\/p>\n
SpaceX IPO<\/p>\n
The commercial space flight giant has also cautioned investors participating<\/a> in the IPO that its goals of colonizing Mars, as well as orbital datacenters, rely on unproven technology and may not be commercially viable.<\/p>\n S&P 500 Rule Changes<\/p>\n Interestingly, the S&P 500, which is managed by S&P Global Dow Jones Indices, announced that it was beginning consultation on rule changes that could potentially help<\/a> the commercial space flight company gain an expedited entry into the index.<\/p>\n Notably, other megacap companies potentially going public this year include Sam Altman-led OpenAI, as well as artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.<\/p>\n Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link<\/a>.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy: Frederic Legrand \u2013 COMEO from Shutterstock<\/p>\n