this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2026
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But it would also be nowhere near the kind of rapid reusability that Musk has been promising and that the insane valuation (even at the current rate) of SpaceX is based on.
And yet no one approaches the reusability SpaceX has already demonstrated with existing rockets - something like 35 launches/landings with a single rocket.
I'm talking about rapid reusability of both stages. With Falcon 9, only the booster gets reused.
I'm still stuck wondering how cheap a Raptor is and how low they could get the cost of a disposable Starship upper stage without wings or a heat shield
The record is up to 36!
I could see the Starship story playing out like the ramp up to Falcon 9 first stage reuse, where they start with a few launches per booster with significant refurb time, then keep making block upgrades to speed it up and extend the lifespan.
!unexpectedfactorial@sopuli.xyz
36! = 3.72 × 10^41^
Actually, most of the valuation of SpaceX now is tied up in Grok, thanks to Felon merging xAI into it for shell-game accounting reasons.
I think spelling it fElon is more readable :)
A lot of it is based in the "data center in space" idea, which is entirely unproven.