In a company-wide email seen by CNBC, Elon Musk has told his SpaceX staff to make Starship spacecraft a ‘top priority’ and speed up progress on the super-heavy rocket spoiled by turbulent testing in recent months. He said that work on the Starship rocket should be “dramatically and immediately” sped up.
SpaceX made history last week as it successfully undertook the world’s first commercial crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The launch on May 30 successfully transported NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley on a 19 hours journey to the ISS. Now that SpaceX has begun to fulfil its promise to put the Falcon rocket series to work for NASA astronauts, Musk is apparently turning his attention back to Starship.
For those unaware, the SpaceX Starship is planned to be a fully reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle. It is supposed to be able to carry 100 passengers and cargo to Earth’s orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond. It will have the power to carry out space tourism and long-distance trips.
However, the development of Starship has met with a number of snags and challenges. It has faced four failed tests since the project began late last year. The most recent one happened only last month, when SpaceX’s fourth Starship rocket prototype exploded into a ball of flames. SpaceX is testing the Starship once more this week on Wednesday the 10th.
The Musk-led aerospace company will pick up pace in order to advance the development of Starship as Elon Musk urged SpaceX employees to “consider spending significant time” in the company’s Boca Chica development site. Boca Chica is where Starship prototypes are being built, tested and assembled at record pace.
Elon Musk has frequently voiced his concerns regarding the fact that it could be difficult for him to witness humans on Mars in his lifetime. This push (and certain others in the past), seem to be geared up towards making that rather impossible timeline, perhaps a bit less difficult.
