SpaceX plans to begin orbital Starship missions on the vehicle’s next flight, with the company preparing to deploy upgraded Starlink satellites as soon as the end of August.
Elon Musk, SpaceX’s chief executive, said during an earnings call on 4 August that the next launch, known as Flight 14, would carry Starlink V3 communications satellites to operational orbit. The mission would mark Starship’s first orbital launch attempt, following a series of suborbital test flights.
“Flight 14 will be our first flight to fly our version three Starlink satellites, our communication satellites, to operational orbit,” Musk said. He later told investors that the launch was tentatively scheduled for the end of the month.
SpaceX also intends to attempt a catch of Starship’s upper stage, known as the ship, at the launch site on Flight 14. The company has not previously tried to catch the ship, instead conducting soft splashdowns in the Indian Ocean. Musk said that attempt would depend on regulatory approval.
The decision follows the company’s review of Flight 13, the latest Starship suborbital test, which took place on 24 July. According to SpaceX, that mission achieved most of its stated objectives, including the deployment of 20 functioning Starlink V3 satellites. Those satellites completed brief tests before re-entering the atmosphere.
The ship survived re-entry and splashdown, a change from previous flights in which the vehicle exploded after tipping over in the water. Musk said the vehicle was still floating in the Indian Ocean and that SpaceX had sent vessels to recover it and tow it back for inspection.
“This flight actually went incredibly well. The heat shield appears to be very robust,” Musk said. “The ship is still floating in the ocean, and we expect to recover the ship and bring it back for analysis.” He added that, subject to approval, SpaceX would try to catch the ship with the launch tower on the next flight.
Musk also sought to play down concerns about the condition of the heat shield after splashdown. Images of the vehicle showed white streaks across its thermal protection tiles, which some observers had interpreted as possible evidence of hot gas entering gaps between tiles. Musk said SpaceX wanted to inspect the recovered ship before drawing final conclusions, but added that he did not currently see technical obstacles to full and rapid reusability.
He did not address one setback from Flight 13 during his remarks: the Super Heavy booster failed to perform a controlled splashdown after its boostback burn ended early. It was the second consecutive flight in which the booster did not make a controlled splashdown.
Musk gave an ambitious forecast for Starship’s future launch rate, saying SpaceX expected the cadence to rise rapidly. “Probably a year from now, we will be doing at least one flight a day, possibly more,” he said. Such a rate would be more than double the 165 Falcon 9 launches SpaceX achieved in 2025, according to the company’s figures.
The Starship update formed part of an hour-long earnings call that also covered Starlink connectivity and investment in artificial intelligence. SpaceX reported second-quarter revenue of $7.8 billion, up from $4.1 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. It posted a net loss of $541 million for the quarter, compared with a $1 billion loss in the second quarter of last year.
The company said its space division, which includes launch, generated $962 million in revenue and recorded an operating loss of $542 million. Its connectivity division, which includes Starlink, reported $4.29 billion in revenue and operating income of $1.66 billion. SpaceX’s AI segment reported $2.56 billion in revenue and an operating loss of $1.26 billion.
Capital expenditure was led by the AI business, which SpaceX said spent $15.8 billion on computing infrastructure. The company reported $1.17 billion in space-related capital expenditure during the quarter, primarily for Starship development, while the connectivity division spent $1.37 billion.
Musk projected that SpaceX would reach annual recurring revenue of $100 billion by December. He also said the company had moved forward by a year, from 2031 to 2030, its target for reaching $1 trillion in annual revenue, although he did not provide a breakdown between its space, connectivity and AI divisions.
Space remains the company’s smallest division by revenue, but SpaceX said it is central to its broader plans because Starship is intended to deploy future Starlink and AI satellites. Musk said the Starlink V3 spacecraft should deliver a noticeable improvement in service once a “critical mass” is in orbit, estimating that threshold at about 1,000 satellites and saying it could be reached around the second quarter of next year.
