Space X’s Starship vision could enable 10,000 launches a year, says Elon Musk

Elon Musk announced plans for over 10,000 yearly launches using Version 4 vehicles capable of carrying 200 tons to orbit.

The revelation comes two days after Starship’s Flight 12 on May 22, 2026 from Texas’s new Pad 2.

The test saw the Super Heavy booster splash down in the Gulf Mexico after a failed maneuver, while the upper stage reached orbit, deployed simulators and satellites, and splashed down in the Indian Ocean before a planned explosion.

Notably, this pace could deliver 2 million tons annually-equivalent to 4,500 International Space Stations-fueling lunar base and Mars missions to make space travel routine. 

Musk's post reads: Our goal is launching Starship 10/year which would be more than once an hour..

The post sparked intriguing comments with one user write: "Let's gooo @elonmusk 200 T for flight it’s like sending 10 falcons at once but the space inside the starship will absolutely make it awesome.”

The second user said: “ An incredibly audacious goal. We need more big dreams like this that we put action into accomplishing. I hope ending global poverty will become high on the list of big dreams for many.”

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk noted that the company has 10,000 satellites in orbit and ultimately wants to launch an additional 10,000 communications satellites though a specific time frame was not revealed.

Earlier, SpaceX said it wants to launch a constellation of 1 million satellites that will orbit Earth and serve a space-based system to power AI data centres.