SpaceX’s huge fully reusable Starship rocket, which could reshape the global economy, is slated to launch again on Monday morning. It’s the 14th test of the largest rocket humans have ever built. This test is a little different.
The launch window opens at 8:15 a.m. Eastern time, and investors can watch it here.
If all goes as planned, it will be the first time Starship goes into orbit around the Earth. Prior tests were suborbital, which means the ship never gets to the speed required to, well, not fall back to the ground.
In prior tests, Starship reached roughly 16,000 miles an hour more than 100 miles above Earth. On Monday, speeds should hit about 18,000 miles an hour. In orbit, Starship will circle the Earth several times on a multi-hour mission.
This test flight includes deploying working version three Starlink satellites. The larger V3 satellites are more capable and need the larger Starship to enter service. V3 satellites will help SpaceX expand its Starlink space-based broadband business into mobile wireless communications. Today, Starlink has more than 11,000 satellites serving more than 12 million customers.
Flight test number 13, in July, was largely a success, with Starship deploying some V3 test satellites. SpaceX, of course, achieved other test objectives, including gaining valuable heat shield data.
When Starship is fully operational, it will also launch SpaceX’s Starmind AI computing satellites. SpaceX plans to build a massive, low-cost AI data center in orbit, using the power of the sun and vacuum of space to overcome power, cooling, and political bottlenecks to AI growth.
Reusing both the upper and lower stages of the Starship rocket is key to reducing costs to reach orbit, potentially giving SpaceX a large competitive advantage over terrestrial AI data centers. The company could launch Starminds as early as late 2027. The AI constellation should be scaling up in 2028.
AI technology has already reshaped the stock market as it diffuses into the economy. Starship is how SpaceX plans to win the race to provide the majority of AI services, potentially creating trillions of dollars in stock market value for investors.
Coming into Monday trading, SpaceX stock was just under $150, up about 10% from the $135 IPO price, valuing the company at about $2 trillion.