Fast facts
- SpaceX's third test flight of its Starship rocket flew for about an hour before burning up over the Indian Ocean.
- TheStreet sat down with Space Capital managing partner Chad Anderson to talk about the test flight.
- Anderson hopes the next Starship launch will be somewhat “operational.”
Chad Anderson was one of the millions of people around the world who watched the SpaceX launch. live broadcast of its third integrated test flight of Starship, the giant rocket designed to achieve Elon Musk's dream of colonizing Mars.
But Anderson, watching with his team from his office, had a little more involvement in the game than most. He is the founder and managing partner of Space capitalwhich has been investing in the space economy for approximately a decade.
And SpaceX is one of dozens of space-related companies that Space Capital has invested in.
“It was amazing,” Anderson said of the launch. “There's really nothing more exciting than watching a test flight of an experimental vehicle, especially one that is so big and so ambitious. How lucky are we that SpaceX is taking us along for a ride?”
Watch Starship's third flight test → https://t.co/bJFjLCiTbK https://t.co/1u46r769Vp
-SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 14, 2024
SpaceX's first Starship test, conducted in April 2023, left the launch pad but exploded four minutes later. The second test, conducted in November 2023, flew for almost eight minutes before exploding.
But this most recent test reached space and completed a nearly hour-long flight before exploding just before falling into the Indian Ocean. During the flight, the vehicle successfully completed a hot-priming process, successfully opened and closed its payload doors, and completed a propellant transfer while in orbit.
“We're pushing boundaries and doing things that have never been done before and SpaceX is doing it on an unprecedented timeline,” Anderson said. “Each flight has been much more successful than the last.”
Watching Starship fly Thursday morning reminded Anderson of the beginning of the space program, when countries launched humans into space for the first time.
“No one knew what was going to happen,” Anderson said. “There are a lot of firsts like that in these test launches. It's great to witness all of this.”
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Starship's greatest hits
While Anderson called the entire test “hugely successful,” he said that through the opening of Starship's payload doors, SpaceX was “certainly a success” in demonstrating its ability to revolutionize delivery.
“I would expect to see them go into operational mode on the next launch,” he said. “I think they can take the Starlink satellites on their next launch and launch them. As an investor, they've basically proven that. It's a huge, huge check.”
Anderson added that Starship reaching orbital speed and re-entering the atmosphere at those speeds (about 16,000 miles per hour) was “a big deal,” although it is specifically important for reusability of the vehicle, which would further lower the cost of launch.
“The fact that they've done all those things and are now able to go live as investors is enormously important and significant,” Anderson said. “Having an operational Starship vehicle is really important because, right now, they just can't launch Starlink satellites fast enough. Starship will be able to launch 10 times more than Falcon 9, and that's really important.”
Related: SpaceX boss Elon Musk explains what he needs to do to colonize Mars
Starship will open “whole new markets”
Space technologies, according to Anderson, serve as “the invisible backbone that drives our global economy today.”
It's not just about rocket launches and space stations; Anderson explained that space infrastructure (satellites that can only be installed on the back of rockets) powers entire industries, including geospatial intelligence and GPS, which is regularly used in everything from Google Maps to Uber to dating apps.
Most of that infrastructure is being launched by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, Anderson said, adding that SpaceX's work has “increased access to orbit and reduced the cost of orbit by orders of magnitude.”
Spacecraft reentering Earth's atmosphere. Views through plasma pic.twitter.com/HEQX4eEHWH
-SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 14, 2024
“The only reason we're talking about space as an investable category… is because of SpaceX,” he said, adding that “Starship is going to accelerate growth in existing markets,” specifically in technologies based on satellites.
“It will also enable entirely new markets,” Anderson said.
The ship is so large that, according to Anderson, Starship could serve as a space station, hotel or manufacturing facility. There is also the potential for Starship to compete with commercial airlines, flying, for example, from New York to Shanghai in 45 minutes.
“Today we are as dependent on space as Britain was on the oceans between the 7th and 19th centuries,” Anderson said. “Starship will make today's records seem minuscule.”
Contact Ian with ai tips and stories by email, ian.krietzberg@thearenagroup.net or Signal at 732-804-1223.
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