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(Source: SpaceX via Flickr, CC2.0)
SpaceX's Elon Musk confirmed Tuesday that the company will attempt to catch Starship's upper stage with a tower during the vehicle's next flight.
The plan to catch and recover both the upper "Ship" portion of the rocket and its booster during Starship flight 15 supports SpaceX's plan to develop a rapidly reusable platform to launch gobs of broadband, direct-to-device (D2D) and AI data center satellites into orbit. That also fits with the company's plan to use Starship for future missions to the Moon and Mars.
During SpaceX's Q3 call, Musk didn't provide a date for that flight, but if it succeeds, it will mark "the first time that an orbital launch vehicle has been fully recovered."
A screenshot of a simulation shows a tower catch of the upper 'Ship' stage of SpaceX's Starship launch vehicle. (Source: SpaceX Q3 2026 investor call)
He expressed confidence, holding that it's "more likely than not that this [attempted tower catch] succeeds next flight."
Related:Starship reaches orbit, releases 26 high-capacity 'V3' Starlink satellites
As envisioned, it would be a follow-on step from Starship flight 14, the first to send the upper stage into orbit and deploy the new, high-capacity Starlink V3 satellites into orbit and full operation. The prior test flight deployed 20 V3s, but SpaceX "demised" those broadband satellites and sent them into the atmosphere to burn up after a series of tests.
SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell said the company will need to deploy a "few hundred" V3 satellites for Starlink customers to "really feel the impact" in terms of improved speeds. She suggested that the company could achieve that by mid-2027.
SpaceX expects to ramp up Starship launch cadence. Musk said he expects it to fly weekly at some point in the first half of 2027, and then twice weekly (and possibly more frequently) by the end of next year.
While some refurbishment will be needed between each Starship flight, the aim is to "land the rocket and launch it just like an airplane," Musk said.
Shotwell said the company will attempt on-orbit refueling next year and plans to start deploying its V2 D2D satellites and new "Starmind" AI data center satellites in 2027.
For the broader space program, SpaceX conducted 35 launches in the quarter, including 12 customer launches and 23 "internal" launches, delivering a total of 476 metric tons to orbit. Twenty-one were Starlink satellite flights aboard the Falcon 9 rocket.
Starlink adds 1.6M consumer subs
Starlink added 1.6 million consumer customers in the quarter, extending its total to 13.6 million. That came in below the 14.3 million expected by ISI Evercore.
Related:Starship launch reignites rocket shortage worries for Starlink rivals
Starlink's total customer base also includes a "hundreds of thousands" of enterprise and aviation customers, Shotwell said. SpaceX ended the quarter with about 3,800 Starlink-equipped aircraft.
Starlink's consumer average revenue per unit (ARPU) dropped to $69 from $83 in the year-ago quarter.
Starlink ended the period with coverage in 174 countries and 11,100 satellites in orbit.
SpaceX's connectivity unit, which includes Starlink, generated Q3 revenue of $5.24 billion ($3.12 billion from consumers and $2.12 billion from enterprise/government), compared with $1.76 billion for the space segment and $7.56 billion for its AI division.
Consolidated SpaceX revenues rose 161% to $14.6 billion, and net income improved to $4.4 billion from a net loss of $1.1 billion a year ago.
SpaceX capex totaled $19.59 billion for the quarter, split into $1.60 billion for space, $1.54 billion for connectivity and $16.44 billion for AI.
SpaceX shares were up $12.31 (8.33%) to $160.10 each in after-hours trading Tuesday.
Mobile mission continues
SpaceX said it expects its 800MHz spectrum deal with Grain Management to close in the first half of 2027. The company plans to use it to develop a hybrid satellite/terrestrial mobile network. SpaceX's mobile network plan faces criticism over whether it will have the spectrum and the network to pull it off, and whether it can achieve that goal in the US without an MVNO deal with AT&T, T-Mobile or Verizon.
Related:Musk, genius or lunatic, has no mobile answer in space or on land
Shotwell said SpaceX expects its S-band spectrum to provide most of that mobile connectivity, with lowband spectrum used to penetrate buildings. She also reiterated a plan for SpaceX to build out that network using smaller radios on Starlink terminals and deployed on towers.
Musk suggested that the company should conduct a longer presentation on the game plan for Starlink connectivity, noting that industry watchers are "missing some pieces."
"We do see a clear path to several hundred billion dollars a year in connectivity revenue," he said.
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Senior Editor, Light Reading
Jeff Baumgartner is a Senior Editor for Light Reading and is responsible for the day-to-day news coverage and analysis of the cable and video sectors. Follow him on X, LinkedIn and Bluesky.
Baumgartner also served as Site Editor for Light Reading Cable from 2007-2013. In between his two stints at Light Reading, he led tech coverage for Multichannel News and was a regular contributor to Broadcasting + Cable. Baumgartner was named to the 2018 class of the Cable TV Pioneers.