The space company SpaceX will spend about $2 billion developing the Starship this year, shortly after the rocket exploded.

“I expect that on the next flight I will get into orbit,” its founder said. Elon Musk, speaking during a discussion on Twitter Spaces on Saturday. “As far as I know, we don’t need to raise additional funding for SpaceX,” Musk said.

SpaceX remains a private company (not public) and is not required to disclose its development costs.

It is noted that Musk’s company raised more than $2 billion in funding in 2022, while during a funding round in May of that year it was valued at $127 billion.

Musk told CNN in 2019 that he believes the cost to develop Starship will be “closer to two or three (billion) dollars than 10 (billions).” NASA has also awarded SpaceX up to $4 billion in contracts for two moon landing missions, though the money is paid out in stages as SpaceX reaches certain milestones.

starship explosion

The Starship vehicle consists of two parts: the Super Heavy rocket booster, a 69-metre-tall cylinder that houses 33 engines and provides the first boost of power at launch; The 50-meter-tall Starship spacecraft flies on top of a rocket.

The vehicle lifted off from a launch pad near Brownsville, Texas at the southernmost tip of the state. During the ascent, some of the 33 engines of the Super Heavy launch vehicle unexpectedly shut down.

The Starship was planned to separate from the Super Heavy launch vehicle after the rocket had used up most of its fuel, but this never happened.

A few minutes after takeoff, the car began to topple over. Then, about four minutes into the flight, the aircraft’s abort or self-destruct system was activated, detonating the missile to ensure it did not veer off course.