SpaceX Plans to Launch 144 Orbital Flights in 2024, Significantly Exceeding the 2023 Record of 96.
Elon Musk’s company launched 96 missions to orbit in 2023, a significant increase from the previous record of 61 flights set a year earlier. SpaceX is gearing up for a new record that will far exceed the 100 mark in 2024. According to Bill Gerstenmaier, Vice President of Flight Reliability and Construction at SpaceX, they plan to increase the launch rate to approximately 12 flights per month, translating to 144 flights per year. This figure corresponds to a launch every 2.8 days, a pace that seemed impossible just a few years ago. However, SpaceX has accomplished many seemingly impossible feats in spaceflight history, so the company is entirely capable of achieving this ambitious goal.
SpaceX rocket launches during the second flight. (Photo: SpaceX)
Approximately two-thirds of SpaceX’s launches in 2023 were dedicated to the development of Starlink, the company’s mega constellation of Internet satellites. Currently, Starlink comprises about 5,230 operational spacecraft, according to astronomer and satellite tracking expert Jonathan McDowell. However, SpaceX is licensed to deploy a total of 12,000 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) and has also applied to launch an additional 30,000 satellites. Therefore, Starlink satellite clusters will continue to be launched from two locations: Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida throughout 2024.
In addition to satellites, SpaceX conducted three crewed missions to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2023, including two missions for NASA and one for Axiom Space, a Houston-based company looking to build its own space station in LEO in the coming years.
This year, SpaceX plans to launch five crewed missions, if everything goes according to plan. The Crew-8 and Crew-9 flights for NASA are scheduled to launch in February and August 2024, respectively. Axiom’s Ax-3 mission will launch on January 17, with Ax-4 expected to fly as early as October 2024. In April, SpaceX plans to launch Polaris Dawn, a free-flying mission to LEO that will include the first spacewalk by a private astronaut.
Out of the 96 orbital flights by SpaceX last year, 91 were carried out by the Falcon 9 rocket, while the remainder flew on the company’s powerful Falcon Heavy rocket. However, 2023 also marked two test flights of the rocket that promises to revolutionize spaceflight and exploration: Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built.
Both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy feature reusable first stages, a significant breakthrough in space technology. However, the Starship vehicle, standing approximately 122 meters in full configuration, is designed for complete reusability. Musk aims for the massive Super Heavy booster of Starship to land directly back on the launch pad after liftoff, allowing for rapid inspection, refurbishment, and reflight. Two test flights of Starship launched from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in South Texas in April and November of last year. Both missions aimed to launch the upper stage of the vehicle as far as possible and land in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.
The flight in April did not last long. Starship encountered several serious issues, including a malfunction during stage separation. SpaceX had to destroy the vehicle just four minutes after liftoff. Starship performed better in its second flight. All 33 Raptor engines of the Super Heavy operated as expected, and the booster successfully separated from the upper stage. However, the mission ended prematurely, with the upper stage exploding approximately eight minutes after leaving the launch pad.
Nevertheless, SpaceX’s third flight is expected to occur in the near future. Last week, SpaceX tested the engines of its latest Starship prototype, with plans to launch after receiving a license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). SpaceX is also preparing additional Starship vehicles following the company’s development philosophy, prioritizing frequent test flights and rapid improvements.
Timing is crucial for the development of Starship. NASA selected this massive vehicle as the first crewed lander for the Artemis program. According to the current schedule, Starship will carry astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time during the Artemis 3 mission, set to launch in late 2025 or 2026.
