SpaceX has revealed the cost of developing Starship. The key is where he gets so much money from.

How much does it cost to make the largest rocket in the world? Thanks to a lawsuit, we have an answer. Environmental group Save RGV is fighting a legal battle against SpaceX over the Starship launches, resulting in some details being revealed.

Rescue RGV claims that deluge systema type of giant bidet that shoots jets of water as a rocket takes off dumps wastewater into the Rio Grande Valley without permission, something SpaceX denies publicly and in court.

In its lawsuit, Save RGV is seeking a halt to launches at Starbase, a SpaceX facility in southeast Texas. That’s one reason Starship’s fifth flight was delayed in late November and then finally rescheduled for Sunday last week.

In its dissent to the lawsuit, SpaceX argues that the deluge system, which uses potable water to combat fire, dust and debris during launches, has been approved by the Texas government and the Federal Aviation Administration, as well as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Administration. Service, which concluded that its use did not cause significant harm to the environment.

In the same document, SpaceX mentions that it has invested more than $7.5 billion in the construction of its launch complexes and the development of the Starship-Super Heavy rocket. Even more interesting: the operation of the Starbase, which includes a rocket plant, or “Star Factory,” costs the company $1.5 billion a year: 4 million dollars a day. This figure takes into account personnel, equipment and other operating costs.

“Without launch capability,” its lawyers told the court, “SpaceX will face these costs without a significant return on investment, which could seriously impact its financial viability and its ability to fulfill important contracts associated with government and commercial missions.” This brings us to the next question.

How SpaceX finances all this

According to Elon Musk, the main source of funding for Starship is the Starlink satellite Internet service, the number of clients of which exceeded 3 million in May.

With more than 4,700 active satellites, Starlink operates in hundreds of countries and is beginning to be available to a large number of cruise lines and commercial airlines. This the goose that lays the golden eggs causing SpaceX’s valuation to skyrocket to more than $200 billion. Elon Musk still owns the largest stake in the company, but he sold most of the pie to new investors who helped fund Starship.

Starlink is part of SpaceX and is a private company that is not yet publicly traded or reporting results, but is projected to close 2024 with revenue of $6.6 billion. And those numbers may only improve next year thanks to agreements with carriers that are starting to take advantage of Starlink Direct to Cell cellular connectivity to provide service in areas without coverage.

But not only does Starship depend on Starlink: the future of Starlink also depends on Starship. A huge rocket will be needed for deployment next version of satellites. Known as the second generation Starlink, they will provide 10 times the throughput and lower latency than the current v2 mini due to their lower orbital altitude.

In exchange, they will be much larger, so they cannot be launched on a Falcon 9 rocket, as before. SpaceX has already sought permission from the FCC to provide service to these satellites at gigabit speeds, which means it will soon begin launching them from Starship instead of continuing to test the rocket without a thrust load.

Certainly, Starlink is not the only source of income this makes the Starship program possible. The Pentagon has its own interests in Starship. The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is developing the Starshield spy satellite network based on the Starlink constellation. And the Space Force wants to rent a rocket for military launches from one point on Earth to another.

Prior to this, NASA signed two major contracts for Starship with SpaceX: HLS Option A ($2.9 billion) and HLS Option B ($1.15 billion). These contracts call for the spacecraft to carry astronauts from lunar orbit to the lunar surface during the Artemis III and Artemis IV missions. SpaceX must complete unmanned testing of Starship in 2025 to fulfill its agreement with the space agency.

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