Elon Musk Sees SpaceX Carrying About 99% Of Earth's Payload To Orbit In 2026

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on Tuesday that the launch provider will probably carry about 99% of Earth’s payload to orbit in 2026.

What Happened: In spite of other companies in the field of space travel growing, SpaceX will still probably launch about 99% of Earth’s payload to orbit in 2026, Musk said in a post on X.

“Assuming rocket launches by competitors grow at their current rate, SpaceX will probably do 99.9% of payload to orbit in 10 years, but I hope I'm wrong,” the billionaire CEO said while adding that it would be “better” if rival organizations too rose up to meet his aim of taking humans to the surface of Earth’s neighboring planet Mars.

According to a report from Bryce Tech, SpaceX launched about 362,087 kg of spacecraft upmass in the third quarter followed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) with about 30,350 kg. While Spacex launched 518 spacecraft in the three months, CASC launched just 56.

Why It Matters: In September, Musk said that SpaceX will launch close to 90% of all mass to orbit in 2024, trumping the competition by a huge margin.

"If the rest of the year goes well, SpaceX will launch close to 90% of all mass to orbit. China will be ~6% and rest of world ~4%," Musk wrote on social media platform X.

SpaceX has completed 134 launches thus far this year, not including four Starship test flights, marking a significant milestone. For the entirety of 2023, SpaceX only completed 96 launches, not including two test flights of the company’s Starship launch vehicle.

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