Elon Musk's SpaceX On Track To Lift 80% Of World's Space Payload — Surpassing China's Orbit Delivery By 8-Fold

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday gave a breakdown of expected global payload to orbit this year.

What Happened: SpaceX is tracking to lift 80% of all mass to orbit, China 10% and the rest of the world 10%, Musk said.

“Don’t wanna jinx it,” he added. The CEO was responding to an X.com user who noted that SpaceX lifted nearly 10 times as much mass to orbit in the second quarter as China. While SpaceX launched about 214,095 kg of spacecraft upmass in the second quarter, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) launched 23,069. As per an infographic shared by the user, Russian space agency Roscosmos launched merely 8,100 kg.

Why It Matters: Musk first revealed the 80% payload goal as early as March this year. "Provided there is no serious launch anomaly, SpaceX will deliver 80% of Earth’s payload to orbit this year,” Musk then said.

But in an interview with author Ashlee Vance in June, Musk said that he doesn't really think about competition but focuses on improving Starlink and rockets. “If competitors succeed, that’s great,” Musk said.

SpaceX completed 26 launches in 2020, 31 in 2021, and nearly doubled it to 61 last year. As for this year, Musk said in March that the rocket manufacturing company is eyeing over 90 launches.

Photo Courtesy: Shutterstock.com

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