Tesla CEO Elon Musk Confident SpaceX's Starship Has 'Decent Chance' To Reach Orbit Despite Previous Explosion

On Thursday, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced the likelihood of the company’s Starship vehicle making orbit on its second test flight, despite its previous catastrophic failure.

According to a report from Business Insider, Musk said during the International Astronautical Federation annual conference that the introduction of “hot-staging” to the rocket was the “riskiest part of flight two”.

Starship, the most powerful rocket in SpaceX’s arsenal, is an integral part of both Musk’s plans for human colonization of Mars and NASA’s lunar ambitions. However, it has not yet achieved orbit. The first test flight in April ended in an explosion after the two stages failed to separate.

The explosion also created a crater in the launchpad and scattered debris in a town five miles away. Despite this, Musk announced in September that the next iteration of Starship is “ready to launch”.

See Also: Elon Musk’s Newest Half-Sibling Is A 4-Year-Old Born To His 77-Year-Old Father And Stepdaughter — Resumed Giving Him $2,000 Per Month In Support

According to Musk, SpaceX has made “more than a thousand changes” to the mega-rocket since its first flight. One of these changes is hot staging, a technique designed to boost the spaceship’s energy as its engines ignite while the booster continues to propel it forward.

Musk’s optimism for the second flight is reportedly higher than for the first, with an estimated success rate of 60%. The outcome, he said, largely depends on the successful separation of the stages.

Former SpaceX mission director, Abhi Tripathi, noted that Musk’s optimism is unusual and stated that he would consider the second test flight a success if the damage to the launch mound is minimal and at least 32 of the 33 engines stay lit.

“If the engines light and the ship doesn’t blow itself up during stage stuff, then I think we’ve got a decent chance to reach orbit,” Musk said.

No announcement has been made yet regarding the launch date for the next test flight.

Read Next: If You Invested In Tesla Stock When Elon Musk Was On ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ Here’s How Much You’d Have Today

Image Credit – SpaceX