Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has built a reputation for framing technological progress in long time horizons, often emphasizing structural shifts rather than incremental gains. Speaking on the Katie Miller Podcast, Musk discussed SpaceX’s Starship program and described it as a turning point in rocket design, space economics, and industrial capability. His comments focused on how Starship differs fundamentally from previous launch systems and why its significance may only be fully appreciated in retrospect.
During the conversation, Musk signaled that major developments were underway, saying there was “a lot coming down the pike,” before pointing directly to Starship. He argued that the scope of its impact is widely underestimated, stating, “The degree to which starship is a revolutionary technology is not well understood in the world.”
At the core of this claim is Starship’s design goal: full and rapid reusability. According to Musk, “It’s the first time where there’s been any rocket design where full and rapid reusability or full reusability at all is possible,” marking a departure from systems that rely on partially reusable or disposable components.
Musk emphasized that Starship represents the first rocket architecture where reusability is not a best-case aspiration but a viable outcome among several technical possibilities. As he described it, “This is the first design where a reusable rocket is one of the possible outcomes, where success is in a set of possible outcomes.” This framing reflects SpaceX’s engineering philosophy, which prioritizes iterative development, rapid testing, and acceptance of early failure as part of long-term optimization.
The discussion also touched on the evolution of Starship’s design. When asked whether he was referring to version two or version three, Musk explained that while “We could have made V2 reusable,” the scale of improvements planned for the next iteration justified moving forward. He noted that V3 incorporates “like 10,000 different changes between V2 and V3, maybe more than 10,000,” underscoring the magnitude of refinement underway rather than a single breakthrough improvement.
Musk’s perspective carries authority because it is grounded in SpaceX’s innovative track record. The company has already transformed the launch market with the Falcon 9, proving that first-stage reusability can dramatically reduce costs and increase launch cadence. Starship extends this logic to its extreme, aiming for a fully reusable system capable of carrying unprecedented payload volumes. Musk’s statements that future observers may recognize its significance reflects this continuity, as he suggested that “If there are historians in the future, they'll look back at Starship and say it was one of the most profound things that ever happened.”
Starship is the medium by which Musk plans to make human life multi-planetary. According to Musk, this achievement will be as significant as major developments in the evolution of life itself – such as when creatures went from single-celled organisms to multicellular, or when life adapted to become land-based rather than sea-based. This includes when life developed into intelligent life, or from hunter-gatherers to farmers. Musk says that life becoming multi-planetary will be “in the top 10.”
In a broader economic and market context, Starship’s potential speaks to long-standing themes around cost compression, scalability, and infrastructure investment. Lower launch costs could reshape satellite deployment, space-based communications, and exploration economics, influencing both public-sector programs and private capital allocation. Musk’s remarks position Starship not as a single vehicle, but as a platform that could redefine access to space.
For investors, SpaceX is currently ramping up for an IPO in late 2026 with a staggering $1.5 trillion valuation. With such a monstrous sum of money being traded on the public markets, these concepts will only continue to make their way into the world’s center stage as people learn about the economics and investing in the viability of these ideologies. Millions of investors will soon be wondering if SpaceX, at that hefty price tag, can deliver the same returns as Tesla has over the past decade.
Taken together, the comments reflect Musk’s consistent view that transformative technologies are often misunderstood in real time, with their true impact becoming clear only after they alter underlying economic and industrial assumptions.
On the date of publication, Caleb Naysmith did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
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