Jenam 2011-
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the Falcon team is looking at 60 launches in 2022.
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Last year, the company made 31 flights, which was a record.
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Musk also said the company aims to have 4,200 Starlink satellites in orbit by 2024.
This year marks SpaceX’s 20th anniversary, and CEO Elon Musk has ambitious goals for his Falcon program.
“Aiming for 60 launches this year! he said in a tweet Monday.
The SpaceX Falcon is a reusable rocket system capable of launching crew and equipment into space, such as shuttles to the International Space Station or deploying satellites into orbit.
The new goal roughly doubles the number of successful launches for the California-based company, which achieved a record 31 flights in 2021. A Falcon 9 rocket was even reused 11 times.
Even so, Musk has been known to make overambitious predictions, and the number of flights in 2021 was well below Musk’s stated goal of 48 flights for the year, suggesting that the actual number this year could be less than 60.
Musk also said SpaceX aims to have 4,200 Starlink satellites in service over the next 18 months, a number that would represent two-thirds of all active satellites orbiting Earth. Currently, about 2,000 Starlink satellites are in service.
Notably, SpaceX designs and manufactures its own rocket engines, unlike companies like Boeing or Lockheed which rely on the Russian RD-180 engine. “What I should say, to be fair, is a great driver,” said Axel Springer CEO Mathias Döpfner Musk.
When one user joked, “What about 69 launches?” Musk replied “Haha, it’s next year.”
“Maybe this year is not out of the question,” he quickly added.
Read the original article on Business Insider
