Starship Could Cut Cost to Orbit 100x to ~$185K Per Ton, Unlocking New Businesses

claud_fuen · x · 2026-10-10

Cost to orbit is space's holy grail: $18.5M per ton average in 1970–2000 vs Starship's $185K target.
Starship reached orbit on Sep 28; SpaceX's S-1 filing suggests it can eventually hit that price, though no ship has been recovered yet and timelines have slipped.
At that cost: launching a 1-ton satellite costs $185K (less than many seed checks); an Nvidia GB200 NVL72 rack (1.36t) would cost $250K to orbit; at the $10/kg Elon has floated, orbit is a few times air freight.
Expect many companies over the next decade that only work at that price.

More from Venture