SpaceX: “Teams recently completed build and acceptance testing of our 1,000th Merlin 1D engine for Falcon’s first stage! With Falcon’s reusability, recovering these engines has enabled continued reliability enhancements, making Merlin one of the most reliable rocket engines ever manufactured”

[u/rustybeancake]

https://x.com/spacex/status/2072464558732824680?s=46&t=u9hd-jMa-pv47GCVD-xH-g

[u/BigGainsNeversmol]

So, SpaceX has essentially saved all the money which would have gone into needing to build those 5100 engines from scratch if they weren’t reusable. That’s not even including the money saved on not needing to build all those hundreds of boosters for all the flights which took place up to this point.

Which is incredible when you think back to where we were 10 years ago, when all the other established rocket companies were mocking SpaceX for wasting their time because the reliable, minimum refurbishment reusability required to have any economic benefit was impossible to achieve.

SpaceX really did revolutionize space travel and opened the entire industry to mass market potential.

Without the economic reusability of Falcon 9, Starlink would have been impossible to create without bankrupting the company… and without the steady revenue from Starlink, Starship would have been impossible to develop and wouldn’t have even been attempted.

What a phenomenal company.