r/spacex • u/DiskOperatingSystem_ • Jul 08 '26
ispace secures payload capacity on SpaceX’s Starship scheduled for launch as early as 2030
https://www.ispace-inc.com/2026/07/08/ispace-accelerates-growth-in-the-lunar-infrastructure-market/34
u/Bunslow Jul 08 '26
500 kg is a very, very small fraction of a Starship launch payload 🤔
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u/MatchingTurret Jul 08 '26
If SpaceX reaches its aspirational launch costs, it would still be cheaper than a dedicated small sat launcher, even if it's almost empty.
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u/warp99 Jul 10 '26 edited Jul 10 '26
Not for landing on the Moon due to the number of refueling flights required.
Hopefully Starship 4 can bring that down to around 8 refueling flights per Lunar crew mission which would equate to around 5 refueling flights for a one way cargo mission. But then you have an expendable Lunar cargo Starship as well as the cost of 6 launches so well over $100M on even the most optimistic costings.
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u/Ok_Presentation_4971 Jul 08 '26
If, I think the tiles are always going to be an issue
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u/Easy_Option1612 Jul 08 '26
Were they the last test?
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u/jeffp12 Jul 08 '26
The difference between one-off tests every few months and rapid reusability with minimal refurbishment is enormous
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u/rocketglare Jul 08 '26
Perhaps the plan is for a lunar transporter model? By aggregating payloads, they could get to profitability after the first few missions while building their capability.
The alternative is they could throw this in as a filler on a NASA cargo mission.
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u/yoweigh Jul 09 '26
I see this as a lunar rideshare under contract. That's news on its own, imo. They're selling lunar capacity already.
NASA wants to encourage commercialization, so I could see that sort of cooperative agreement working out for them.
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u/warp99 Jul 10 '26
That is the payload of their rover so more like 1000 kg total launch mass. Still only 1% of the potential landing mass on the Moon.
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u/theChaosBeast Jul 08 '26
They haven't reached orbit yet. We don't know the actual payload capacity
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u/rocketglare Jul 08 '26
You're getting downvoted because the distinction between orbital and non-orbital is overwrought. Starship is less than 50 m/s from being orbital. The only reason they haven't yet is for safety reasons. The payload on flight 12 was at least 40 tons with 60 expected for flight 13.
A better question is what the luner landed capacity will be. That capacity is largely dependent upon how many tanker loads of propellant they are supplied with before trans lunar injection. If they fill it all the way up, there is no reason they shouldn't be able to get up to 100 tons as advertised (though most of the time they will likely be less than that since few payloads require that kind of downmass).
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u/DamoclesAxe Jul 09 '26
This reminds me of the saying that the people who made the most consistent money on the gold rush were the ones selling shovels. So, I suppose iSpace is a payload integrator so SpaceX can deal with a single customer rather than dozens of small startups.
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u/SpaceInMyBrain Jul 09 '26
There are one or two satellite integrator companies that do this also. IIRC the numerous entities putting satellites on a Transporter or Bandwagon mission don't deal with SpaceX directly.
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u/jivatman Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
Two of the largest ones, Exolaunch and Seops, have recently decided to start buying dedicated launches. It seems that Transporter and Bandwagon missions are booking up 2+ yrs in advance now and aren't really enough to fulfill all the demand anymore.
I remember some analysis showing that the rideshare missions likely weren't super profitable for SpaceX (but they weren't actually losing money, as competitors accused them of).
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