SpaceX is targeting over 100 orbital launches in 2023 after launching 61 times in 2022. They just had their fifth successful launch which is more than every other country or region in the world in 2022, except China and Russia. SpaceX is the main launch company for the USA and the primary commercial launch company for the world. This mission launched more Starlink satellites. SpaceX puts about 90% of the commercial payload mass into orbit. China and Russia have about 80 total launches for their military and national missions.
There were 4825 active satellites in orbit at the end of 2022 and SpaceX has put up over 3600 Starlink satellites. SpaceX has over 67% of all active satellites in orbit. SpaceX could more than double the number of Starlink satellites in orbit by the end of 2023. SpaceX will have ovr 80% of all active satellites in orbit by the end of 2023 (about 7200 out of 9000.)
The SpaceX domination of space launch and satellites will get more complete when they have the more powerful fully reusable Starship Super Heavy. The Starship Super Heavy should have a first orbital launch attempt late in February or in March. SpaceX plans to build five complete Starship Super Heavies in 2023. If four of those sets had nearly weekly launches of 100 tons per mission in the second half of 2023, this would add another 100 launches but with over five times the payload. Those would be equal to about 600 Falcon 9 missions.
I have some videos that explain what SpaceX will be doing this decade.
The currently active version, Falcon 9 Block 5, has flown 142 missions, all full successes.
Rockets from the Falcon 9 family have been launched 203 times over 13 years, resulting in 201 full mission successes (99%), one partial success (SpaceX CRS-1 delivered its cargo to the International Space Station (ISS), but a secondary payload was stranded in a lower-than-planned orbit), and one full failure (the SpaceX CRS-7 spacecraft was lost in flight in an explosion). Additionally, one rocket and its payload AMOS-6 were destroyed before launch in preparation for an on-pad static fire test.
Four more launches are planned in January and ten in February. If they have 19 launches in 59 days, then they would be on pace for 117 launches in 2023.
There are 3614 Starlink satellites in orbit and 3120 have moved to the correct final position are serving customers There is a live map of the Starlink satellites in orbit.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
