Says all current rocket tech sucks until it becomes fully reusable.
"All current rocket tech, including ours, sucks. Only when it becomes fully reusable, will it not suck."
Why does rocket reusability matter?
Q13116 answers2011-2026
Short answer
He says it will take a few years for Starship to reach where Falcon 9 is, where landing is normal.
All 16 answers, oldest to newest
Calls propulsive landing a critical step toward a fully reusable Mars transport system.
"Making large scale rocket propulsion landing work well is a critical step towards a fully reusable Mars transport system"
He said reusable rockets are the key to making life multiplanetary.
"This is the key to getting life to be multi planetary is to have reusable rockets."
He said rapid and complete reusability of rockets is key to opening up space and becoming a multiplanet species.
"But it is that rapid and complete reusability of rockets is really key to opening up space"
He said if not that year, he was confident SpaceX would reach rapid zero-change reflight the next year.
"We might get there this year but I think if not this year I'm confident we'll get to next year."
Urges Russia to focus on reusability: single-use rockets cannot compete, just as single-use aircraft could not.
"Would encourage focus on reusability. Single-use rockets cannot be competitive any more than single-use aircraft."
Says it will seem bizarre in the future that rockets were crashed into the ocean instead of reused.
"In the future, it will seem bizarre that we used to crash rockets into the ocean instead of reusing them."
Contrasts Falcon (~80% reusable, days between flights, needs boats) with Starship, planned to be fully reusable with rapid reflight.
"Starship will be fully reusable with booster reflight possible every few hours & ship reflight every 8 hours. No boats needed."
Says humanity will never be multiplanet without a fully and rapidly reusable orbital rocket.
"Without a fully & rapidly reusable orbital rocket, humanity will never be a multiplanet species"
He said you want them reusable so you simply reload propellant and fly again, like aircraft.
"You really want them to be reusable"
He calls a fully and rapidly reusable rocket the holy grail of rocketry.
"This is the holy grail of rocketry. So no one has ever succeeded in creating a fully reusable rocket. It can't just be fully reusable. It needs to be rapidly reusable."
He says reaching Mars requires reusable rockets, because you cannot keep throwing rockets away.
"And you can't just be throwing rockets away every time."
Says getting Starship reliably to orbit, then full and immediate reusability of both stages, is top priority.
"Getting Starship reliably to orbit, then achieving full & immediate reusability of both stages is by far top priority."
He says Starship basically works, and SpaceX will fix the remaining issues, get it to orbit and make it reusable.
"this thing kind of works and we're going to solve the issues that are remaining and we'll get it to orbit and we'll make it reusable."
He says it will take a few years for Starship to reach where Falcon 9 is, where landing is normal.
"It'll take a few years to get to where Falcon 9 is today, where it is now quite normal for the rocket to land."
Says Starship cost to orbit would drop well below $100/kg with immediate and complete reusability and local propellant production.
"The cost would drop well below $100/kg to orbit for Starship if it achieves immediate & complete reusability, with local production of liquid CH4 & O2"