--- title: "Elon Musk: SpaceX Launches Will Cost 1% of Current NASA Launches" description: "SpaceX CEO Elon Musk revealed that his company's Starship rocket will only require $900,000 of fuel per launch and cost $2 million per mission overall." date: "2019-11-06" modified: "2019-11-06" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/spacex-launch-cost-less-nasa" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "NASA" - "Space" - "SpaceX" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "falcon 9" - "NASA" - "SpaceX" - "Starship" --- # Elon Musk: SpaceX Launches Will Cost 1% of Current NASA Launches ![SpaceX CEO Elon Musk revealed that his company's Starship rocket will only require $900,000 of fuel per launch and cost $2 million per mission overall.]() *\Image: SpaceX\* At the first-ever U.S. Air Force Space Pitch Day, a two-day event for the military arm to talk to non-traditional startups and businesses, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the company's massive Starship rocket will be ludicrously cheap to get into orbit. "If you consider operational costs, maybe it'll be like $2 million," Musk said during an event, as quoted by *Space.com*. "This is much less than even a tiny rocket, so it's something that needs to be made." While that sounds like a lot, it's a tiny fraction of what existing launches cost: on average, NASA spends an [average of $152 million]() per launch — meaning that, if Musk is to be believed, SpaceX will be able to launch cargo and people into orbit for 1.3 percent of what NASA is currently paying for the same task. SpaceX is planning to send the gigantic Starship rocket to space and [far beyond]() with up to 100 passengers on board. The company is also working on a system that could ferry up to 1,000 passengers from one city to another on board the same rocket [within the next ten years](). It's an extremely ambitious target. Despite [costs plummeting]() thanks to improving [reusability](), a launch of SpaceX's much smaller workhorse rocket Falcon 9 currently costs [$62 million]() — more than thirty times Musk's quoted price of a Starship launch. Does that mean Musk pulled the $2 million figure out of thin air? Maybe. At the Air Force event, Musk admitted he does "zero market research whatsoever," according to *Space.com*. **READ MORE:** [SpaceX's Starship May Fly for Just $2 Million Per Mission, Elon Musk Says]() \[*Space.com*\] **More on Starship:** *[Elon Musk: Noisy Starship Spaceports Will Be 20 Miles Offshore]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()