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Crew Dragon is lifted off the deck of SpaceX recovery vessel GO Searcher after safely arriving at Port Canaveral, March 10th. (NASA) Crew Dragon is lifted off the deck of SpaceX recovery vessel GO Searcher after safely arriving at Port Canaveral, March 10th. (NASA)

SpaceX

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says Crew Dragon reusability a “major improvement”

Crew Dragon is lifted off the deck of SpaceX recovery vessel GO Searcher after safely arriving at Port Canaveral, March 10th. (NASA)

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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says that the company’s next-generation Crew Dragon spacecraft is a “major improvement” over its Cargo Dragon (Dragon 1) predecessors after successfully demonstrating a number of reusability-focused upgrades during the vehicle’s launch and splashdown debut.

Even as SpaceX’s longer-term development groups aim to make the company’s Dragon spacecraft all but redundant with Starship and Super Heavy, the apparent success of Crew Dragon’s upgrades will be valuable for years to come. Ultimately, “major” improvements in reusability will allow SpaceX to reuse Dragon 2 far more efficiently, improving availability for both its Crew and Cargo programs and potentially cutting the operating cost and longevity of each spacecraft as the company begins to transition its workforce to BFR.

Although the question cuing Musk was non-specific, the SpaceX CEO immediately focused his reply on whether or not unspecified “upgrades” to Crew Dragon were able to keep sensitive hardware dry. SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon program has roughly seven years of experience with launching, recovering, and refurbishing orbital-class spacecraft after ocean landings and the subsequent seawater immersion. The fact that the Dragon 2 concept was almost immediately demonstrated with propulsive land-landing capabilities speaks to just how annoying a problem it was to try to keep an orbital spacecraft easily reusable while still relying upon water landing for recovery.

As it turns out, many of the engineering solutions best known to ensure structural and thermal integrity of a spacecraft on-orbit are often at ends with the separate task of ensuring that the same spacecraft remains thoroughly water-proof through launch, reentry, and splashdown. Many of these problems center around the materials that are best for each solution. The sorts of polymers (i.e. plastics) best known for their roles in sealing certain things off from other things are frequently very pliable, soft, and flexible. The orbital environment is extremely unfriendly to polymers like this, where constant and extreme thermal cycling couples with vacuum, radiation, and something known as atomic (or free radical) oxygen to rapidly turn pliable polymers brittle.

Different sealants and plastic or rubber gaskets are visible all over Crew Dragon, ranging from the red gasket around the nose cone area to white lines filling in gaps between the spacecraft’s dozens of different external panels.

A ‘brittle seal’, as many will know, is an oxymoron. Sealants that become brittle in space often scarcely behave like sealants at all after weeks (or months) in orbit, meaning that their ability to prevent moisture intrusion can be dramatically deteriorated. From an engineering perspective, Crew Dragon’s many seals and gaskets are first and foremost intended to protect the spacecraft from the elements while still on Earth, where static fire attempts and weather during launch windows could require it to weather extreme heat, cold, rainstorms, ice, and high winds. SpaceX engineers appear to have managed to solve the latter problem while also accounting for a need to protect the spacecraft after launch for the sake of easier refurbishment.

However, sealing the spacecraft from the elements – both before and after launch – is just one of many challenges for safe operations and efficient reusability. Up next, as Musk notes, is protecting Crew Dragon’s 16 Draco maneuvering thrusters and 8 SuperDraco abort thrusters from water damage, as well as sealing off vulnerable avionics for reuse. With respect to avionics, Musk is very likely referring to the electronics and sensing equipment housed under Dragon 2’s retractable nose cone, a new feature for SpaceX.

SpaceX's 'DragonFly' prototype was briefly used to test Dragon 2's propulsive landing capabilities before the program was cancelled. Most of the technology remains a part of Crew Dragon, however... (SpaceX)
Crew Dragon featured intriguing panels covering its Super Draco engine nozzles, presumably meant to prevent water from entering. (NASA)

Due to the fact that Crew Dragon’s SuperDraco abort thrusters are only meant to be used in a namesake abort scenario, SpaceX appears to have chosen to implement a more permanent solution for protecting them from water intrusion after splashdown. The challenge of panels like those covering the SuperDracos is that they need to be easily destructible to prevent a cascade of high-velocity debris from wreaking havoc in the event of ignition. They also need to survive the conditions on orbit, make it through the heat and buffeting of reentry and descent, and survive the initial impact with the ocean surface, all while keeping SuperDracos dry.

As such, it should come as no surprise to find CEO Elon Musk praising the engineering behind the presumably successful solutions to these complex problems, although credit is also due to the technicians that turned CAD files, test results, and aspirations into practical, functioning hardware.

An overview of the expected modifications needed to turn a Crew Dragon into a Cargo Dragon 2. (NASA OIG)

If Crew Dragon can achieve a similar level of success after spending more like half a year in space during operational crew transport missions, the spacecraft’s reusability improvements will end up benefiting both Crew Dragon and Cargo Dragon 2. The Cargo variant of Dragon 2 is designed as a relatively minor modification to flight-proven Crew Dragon capsules and slightly-upgraded trunks and could debut as early as mid-2020 after Cargo Dragon 1 enters retirement.

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Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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SpaceX IPO could push Elon Musk’s net worth past $1 trillion: Polymarket

The estimates were shared by the official Polymarket Money account on social media platform X.

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Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Recent projections have outlined how a potential $1.75 trillion SpaceX IPO could generate historic returns for early investors. The projections suggest the offering would not only become the largest IPO in history but could also result in unprecedented windfalls for some of the company’s key investors.

The estimates were shared by the official Polymarket Money account on social media platform X.

As noted in a Polymarket Money analysis, Elon Musk invested $100 million into SpaceX in 2002 and currently owns approximately 42% of the company. At a $1.75 trillion valuation following SpaceX’s potential $1.75 trillion IPO, that stake would be worth roughly $735 billion.

Such a figure would dramatically expand Musk’s net worth. When combined with his holdings in Tesla Inc. and other ventures, a public debut at that level could position him as the world’s first trillionaire, depending on market conditions at the time of listing.

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The Bloomberg Billionaires Index currently lists Elon Musk with a net worth of $666 billion, though a notable portion of this is tied to his TSLA stock. Tesla currently holds a market cap of $1.51 trillion, and Elon Musk’s currently holds about 13% to 15% of the company’s outstanding common stock.

Founders Fund, co-founded by Peter Thiel, invested $20 million in SpaceX in 2008. Polymarket Money estimates the firm owns between 1.5% and 3% of the private space company. At a $1.75 trillion valuation, that range would translate to approximately $26.25 billion to $52.5 billion in value.

That return would represent one of the most significant venture capital outcomes in modern Silicon Valley history, with a growth of 131,150% to 262,400%.

Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, invested $900 million into SpaceX in 2015 and is estimated to hold between 6% and 7% of the private space firm. At the projected IPO valuation, that stake could be worth between $105 billion and $122.5 billion. That’s a growth of 11,566% to 14,455%.

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Other major backers highlighted in the post include Fidelity Investments, Baillie Gifford, Valor Equity Partners, Bank of America, and Andreessen Horowitz, each potentially sitting on multibillion-dollar gains.

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SpaceX considering confidential IPO filing this March: report

The filing could pave the way for a June listing at a valuation that may exceed $1.75 trillion.

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Credit: SpaceX/X

SpaceX is reportedly preparing to confidentially file for an initial public offering (IPO) as soon as March. The filing could pave the way for a June listing at a valuation that may exceed $1.75 trillion, potentially making it the largest IPO in history.

The update was initially reported by Bloomberg News, which cited information shared by people reportedly familiar with the matter. 

As per the publication, a confidential filing allows a company to receive regulatory feedback before publicly releasing its financials. Bloomberg’s source, however, noted that the timing of SpaceX’s IPO is still under discussion and plans could change.

SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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A March submission would mark the clearest step yet toward bringing Elon Musk’s private space company into public markets. People familiar with the preparations said the offering could raise as much as $50 billion. That would surpass the $29 billion debut of Saudi Aramco in 2019, currently the largest IPO on record.

Major banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, and Bank of America Corp. are reportedly positioned for senior roles in the transaction. SpaceX is also said to be considering a dual-class structure that would allow insiders, including Musk, to retain enhanced voting control.

Satellite communications provider EchoStar Corp., which holds a stake in SpaceX, reportedly saw its shares rise following news of the potential filing.

At a valuation exceeding $1.75 trillion, SpaceX would immediately have a larger market cap than all but five of the companies traded in the S&P 500 index. That figure would place it ahead of Meta Platforms Inc. and Tesla Inc. by market capitalization, trailing only a small group of mega-cap firms such as Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

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The scale of the proposed valuation reflects SpaceX’s dominance in orbital launch services and its Starlink satellite network, which serves millions of users globally. The company has also outlined long-term expansion plans tied to higher Starship launch cadence, orbital infrastructure, and lunar development initiatives.

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Elon Musk outlines plan for first Starship tower catch attempt

Musk confirmed that Starship V3 Ship 1 (SN1) is headed for ground tests and expressed strong confidence in the updated vehicle design.

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Credit: SpaceX/X

Elon Musk has clarified when SpaceX will first attempt to catch Starship’s upper stage with its launch tower. The CEO’s update provides the clearest teaser yet for the spacecraft’s recovery roadmap.

Musk shared the details in recent posts on X. In his initial post, Musk confirmed that Starship V3 Ship 1 (SN1) is headed for ground tests and expressed strong confidence in the updated vehicle design.

“Starship V3 SN1 headed for ground tests. I am highly confident that the V3 design will achieve full reusability,” Musk wrote.

In a follow-up post, Musk addressed when SpaceX would attempt to catch the upper stage using the launch tower’s robotic arms. 

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“Should note that SpaceX will only try to catch the ship with the tower after two perfect soft landings in the ocean. The risk of the ship breaking up over land needs to be very low,” Musk clarified. 

His remarks suggest that SpaceX is deliberately reducing risk before attempting a tower catch of Starship’s upper stage. Such a milestone would mark a major step towards the full reuse of the Starship system.

SpaceX is currently targeting the first Starship V3 flight of 2026 this coming March. The spacecraft’s V3 iteration is widely viewed as a key milestone in SpaceX’s long-term strategy to make Starship fully reusable. 

Starship V3 features a number of key upgrades over its previous iterations. The vehicle is equipped with SpaceX’s Raptor V3 engines, which are designed to deliver significantly higher thrust than earlier versions while reducing cost and weight. 

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The V3 design is also expected to be optimized for manufacturability, a critical step if SpaceX intends to scale the spacecraft’s production toward frequent launches for Starlink, lunar missions, and eventually Mars. 

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