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SpaceX VP calls company infrastructure firm as Falcon 9 nears retirement
SpaceX launch vice president Kiko Dontchev told a Florida conference the company is now fundamentally an infrastructure firm, with Falcon 9 on the path to retirement, Ars Technica reported.
- New headline Was: “SpaceX now fundamentally an "infrastructure company," senior official says”
- Our desk filed its story
SpaceX launch vice president Kiko Dontchev said last week that the company is now fundamentally an infrastructure business, even as it remains a rocket maker, according to Ars Technica1.
Speaking at the UP.Summit conference in Florida, Dontchev said SpaceX is building infrastructure on the ground and in low Earth orbit, and later on the Moon and Mars, Ars Technica reported1. The outlet said the remarks were among the most detailed yet on a shift that accelerated with Starlink and, over the past 18 months, with data and artificial intelligence1.
Dontchev said SpaceX acquired xAI, another company founded by Elon Musk, earlier this year and that employees have adopted AI tools much faster this year than a year ago1. Tasks that once took hours to days now take seconds to minutes, he said, according to Ars Technica1.
He said inspectors using a borescope find foreign object debris about 94 percent of the time, while Grok analyzing the same video is 99.9 percent accurate, Ars Technica reported1. The company has also automated visual inspections of hardware such as Starlink terminals, Dontchev said1.
Ars Technica said some spaceflight enthusiasts worry SpaceX is drifting from Musk's Mars settlement goal as he emphasizes orbital data centers1. Dontchev said Mars remains core and that AI would get the company there faster1.
Dontchev, who joined SpaceX just before Falcon 9's first flight in 2010, said the rocket is still not fully reusable because the second stage is discarded each flight1. Starship is intended to catch both stages, he said1. Partial reuse can support about 100 launches a year, but not thousands, Ars Technica reported1.
The first orbital Starship launch in late September carried Starlink V3 satellites with 10 times the bandwidth of a Falcon 9 Starlink payload, according to the report1. Dontchev said a Florida Starship flight could carry up to 20 times a Falcon 9's bandwidth because of more favorable trajectories1.
He said Launch Complex 39A pad infrastructure at Kennedy Space Center is effectively complete, with barge transport of boosters and ships hoped for December and a possible flight by the end of the year1. SpaceX is also developing two more Florida pads, Ars Technica reported1.
Dontchev did not address concerns in the U.S. commercial launch industry that SpaceX has not replaced Falcon 9 capacity with Starship for outside customers, Ars Technica said1. Multiple sources have indicated Starship flights in coming years are being held for SpaceX's own needs and potentially NASA and other government customers, the outlet reported1.
