SpaceX Flies Falcon 9 Booster for 35th Time, Deploying 29 Starlink Satellites

Q: As SpaceX launches its IPO despite massive losses, can its profitable Starlink service truly fund its costly AI and Mars ambitions?

No. Starlink is SpaceX’s financial engine, but on current numbers it is not enough by itself to fund the company’s AI buildout and Mars program without outside capital. Starlink is the strongest part of the business. It generated about $11.4 billion in 2025 revenue, roughly 61% of SpaceX’s total, and is widely described as the only consistently profitable segment on a GAAP basis. Its subscriber base has climbed past 10 million, and service quality has improved, with lower latency and stronger upload performance helping support demand. But the rest of SpaceX is consuming cash faster than Starlink is producing it. SpaceX reported a 2025 net loss near $5 billion, and Q1 2026 alone showed another roughly $4.3 billion GAAP loss. The biggest drag is AI: xAI-related operations are reportedly burning billions through data-center expansion, chips and infrastructure. Starship, the core of Musk’s Mars plans, is also highly capital-intensive and remains in heavy development, with major technical and regulatory risks. That makes the IPO central to the strategy. The offering is less a sign that Starlink can already bankroll everything than a way to raise tens of billions to bridge the gap while investors bet on future scale. Starlink can subsidize part of that ambition and gives SpaceX a credible recurring-cash-flow base. But unless AI losses narrow sharply and Starship spending becomes more productive, Starlink alone does not appear sufficient to carry both ambitions at once.

3 articles · Updated · Space.com · Jun 8

Booster 1067 completed its 35th launch-and-landing cycle Monday after lifting off from Cape Canaveral at 6:13 a.m. EDT with 29 Starlink satellites and touching down on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas.
Just over an hour after liftoff, SpaceX confirmed deployment of the Group 10-35 payload, pushing the active Starlink network above 10,580 satellites, according to tracker Jonathan McDowell.
The mission was SpaceX's 66th Falcon 9 flight of 2026 and the 660th completed mission in company history, underscoring the pace enabled by repeated booster reuse.
That 35-flight mark leaves Falcon 9 four missions short of NASA's space shuttle reuse record of 39, while SpaceX says it is targeting as many as 40 flights for its boosters.