- Elon Musk forecasts SpaceX commercial revenue will surpass NASA’s budget in 2026.
- SpaceX’s revenue is projected to reach $15.5 billion this year, with NASA contributing $1.1 billion.
- The White House proposed cutting NASA’s 2026 budget to $18.8 billion from nearly $25 billion.
SpaceX is on track to record another significant revenue increase this year, Elon Musk said, continuing a growth streak at the world’s busiest rocket launcher.
Musk, SpaceX’s chief executive, said Tuesday on X that the Texas-based company is expected to generate about $15.5 billion in revenue in 2025.
Privately held since Musk founded it in 2002, SpaceX doesn’t publicly disclose its financial results, making information about its performance rare. In 2022, SpaceX’s annual revenue totaled $4.6 billion, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Late last year, SpaceX was valued at $350 billion.
The company has two main business lines that have stoked revenue growth in recent years. One is its launch operation, which revolves around its Falcon 9 rocket. The partially reusable vehicle has emerged as the global workhorse, frequently used for U.S. government missions and by private satellite operators.
SpaceX’s launch business has been helped by the company’s focus on reusability, as well technical problems that have delayed several competing rockets.
The company’s other major business is Starlink—a low-Earth-orbit satellite constellation that provides subscribers on the ground with high-speed internet connections.
Starlink has driven a major part of the recent revenue gains at SpaceX, according to analysts tracking the company. Quilty Space, a consulting firm, estimates Starlink revenue is set to grow to $12.3 billion this year from $7.8 billion in 2024.
Starlink has won household subscribers from competing satellite services, built up a growing government business and reeled in blue-chip corporate clients, like United Airlines and Deere.
SpaceX continues to invest heavily in vehicle development and infrastructure efforts. A good part of its cash is flowing toward Starship, the deep-space vehicle the company has been testing in flight since 2023 and hopes to one day use for missions to Mars.
Bret Johnsen, finance chief at SpaceX, said at an industry event in March that getting Starship prepared for Mars was a huge endeavor. He said SpaceX continued to spend its own funds on research and development for the roughly 400-foot-tall vehicle, which the company has called the most powerful rocket ever built.
In his post Tuesday, Musk said “commercial revenue” at SpaceX would exceed the entire budget of NASA next year. The White House, where Musk worked until recently, has proposed cutting the National Aeronautics and Space Administration budget to $18.8 billion for its next fiscal year from nearly $25 billion currently.
NASA’s funds flow to a far-reaching set of scientific and exploration endeavors, and SpaceX is a major contractor at the agency. Musk said about $1.1 billion of the company’s expected revenue this year would come from NASA.