From Starship V3 To IPO: What Elon Musk's SpaceX Is Targeting In 2026
Billionaire Elon Musk-led commercial space flight giant SpaceX, with the successful launch tests of the Starship rocket, as well as the company's headquarters in Texas, Starbase, being officially incorporated into a city, has had an interesting year in 2025.
However, with President Donald Trump's push towards space exploration, as well as a potential IPO for SpaceX, the road ahead for the company promises big things. Here's a look at what we can expect from SpaceX in the near future.
SpaceX's IPO
Perhaps the biggest news surrounding the company is the upcoming IPO. Musk first touted during SpaceX's public listing during Tesla Inc.'s (NASDAQ:TSLA) shareholder meeting in November. The billionaire shared that he was looking at ways to give Tesla investors a chance to invest in SpaceX.
The company is reportedly eyeing an $800 billion valuation, with reports also suggesting that SpaceX would be valued at $1.5 trillion during the IPO, making it one of the most valuable companies on the planet and almost on par with Tesla. Musk had also said that the company could reach a valuation of $100 trillion.
Investor Bill Ackman, who is the founder of the investment firm Pershing Square Capital Management, also proposed that SpaceX could go public via the firm’s special purpose acquisition rights vehicle, Pershing Square SPARC Holdings, touting it as a move that would “reward loyal Tesla shareholders."
Trump's Executive Order
President Donald Trump also recently signed an executive order intending to establish the U.S.'s dominance in the space race. The executive order, dubbed "Ensuring American Space Superiority," targets a 2028 return for humanity to the moon via the Artemis program.
Speaking of which, SpaceX recently outlined its capabilities to collaborate with NASA in its mission to reach the Moon and Mars, touting Starship as the ideal vehicle for the Artemis program. Musk had also outlined the goal of establishing factories on the lunar surface in the future, which could support further deep space exploration and orbital datacenters.
The billionaire recently shared that SpaceX could also be targeting launches for the Starship V3 rocket next year, after Musk had predicted testing for the rocket towards the end of 2025. The rocket promises to be bigger and offer enhanced payload capacity when compared to the current and previous iterations of the rocket.
Orbital Datacenters, Blue Origin
Datacenters are arguably one of the most important elements of the tech sector's AI push, if not the centerpiece. However, the datacenters are power-hungry, and with increasingly scarce resources on the planet, concerns have been raised about the sustainability of such datacenters. That's where orbital datacenters come into play.
Musk has touted solar-powered AI datacenter satellites in orbit on multiple occasions. The billionaire's comments could signal that SpaceX may already be working on making the goal a reality. However, other companies, including Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG), are also reportedly exploring ways to have datacenters in Space.
It’s worth noting, however, that SpaceX faces competition from other space flight companies like Rocket Lab Corp (NASDAQ:RKLB) as well as Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin, which recently announced former United Launch Alliance (ULA) CEO Tony Bruno as the president of its national security wing. Interestingly, Bezos has also expressed interest in orbital datacenters.
Jared Isaacman Could Play Key Role
Jared Isaacman, a close ally of Musk and the former CEO of Shift4 Payments Inc. (NASDAQ:FOUR), was also confirmed to be NASA's administrator by Trump. His nomination could provide a boost to Musk and SpaceX. The NASA Administrator had earlier expressed a keen interest in sending humanity to Mars.
Isaacman also recently took to the social media platform X, sharing that NASA would focus on building a base on the surface of the moon when asked about Trump's executive order outlining an "enduring presence" for humanity on the lunar surface.
SpaceX's potential IPO, as well as the developments with its Rockets and the advent of Starlink in tow, the company's road ahead looks full of promise. It remains to be seen how the coming years play out for the commercial space flight giant, but SpaceX would certainly be one company to watch out for in the years ahead.
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