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华尔街日报SpaceX 2025 Year In Review: Starlink's Growth, Trump's Golden Dome, Elon Musk's Mars Ambitions And More
Elon Musk-led commercial space flight giant SpaceX has had an interesting 2025 with lots of highs and a few lows. Here's a look at the major catalysts that drove the company's news cycle this year.
SpaceX's Starlink Became A Leader
SpaceX's growth in the satellite internet service provider sector was one of the highlights of its year, with its Starlink service now operating in more than 115 countries across the globe. It also has the largest constellation of low Earth orbit satellites. Its closest competitor is Amazon.com Inc.-backed (NASDAQ:AMZN) satellite internet provider Leo.
Meanwhile, Starlink is now planning an expansion into India, where talks are progressing with the local authorities, who granted the company a license in July this year. This comes as Starlink also signed deals with multiple partners, including Airtel Africa, T-Mobile US Inc. (NASDAQ:TMUS), United Airlines Inc. (NASDAQ:UAL), and Ukrainian Telco giant Kyivstar Group Ltd. (NASDAQ:KYIV).
Notably, SpaceX signed a multi-billion-dollar deal with EchoStar Corp (NASDAQ:SATS) to acquire its AWS-4 and H-Block Spectrums, which could bolster Starlink's cell carrier credentials as the company eyes a possible cell carrier future, having trademarked the "STARLINK MOBILE" mark from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Musk had earlier indicated that the company could buy cellphone carriers in the future.
SpaceX's Starship Development Gathered Pace Amid Orbital Datacenter Goals
The company's flagship product, Starship, which Musk has touted as a key element to his ambitions of establishing a colony on Mars, conducted over 10 successful test launches of the rocket this year despite delays and failures, marking SpaceX's rapid progress in the development of the rocket. Musk has also been teasing Starship’s V3 and V4 rockets, which the billionaire says would provide better towing capacity, as well as be taller, among other upgrades.
SpaceX has also received approval from the government to construct a new launch complex, Launch Complex 37, at Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station for Starship launches.
The rocket is also Musk's ace in NASA's Artemis mission to the lunar surface. The billionaire had also talked about establishing factories on the moon to aid exploratory missions in deep space. However, it faces competition from Jeff Bezos-backed rocket company Blue Origin.
Another major role that the rocket was touted for was Musk's ambitions of putting solar-powered AI datacenters in orbit, which the CEO has touted as a much more cost-effective solution than ground-based data centers here on Earth.
Musk had said that the Starship rocket could put over 300 GW worth of AI satellites in space. "Starship can deliver around 300 GW per year of solar-powered AI satellites to orbit," Musk shared.
Trump's Policies, Golden Dome
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump announced a new executive order to ensure America's competitive edge in the space race, promising to put humans back on the moon as well as establish a base and nuclear reactors on the lunar surface.
Trump also touted his space-based satellite defense system, Golden Dome, for which SpaceX was a frontrunner earlier this year. The system also has several defense contractors like Lockheed Martin Corp (NYSE:LMT), Palantir Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:PLTR), and other companies.
SpaceX's IPO, Jared Isaacman Saga
Elsewhere, SpaceX is also eyeing a public listing next year as the commercial space flight giant’s IPO takes shape. The company would reportedly be targeting a $1.5 trillion valuation. Musk had earlier hinted at a potential IPO for SpaceX during Tesla’s annual shareholder meeting in November.
Jared Isaacman, the former CEO of Shift4 Payments Inc. (NASDAQ:FOUR), was also appointed as the administrator of NASA this week. Trump had earlier rescinded his nomination, citing previous political associations, which was also one of the reasons for the public falling out between Trump and Musk.
While SpaceX has had a progressive year and is on target to become one of the most valuable companies in the world following IPO buzz, the commercial space flight is certain to become a company to watch out for in 2026.
Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.
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