SpaceX has come a long way since it first started out. The company has proven time and again that its Falcon 9 rocket is capable of doing what it’s entrusted with. It has also achieved its aim of landing the reusable rocket out at sea. As the company gears up to relaunch a rocket that has already undertaken a mission, it has now said that it plans on launching rockets this year as frequently as every two to three weeks.
SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said in an interview with Reuters that the company should be launching its Falcon 9 rocket “every two to three weeks” in 2017. If the company is able to pull this off, it would be the fastest launch rate for SpaceX and it will mean that the company will launch the most rockets that it ever had in just one year.
Those who follow SpaceX-related news may take this ambitious plan with a pinch of salt because Shotwell said the exact same time in February last year. It did get close to achieving that aim for the first few months of 2016 but things took a turn when one of its rockets exploded on the launch pad and forced the company to suspend launches until it could figure out what went wrong and fix the problem.
SpaceX won’t be trying to launch rockets as frequently as it can just for the sake of doing it. The company has a backlog of 70 missions worth $10 billion that it absolutely has to undertake in order to meet its commitments.