Elon Musk will on Thursday night give an update on SpaceX's huge Starship, which he plans to carry passengers to the moon and eventually to Mars.
SpaceX is not publicly listed but FTSE 100 investment company Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC (LSE:SMT) has a large holding.
The first of these space vessels, the Starship SN20, has been stacked on top of its Super Heavy Booster 4 rocket, which will provide the backdrop for the CEO's presentation and stand at almost 400 metres – a fifth bigger than the Eiffel Tower.
Speaking from SpaceX's Starbase facility in South Texas via a webcast, Musk is expected to provide details on Starship's launch on its first-ever orbital test flight, which is currently targeted for early March 2022.
Spectacular shot @_mgde_
Starbase now ready for Elon's presentation.#ElonMusk #Starship #Space pic.twitter.com/3a97q3WaHM
— ∆lex Ðelderfield ???????????? (@Alex_ADEdge) February 10, 2022
This will be the first detail progress update on the Starship programme since September 2019.
While SpaceX has had success with the launch of four of its unmanned Starship prototypes, all four have been blown to smithereens during the landing process, with StarShip 11, soared to an altitude of almost 33,000 feet, or 10km, before returning to earth with a bang in March last year.
Last year SpaceX won a US$2.9bn Human Landing System (HLS) contract to land Nasa astronauts on the moon as part of the Artemis program (in the process annoying Jeff Bezos).
The webcast will take place on Thursday 10 February at 9pm. EST (2am on Friday morning in London) via the company website and social media.
