SpaceX Starship development costs exceed $15 billion as IPO filing reveals scale of investment

SpaceX has spent more than $15 billion developing its Starship megarocket, according to the company's confidential IPO registration reviewed by Reuters. The figure eclipses the roughly $400 million spent developing Falcon 9 and quantifies the cumulative cost of a development program nearing a decade. Starship is central to SpaceX's Starlink V3 satellite launches (fitting up to 60 per flight versus two dozen on Falcon 9), deep space ambitions, and NASA's Artemis program. Major technical hurdles remain, including ground infrastructure and in-orbit refueling, which has not yet been demonstrated. SpaceX's capital expenditure surged nearly fivefold from $5.6 billion in 2024 to $20.7 billion in 2025. The company is self-funding over 90% of system costs. Starship V3's inaugural flight (Flight 12) is targeting early-to-mid May 2026, just before the IPO roadshow begins the week of June 8. SpaceX is targeting a $1.75 trillion valuation and a late June Nasdaq listing.