SpaceX's revenues are approaching the NASA budget: Musk predicts leadership as early as 2026

SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, is rapidly approaching a historic milestone: in the coming years, its commercial revenues may exceed the annual budget of NASA. This was stated by Musk himself in a publication on the X platform, noting that a breakthrough could occur in 2026.

According to his forecasts, SpaceX's revenue in 2025 will be about $ 15.5 billion, of which only $ 1.1 billion comes from contracts with NASA. The bulk of revenue comes from commercial satellite launches and Starlink global Internet services.

For comparison, NASA's budget for 2025, according to open sources, is about $ 25 billion. However, Elon Musk is confident that as early as 2026, SpaceX's commercial revenues may exceed this amount, especially given the expected expansion of the commercial segment and the growing demand for satellite communications.

It is noteworthy that the company demonstrates such high financial performance even before the mass introduction of the Starship rocket-a promising super-heavy system, whose payload capacity significantly exceeds the capabilities of the Falcon 9. Starship is positioned as a key element of future interplanetary missions and infrastructure around the Moon and Mars, and its commercial operation can become a new source of large-scale profit.

In 2024, SpaceX achieved revenue of $11.8 billion, and for the first time, revenue from the Starlink project surpassed revenue from rocket launches. At the same time, the company continues to steadily increase the number of missions. In particular, in May, the Falcon 9 rocket completed its 250th successful launch from Cape Canaveral, confirming the reliability of reusable technologies that have become an important element of SpaceX's business model.

In addition, this year the company launched a new Starlink Direct to Cell service-a technology for direct connection of unmodified mobile phones to the satellite network without additional equipment. This opens up new horizons for global Internet coverage, including hard-to-reach regions.

Experts note that if the current growth rate is maintained, SpaceX can become not only a technological, but also an economic leader in the space industry in the coming years, outstripping state agencies in terms of the scale and pace of commercial space exploration.