Launch Pace Improvements

Small continuous changes lead to huge improvements. Repeating the same thing and improving each time is key to advancing. This applies to training, investing, manufacturing, and even space launch.

For more than 10 years, SpaceX has decreased launch times by an average of about 1% per launch. The result is more than 90% time reduction every 250 launches. Starting with about 10,000 hours between launches in 2010, they've decreased to than 100 hours at the end of 2023.

With plans for more then 150 launches in 2024, the average should decrease to about 60 hours in the next year. This works out to a little less than 1% improvement per launch, but continues incredible progress.

These on-going and sustained flight operations with continuous improvement shows that there is lots of room to improve. These are the same patterns that happen in automotive and other high volume industries. If SpaceX can do, others can and will follow.

The decreases in launch costs and increase in launch rates are enablers for industry in space including spaced based solar power ( SBSP ).