"Costs $10 million to build" - Elon Musk reveals SpaceX's vision for a fully reusable orbital rocket on Joe Rogan's podcast

During a conversation with Joe Rogan, Elon Musk shared that one of SpaceX's most thrilling objectives is to create a fully reusable, rapidly usable orbital rocket. The Falcon rocket has reached a milestone in terms of reusability, as it has recovered its main stage and its nose cone, but there are still difficulties with the upper stage.

The end goal would be for the system to land, be refuelled and take off again, much like a commercial airliner would, with little time spent in maintenance, thus, cutting down greatly on launch costs and increasing access to space.

Rogan asked Musk about the progress SpaceX was making with regards to rockets, and what they had in the works.

Elon Musk replied:

Well, I mean, the fundamental breakthrough we're aiming for at SpaceX is a fully and rapidly reusable orbital rocket, where both stages are fully and rapidly reusable. With our Falcon rocket, we are able to reuse the main stage and the nose cone, but we're not able to reuse the upper stage. It still takes us at least a few days from when the main stage lands to when we can fly again.

He added:

"So, it's not fully reusable because we lose the upper stage, which costs $10 million to build. And then the main stage—it's not as reusable as an aircraft. You can't just refuel it and fly again; it requires work for a couple of days."

Check out Musk's comments in the video below: (1:41:42)

---

Elon Musk’s $44 billion gamble: laughing off criticism with classic wordplay on Joe Rogan’s podcast

Elon Musk’s sense of humor was on full display during his conversation with Joe Rogan when the topic of his $44 billion purchase of X (formerly Twitter) came up. Rogan pointed out that despite Musk's acquisition of the platform, a lot of criticism has come from within the platform.

Musk replied with a pun, which kept the serious discussion lively.

Rogan asked:

"What is it like to buy a company for $44 billion and then people call you nazi on that same thing that you bought"

Musk replied:

"I did naz see it coming.. see it's a classic.. this. "

Check out the exchange in the video below: