Musk supports, SpaceX "billionaire": valuation may exceed 250 billion, vice president urges regulators to "hurry up", we have nearly 5 million customers.

There are people in the government who are easy to deal with. With the support of CEO Musk, who won big with Trump's bold bet, SpaceX recently seems very wealthy and has achieved a new high valuation for private companies in the US. The company's second in command is calling on US regulators to speed up approval while showcasing their achievements: last month's rocket-catching Starship will begin test flights next week, and the customer base for the Starlink internet service is nearly 5 million, with the possibility of direct satellite connections to phones next month. SpaceX's internal stock sale in December could bring the valuation to $255 billion, a 20% increase in six months. SpaceX is set to launch a tender offer in December, planning to sell internal stocks at $135 per share, which could bring the company's valuation to over $250 billion, surpassing the valuation of nearly $210 billion from the internal stock sale in June. This surpasses the previous record for a private US company valuation of $210 billion. In addition, sources revealed that Musk's AI startup xAI recently completed a new round of financing totaling $5 billion, with the company's valuation doubling to $45 billion compared to the last financing round in May. Furthermore, Bloomberg reported that SpaceX is in preliminary discussions regarding selling shares to internal personnel, potentially bringing the valuation to around $255 billion. If this figure is accurate, SpaceX's valuation would have increased by over 20% within half a year. SpaceX's second in command: Technology is easy, people are hard, regulators are the hardest. Also on Friday, SpaceX's president and COO Gwynne Shotwell criticized US regulators at the annual investor and client conference hosted by Baron Capital, saying that rocket launch approvals need to keep pace with the company's innovation. She stated: "Technology is easy, physics is easy, people are hard, and regulators are the hardest." "All we ask for is that the industry be standardized, safe, correct, and fair. But we need to speed up (compared to now) by a lot." Shotwell's statement reflects SpaceX's public pressure on the FAA to accelerate commercial space operations approval processes. Musk previously called for the resignation of the head of the FAA in September, claiming that the paperwork for government approval of launches takes longer than the actual time it takes to build rockets. Starship to have its sixth test flight as early as next Tuesday, aiming for 400 flights in the next four years. In her speech, Shotwell discussed the development of the heavy rocket Starship, stating that SpaceX is steadily advancing the Starship project. She said that while SpaceX will not close the Falcon 9 and Dragon spacecraft, which will "fly for another six to eight years", ultimately people will want to ride the Starship: it is larger, more comfortable, and costs less. Last month, the Starship completed its fifth test flight, successfully recovering the rocket's booster on its first attempt, achieving the so-called "chopsticks-catching rocket" feat: allowing the rocket's super-heavy booster to successfully traverse the atmosphere, return to the launch pad, and be firmly held by two mechanical arms on the launch pad. Shotwell announced that SpaceX plans to conduct the sixth flight test of the Starship as early as next Tuesday, aiming to further improve the rocket's performance by demonstrating additional features during the flight mission. SpaceX hopes to make the Starship system fully reusable, while currently only the booster and nose cone of the Falcon rocket are reusable. "We have just completed 400 Falcon rocket launches, and I would not be surprised if we complete 400 Starship launches in the next four years." Starlink to offer direct satellite connections to phones in December, with room for competition in the industry. Shotwell also revealed at the Baron Capital conference that SpaceX's Starlink business averages about 60 satellite launches per week, with approximately 7,000 satellites currently in orbit, and will begin offering "direct connection to phones" services around next month. The Starlink satellite internet network currently serves nearly 5 million customers, but the satellite broadband market is "huge". Baron Capital's founder and billionaire investor Ron Baron said that his company holds over $2 billion in SpaceX stock, and about 30% of the global population of 8.08 billion cannot access broadband. Shotwell told Baron, "SpaceX will provide service to all of them," but "there will be competition - I think there is enough room in the industry, there is enough competition." Shotwell urged competitors to catch up, saying that competition is beneficial for SpaceX. She said: "I hope others can catch up, right? Competition is good for the industry It keeps us on our toes, it makes us very focused." "It will be tough for others to catch up, but I certainly hope that people try." Shotwell's words sound a bit like Jack Ma's "regret creating Alibaba" and Ma Huateng's "ordinary family" tone. After all, SpaceX's business is currently unmatched in the Western world. In the US, SpaceX's reusable Falcon rockets have launched more than 100 times this year, while the second-place Rocket Lab has only launched rockets into orbit 12 times this year. In Europe, the EU faces significant challenges in trying to catch up with SpaceX, with the EU reportedly wanting to create its version of the Starlink system. A report in the China Defense Daily this month cited US media reports that the EU wants to build a European version of Starlink, with the European Commission and the "SpaceRISE" European Space Alliance set to sign a 12-year contract for the development, deployment, and operation of the IRIS2 satellite system. The report mentioned that the EU project faces a major challenge in technology lagging behind. SpaceX has the ability to launch over 100 satellites at a time and has launched over 6,000 Starlink satellites. While the EU wants to catch up, it will be difficult for Europe to do so.The two satellite systems are only composed of more than 290 satellites, and it will take two years to complete deployment. Airbus Group and Thales Alenia Space believe that the project is "technically immature" and have withdrawn from the leadership of the "SpaceRISE" European Space Alliance, only participating as subcontractors in the project.This article is selected from "Wall Street Witness" by authors: Li Dan, Li Xiaoyin; GMTEight Editor: He Yucheng.