Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) CEO Elon Musk said Starship could eventually deliver between 1 million and 10 million tons of payload to orbit each year as operations scale. He made the projection in response to a discussion about Europe’s reliance on Avio, an Italian aerospace company that develops solid-fuel rockets, as SpaceX pursues a shift toward Starship. Solid-fuel rockets use pre-mixed propellant and generally have simpler propulsion systems than liquid-fueled designs. Musk said that even if non-SpaceX payload sent to orbit tripled, it would still amount to less than 0.1% of SpaceX’s planned volume, while acknowledging that orbital payload remains small compared with air-transport tonnage. The comments follow SpaceX’s announcement that Starship’s first orbital launch is scheduled for September 22, 2026, with Musk confirming the plan. He also said SpaceX will begin deploying Starlink V3 satellites, which are intended to provide better bandwidth than the existing Starlink constellation. SpaceX shares rose 0.99% to $152.38 in overnight trading on Wednesday.