The Pentagon is studying the use of SpaceX rockets to transport cargo on Earth

The US Department of Defense is considering the possibility of using the Starship heavy launch vehicle, developed by SpaceX, for the urgent transfer of military cargo on Earth, it reported Military.com. According to the publication, this issue was discussed at a conference on space mobility held by the US Space Force in Orlando in early February.

Military.com notes that the US Department of Defense began studying the possibility of delivering military cargo using missiles 20 years ago. Now the issue has begun to be considered taking into account the prospects of the Starship lunar rocket, which has not yet made a single successful test flight, the publication notes.

Senior researcher at the US Air Force Research Laboratory Gregory Spangers, quoted by the publication, said that to understand how to take advantage of the rocket, mock-ups of the Starship cargo compartment have already been created. SpaceX senior adviser Gary Henry emphasized that the Starship rocket was not built to transport military cargo, but now the company sees great prospects for its use for US national security.

Starship is a super-heavy reusable two-stage launch vehicle designed by the American company SpaceX to deliver people and cargo to low-Earth orbit, the Moon and Mars. It consists of the Super Heavy launch vehicle and the Starship spacecraft. SpaceX currently has only one Starship launch site in Texas. However, the company is considering the possibility of placing them in Florida and California.

Read more about the test launch of the rocket in the Kommersant FM article. “Starship is poised for success”.