Payloads used to dictate the terms of launch. That's finally changing.

It wasn’t easy to find anyone outside of SpaceX clamoring for a rocket like Starship just 10 years ago. Today, the space industry can’t wait for Starship to finally deliver.

With a payload capacity of more than 100 metric tons (220,000 pounds) to low-Earth orbit, SpaceX’s new rocket is changing the thinking of just about everyone in the space industry. With the unrealized but potentially game-changing benefits of refueling, Starship could carry the same amount of payload to higher orbits, the Moon, or Mars.

It’s important to note that Starship is still very much in its experimental phase, far from proving Elon Musk’s loftiest claims about what it can do. Still, NASA and the US military are considering novel ways to use Starship to fly to the Moon or transport cargo to far-flung war zones. Scientists are eager to use its enormous volume to launch giant space telescopes. Competitors are taking notice. China, the strongest strategic adversary America has ever faced, is looking for its own Starship. Now, some US satellite manufacturers are adapting for the substantial capacity of the world’s most powerful rocket.

This is a reversal of how things usually go in the balance of supply and demand between launch vehicles and satellite operators. Rocket designs have long engineered their vehicles to match trends in the satellite industry. They designed for their customers’ needs, or at least for what their customers were telling them they needed. But in 2026, a new era of abundant super-heavy-lift launch promises to unlock entirely new applications for satellites.

Historically, engineers relied on a few basic assumptions when it came time to design a new rocket. One was that their launch vehicle would deliver a single payload or a small number of satellites to space. These payloads would be stacked on top of their launch vehicle for release at just the right moment, in just the right orbit. Matching satellites and rockets followed a predictable, orderly pattern. Small satellites needed a small rocket, and larger payloads required a heavier launcher.