In a familiar critique of corporate structures, Musk also weighed in on the ideal environment for fostering such long-term, existentially focused AI. He declared, “For long-term optimization, it is better to be a private than a public company, as the latter is punished for long-term optimization beyond the reward cycle of stock portfolio managers.”

A successful mission would show real progress in Starship’s reusability and overall system reliability—two things critical to SpaceX’s long-term plans.