SpaceX's investment in the Starship reusable transport system will be at least $5 billion by the end of 2023. The corresponding costs were calculated by SpaceNews.

The publication refers to a petition filed by an American company in a District of Columbia court in which SpaceX is asking to be added as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by environmental activists and a group of Native Americans against the US Federal Aviation Administration over Starship launches from the Boca Chica site in Texas.

Starship said in a statement that if the plaintiffs win the case, then SpaceX could lose its license to launch from Boca Chica, which poses a threat not only to the company, but also to NASA, with which it has a contract in the lunar program.

Separately, the petition notes that SpaceX has invested more than three billion dollars in the development of the Boca Chica site, designed to launch the Starship and Super Heavy rocket. The publication recalls that in April, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said that in 2023 the company plans to spend about two billion dollars on Starship.

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Adding up these amounts, SpaceNews claims that SpaceX will spend at least $5 billion on a reusable transportation system by the end of 2023.

Musk said in April that the company would be ready to conduct a new launch of its prototype Starship spacecraft in one to two months.