How Much Is SpaceX Worth?

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk is perhaps best known as the CEO of pioneering electric car company Tesla Motors Inc TSLA. However, as Musk recently detailed on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” his privately-owned commercial space travel company SpaceX could ultimately end up having the largest impact on the future of the human race than any of his other projects.

New contracts
This week, SpaceX announced that it now has $7 billion in contracts for 60 future missions. The new numbers indicate that SpaceX will be charging roughly $100 million per mission.

Saving the world
Musk’s comments to Colbert about dropping thermonuclear weapons on the poles of Mars went viral this past week, but his underlying message gives some indication of the huge role that SpaceX could play in the long-term future of mankind. According to Musk, Mars could make a viable planet for future human habitation if it is first warmed up via greenhouse gasses or the more extreme nuclear option.

Uber money
The size of the new contracts one again sparks debate on Wall Street as to exactly how much SpaceX is worth. So far, the company has raised a total of $1.2 billion from seven fundraising rounds, the latest of which was a $1 billion Series E round this past January, a large portion of which reportedly came from Google Inc GOOGGOOGL.

The $7 billion in new contracts amount to nearly as much as the $8.2 billion that Uber has raised to date. The Wall Street Journal valued SpaceX at $12 billion after the $1 billion cash raise in January, well short of Uber’s $50+ billion valuation.

Disclosure: the author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.