SpaceX stock pops ahead of Starship launch

SpaceX ( SPCX ) stock rose about 5% on Tuesday, coming on the heels of no new news, though a couple of catalysts may be at work.

On Monday, SpaceX said on X that it would fly the 14th test mission of its Starship spacecraft on Sept. 22 from its Starbase facility in South Texas, its first flight attempt since a positive flight in August.

SpaceX said the test mission, if successful, will deploy new Starlink satellites and test enhancements to both the Starship and its booster. CEO Elon Musk hinted that the company may try to "catch" Starship at SpaceX's launch site with the "Mechazilla" arms.

A successful Starship flight matters to SpaceX's bull case, underpinning the economics of Starlink deployment, commercial cargo launches, and the company's lunar ambitions.

Earlier today, SpaceX investor Ron Baron talked about the Starlink business.

"I think Starlink alone could be a trillion dollars in revenue in 10 years," Baron said in an interview with CNBC . "And if you look at the margins, $700 billion, $800 billion of EBITDA. And you put a multiple on that, that would support a $14 trillion, $15 trillion valuation."

In addition, Musk has hinted at the possibility of some merger activity among members of the "Muskonomy" — Tesla ( TSLA ) and SpaceX.

Speaking at the All-In Summit last night , Musk said it was a great question whether the two companies would remain separate despite several avenues for collaboration.

"With all this collaboration, on so many levels, who can imagine what action one might take when there's so much close collaboration in so many areas," he said.

Yahoo Finance reached out to SpaceX regarding Musk's comments about a possible merger, but did not immediately hear back.

It's not the first time Musk has spoken of this possibility. Reports suggested he had openly discussed the possibility of a merger between the two companies prior to SpaceX's June IPO.

Pras Subramanian is Lead Transportation Reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram .