Elon Musk has revealed that he’s “highly confident” his new SpaceX Starship, designed for voyages to the moon and Mars, will reach Earth orbit for the first time this year

The billionaire’s comments come despite a host of technical and regulatory hurdles yet to be overcome.

Mr Musk, who is the SpaceX founder and CEO addressed reporters and fans at his company’s “Starbase” building located in Boca Chica, Texas for a presentation that combined a high-tech pep rally with big-screen videos and a question-and-answer session.

His presentation came nine months after the private California-based space venture achieved the first successful launch and touchdown of a Starship prototype rocket in a test-flight after four previous landing attempts ended in explosions.

Musk, who is also the boss of EV maker Tesla, acknowledged difficulties SpaceX has faced in developing the “Raptor 2” engines for its Super Heavy rocket, a reusable next-generation launch booster designed to carry the Starship spacecraft to orbit.

He cited problems with melting inside the thruster chambers of the engines from intense heat.

Such a time frame would mark an ambitious feat, even for an uncrewed orbital test flight of the Super Heavy/Starship combo, the next step up from SpaceX’s current workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, which Musk said has flown 144 successful launches and 106 return landings.