Okay, this is a question I've actually had myself! It seems like every spacex starship launch you hear about ends in a crash or something blows up, so it kind of makes you wonder where the money's coming from. What I've figured out is that most of these early launches are honestly just investments. SpaceX has bigger contracts with NASA, especially for things like sending astronauts to the Moon, and a lot of the testing and development is basically paid for from those deals or from SpaceX's own private investments.

They're not making money from the Starship launches themselves right now, for the most part. The big money comes from reliable launches with the Falcon 9 rockets—like putting satellites in space, launching Starlink, or handling stuff for the US government. Starship is supposed to eventually change the game and become the main moneymaker because it can launch way more stuff in one go, but right now it's all about spending money to (hopefully) make more money later. Kinda like buying all the expensive gear before becoming a famous gamer. It's a huge risk, but that's how SpaceX rolls.