#SpaceX won’t get added to the S&P 500 on a proposed fast track which would have also added #OpenAI. #finance #news
on 02026-06-07#SpaceX #video about #Starship (#BFR) with almost 25 minutes of high-production-value drama #space
on 02026-05-05#Tesla’s announcement earlier this week of the "Terafab", its own chip fab (?!) in Austin, touted as “the largest ever”. Claims #SpaceX now launches 90% of global mass to orbit and has now landed rockets 500 times. #Elmu calls his orbital data centers "AIsat" and says that each is 100kW (“minisat”), with 1MW hoped for, and that’s what the Terafab is for: producing a terawatt of compute per year, 50x current global production. They want to River-Rouge it, with mask making, chip fabrication, packaging, and test under one roof, for logic or memory (but maybe not Flash?). He points out that on-orbit insolation is 5x what it is on the ground (if you’re in a sun-synchronous orbit I guess) and you don’t need glass or framing to protect the cells. A render of a mass-driver launch of something from the moon draws cheers.
on 02026-04-11#California Coastal Commission wins #politics lawsuit against #Musk for #SpaceX, but he can refile. ““The concern is legitimate when a local body injects politics in its decision-making,” [Trump-appointed district judge Stanley] Blumenfeld told SpaceX attorney Tyler Welti. “I get the concern. But where is the harm?”” #Trump #space #California
on 02025-03-18“She joined the majority on Thursday in rejecting the Defense Department’s application on behalf of Musk’s SpaceX to increase the number of satellite launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base from 36 to 50 per year.” #politics #Trump #Musk #SpaceX #space #California
on 02025-03-18Last October: “The suit pointed to comments made during last week’s public hearing by commissioners, who made note of Musk’s political involvement during this election. According to the suit, [#California Coastal] Commissioner Caryl Hart [wife of Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart] noted SpaceX is led by someone who has “aggressively injected himself into the presidential race and made it clear what his point of view is.” Commissioner Gretchen Newsom added, “Right now Elon Musk is hopping around the country, spewing and tweeting political falsehoods and attacking FEMA while claiming his desire to help the hurricane victims with free Starlink access to the internet.”" #politics #Trump #Musk #SpaceX #space
on 02025-03-18#video on #SpaceX. Mentions that a recent Falcon 9 launch from launchpad SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral broke the record for the fastest turnaround time: 13 days and 12 hours to reuse the booster. Also mentions Rocket Lab as another company working on reusable spaceflight, with #space rockets Electron (already providing launches but not reusable) and Neutron. But ABL Space Systems is abandoning the commercial space launch market, following Virgin Orbit and Relativity Space. Also there’s Astra. Somehow completely fails to mention ULA or any of the rocket companies in China.
on 02024-12-06#China #video on #Zhuque-3 (朱雀三) reusable #space rocket 10 months ago, built by private space exploration company #Landspace, fueled by lox and methane. 9 1000-kN (100-tonne) TQ-12B engines, 76.6m tall, 4.5m diameter, 21.3 tonnes (?). Second stage has a single TQ-15B engine blowing 1183kN at 3500m/s. Looks very, very similar to a #SpaceX Falcon. Slogan: “The key to freer access to space.”
on 02024-12-06#China is landing (well, “landing”) reusable rockets on fold-out landing legs like #SpaceX, according to Chinese state government TV channel. This seems to be the Deep Blue Aerospace Nebula-1, reaching 10km altitude. #CGTN #space #video
on 02024-12-06#video of a panel discussion (or maybe series of prepared monologues) among #USA military experts on #China, starting with the Century of Humiliation, showing the Map of National Humiliation (or Shame) from 01938, likening Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative to the Ming Treasure Fleet of Zheng He. “The capability gap [between the Chinese and US military] is rapidly shrinking, both in the air domain and in the space domain. Given a little bit more time, it’s plausible that the PLAAF will outstrip the USAF in terms of numbers.” Also: “#SpaceX has dramatically reduced the cost of launch,” mentioning the “commercial augmentation space reserve,” similar to the Civilian Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF). There are 6500 Starlink satellites out of 7000 total US satellites. “The first law of war is to preserve yourself and destroy your enemy.” —Mao. Predictions that the South China Sea will be a bigger flashpoint than #Taiwan because Taiwan isn’t a US treaty ally. Chinese anti-ship missiles have been combat-tested by the Houthis against international shipping in the Red Sea; they work. Panelists believe that displacing the US dollar with a new international reserve currency (based on a basket) is the biggest threat from BRICS, and could insulate the PRC from the US’s ability to “impose sanctions as an instrument of national power”. A recommendation to watch Chinese movies Wolf Warrior I and Wolf Warrior II, after which Xi’s “wolf warrior diplomacy” are named, to understand how the Chinese see a potential conflict with the US. Discusses the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (#SCO), a “wannabe equivalent to NATO”. “10 years ago there were like 6–7000 PLA soldiers [in UN peacekeeping missions] around the world, especially in Africa. (...) It has gone down.”
on 02024-11-27‘“Ten years ago, the amount of [ozone-depleting] emissions [from rockets] was not great,” said Martin Ross, an engineer at the Aerospace Corp. whose research focuses on the effects of #space systems on the stratosphere. “Today, the effect is still small, but it’s growing.” (...) Ross has been modeling how the chemistry of rocket exhaust affects the stratospheric ozone layer for years. (...) Solid-fueled rocket motors, such as the side boosters that were used in the shuttle program or will be used for NASA’s heavy-lift Space Launch System, pose the knottiest problems, “in that the emissions are a more varied mix,” Ross said.
Those rockets emit black carbon (basically, soot) as well as alumina particles and chlorine-based compounds. All three types of emissions can promote ozone-destroying reactions, particularly when they’re injected directly into the stratosphere.
When it comes to kerosene-fueled rockets, such as #SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, black carbon is the primary concern. “Once those particles get into the stratosphere, they stay in there for three or four years,” Ross said.’ #environment
on 02024-11-19There was a famous open letter by a famous scammer claiming that #SpaceX rockets opened up holes in the ozone layer, but it turned out not to be true. #environment #space
on 02024-11-19When #SpaceX #Starship exploded in 02023, it opened up a hole in the ionosphere which closed again in 20–30 minutes, but not in the ozone layer. #environment #space
on 02024-11-19#video #elmu complaining about government #bureaucracy. Claims most of #SpaceX’s revenue is commercial, not from the government. Likens Boeing’s former CEO to a cavalry captain who can’t ride a horse.
on 02024-09-16#Thunderf00t #video attacking mostly #elmu, though oddly enough mostly for #SpaceX
on 02024-07-07#SpaceX Crew #Dragon Endeavour is about to make its fifth flight. They’re still flying Russian cosmonauts despite the Ukraine war. #space
on 02024-03-06#space #pricing US$118500/kg in 01961 with Scout; US$14900/kg in 01962 with Kosmos; US$8200/kg in 01965 with Proton; US$5400/kg in 01967 with Saturn V; US$5100/kg in 01985 with Zenit 2; US$2600/kg in 02010 with Falcon 9; US$1500/kg in 02018 with Falcon Heavy. #SpaceX Starship is supposed to be 150 tonnes for US$10 million; US$70/kg?
on 02024-02-22#SpaceX and the successful Falcon 9 launch and re-landing. “I guess it was similar to how people feel when their team scores the winning touchdown in the Superbowl, except this touchdown really mattered.”
on 02016-01-04