Helmed by billionaire CEO Elon Musk, SpaceX has made a name for itself as a leading rocket launch provider. We bring you complete coverage of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket launches and landings, as well as SpaceX’s more ambitious exploration goals. That includes flying people around the Moon in the company’s Dragon capsule and starting a human colony on Mars.
It’s either a gilded pathway to the stars or a financial black hole.
Reporting from Bloomberg on how many Cybertrucks Elon’s other companies have been buying:
SpaceX, the Musk-led rocket and satellite maker, accounted for 1,279 — or more than 18% — of the 7,071 Cybertrucks registered in the US during the fourth quarter, according to registration data that S&P Global Mobility provided to Bloomberg News. The billionaire’s other ventures acquired another 60 vehicles during those months.
The billionaire space race sure heated up yesterday with Amazon’s purchase of Globalstar. In response, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched 54 new Starlink satellites in less than 24 hours via two deployments, while Jeff Bezos has only managed to launch a total of 241 Leo satellites in the last 12 months.
Elon Musk has apparently made the jump from X to infect both TikTok and Instagram with new verified accounts. According to the New York Times:
Mr. Musk needs to build widespread public interest in SpaceX so it can raise billions of dollars from investors. The public offering could turn the 54-year-old tech mogul, who is already the world’s richest man, into the first trillionaire.
[nytimes.com]
The New York Times reports that Elon Musk is demanding that “banks, law firms, auditors and other advisers” working on the SpaceX IPO buy subscriptions to Grok, which is technically now under the SpaceX umbrella.
[The New York Times]
That’s according to Reuters sources, but I wonder what it might reveal about Elon Musk’s combination of companies now that papers for a public offering have apparently been filed.
Now we know why Delta Airlines has been holding fast to its sluggish in-flight connectivity providers while seemingly everyone else has jumped into Elon Musk’s lap: it was holding out for Amazon Leo. Amazon’s still busy building out its satellite constellation so we’re talking 2028 before Delta can start offering the service on about 500 domestic aircraft.
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Too bad this 500W N-Type panel isn’t bifacial and isn’t (yet) available in the US.
Amazon Leo, the company’s satellite internet initiative, says it’s on track to more than double its annual launch rate with over 20 missions, while shuttling more satellites to space per launch with new heavy-lift rockets. So far, Amazon Leo has deployed more than 200 satellites to its constellation, and its next mission is set for March 29th.
Elon Musk says he’s planning to open a “Terafab” chip plant in Austin, Texas, jointly run by Tesla and SpaceX, as we approach dire risk levels of “tera” ceasing to have all meaning.
Dkfkhfkwkdnc:
Someone take SI units away from this man
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Quickly untether from an unhinged world.
“I am hesitant to foist being public on SpaceX, especially given the long term nature of our mission.”
Musk used to call the Moon ‘a distraction.’ Now he says SpaceX is building a city there.
The first Southwest Airlines plane with Starlink will enter this service this summer, and Starlink is set to be available on “more than 300 aircraft” by the end of the year, Southwest says.
Southwest joins airlines like United, WestJet, and British Airways in bringing SpaceX’s Starlink to customers.
[Southwest Newsroom]
Amazon’s Leo now has FCC approval for about 7,700 low Earth orbit satellites. So far it’s only launched about 150, well short of its FCC requirement to deploy 1,600 by July 2026 (it’s seeking an extension). SpaceX has launched over 11,000 Starlink satellites into LEO with about 9,600 still active.
“SpaceX has already shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon,” Musk said on Sunday, just a week after merging SpaceX and xAI. It’s a notable change in plans from a little over a year ago when Musk insisted that, “we’re going straight to Mars. The Moon is a distraction.”
[SpaceX prioritizes lunar 'self-growing city' over Mars project, Musk says]
The first Super Bowl ad from SpaceX apparently didn’t have enough time left in production to mention its newly-joined X / xAI elements, but it is promoting the idea of global satellite internet.
Maybe combining Musk’s companies is really about space AI data centers. But reports from Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal indicate that SpaceX’s IPO pursuit includes a push to have major index providers find a way around the usual waiting periods before they’ll add newly listed companies.
SpaceX is profitable, while xAI is burning about $1 billion a month. Is this another case of Musk bailing out himself?
I used to compare Elon Musk to an old boss of mine who would spin up a company division every time he found a new hobby, but this might be just as apt:
ElectricOrchestra613:
Elon Musk’s constant new ventures and subsequent mergers just feels like the corporate equivalent of creating a new email every time you want to sign up for a free trial.
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Mr. 420 hopes to raise $50 billion by taking SpaceX public with the largest initial public offering in history. The target date is mid-June, near Elon Musk’s 55th birthday on June 28th, and June 8th and 9th “when Jupiter and Venus will appear very close together, known as a conjunction, for the first time in more than three years.”
SpaceX wants the extra funds to help develop its beefier Starship rocket system, expand its Starlink constellation, and to put data centers into space.
The Wall Street Journal has a profile of Gwynne Shotwell, the longtime president of SpaceX, ahead of its potential IPO. It covers her “unusual relationship” with Elon Musk where she often plays the role of “Musk translator” and defender. But make no mistake, she’s in charge:
“The great thing about Gwynne is she’s always stepped in where she feels the company most needs help,” said Kathy Lueders, a former SpaceX executive who spent years as a high-ranking NASA official. “People would say, ‘We need to turn to Gwynne on this one.’ ”
SpaceX is planning to go public at a valuation that would make it the biggest listing of all time, Bloomberg reports. “The Elon Musk-led company is targeting a valuation of about $1.5 trillion for the entire company” and while they’re saying they plan for next year, it’s a Musk company so you know what that means: “the timing could slip until 2027.” SpaceX expects $15 billion in 2025 revenue, and $22 billion to $24 billion in 2026, mostly due to Starlink.
Competition is coming, but it might never catch up.
