#spacex

#spacex

SpaceX just fired off one of the biggest shots yet in the spectrum wars, agreeing to pay $17 billion to take over a massive chunk of wireless airwaves from EchoStar for Starlink's Direct-to-Cell services. The deal is the most aggressive signal yet that SpaceX wants to rule the satellite-to-phone market. The significance of the sale, which sees SpaceX paying a mix of $8.5 billion in cash and $8.5 billion in SpaceX stock, centers around a finite resource: spectrum.

As SpaceX's Starship vehicle gathered all of the attention this week, the company's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket continued to hit some impressive milestones. Both occurred during relatively anonymous launches of the company's Starlink satellites but are nonetheless notable because they underscore the value of first-stage reuse, which SpaceX has pioneered over the past decade. The first milestone occurred on Wednesday morning with the launch of the Starlink 10-56 mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The rocket launched on time, at 2330 UTC on August 26 (1830 CDT, local time in Texas). One of the Super Heavy Booster engines failed during the ascent, but as SpaceX's enthusiastic commentator noted, it did not affect the mission. After separation, the booster made a controlled splashdown into the Gulf of Mexico and demonstrated a hover above the water with only two engines running before eventually reaching the surface and exploding as expected.

SpaceX is set to launch Starship tonight, provided the weather cooperates and everything with the ship goes smoothly. This is SpaceX's third attempt to launch Starship for its tenth test flight, with Sunday's and Monday's attempts both being scrapped due to a leak and unfavorable weather conditions on the respective days. This evening, SpaceX has already stated that conditions appear to be approximately 45 percent favorable for launch.

The Fifth District Court of Appeals ruled that the NLRB's structure may be unconstitutional and has put unfair labor practice cases against SpaceX on hold.

Internal documents show that SpaceX has likely not paid income tax for years, utilizing tax benefits from past debts to offset future taxable income.

At just 16, Quazi has been amassing accolades and records for his work at SpaceX, but ultimately chooses to transition into quant finance at Citadel Securities.

SpaceX aims to increase rocket launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base to nearly 100 annually, challenging the California Coastal Commission over environmental concerns.

Firefly Aerospace Inc. is a space and defense technology company based in Cedar Park, Texas, specializing in space launch and landing capabilities, including small- to medium-lift launch vehicles and lunar landers.

The Crew-11 mission, under the command of Zena Cardman, launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, aiming for a stay of six to eight months on the ISS.