All posts tagged: spacex

Trump bought and sold shares in Musk’s SpaceX in July, financial disclosure shows

Trump bought and sold shares in Musk’s SpaceX in July, financial disclosure shows

Published by Sam Flores

WASHINGTON, Sept 22 : US President Donald Trump bought as much as $50,000 worth of shares and sold as much as $15,000 in Elon Musk’s SpaceX in July, according to a public financial disclosure, his latest transactions involving a government contractor run by his former adviser.  Trump bought between $15,001 and $50,000 worth of shares in SpaceX on July 10, according to a financial disclosure he signed on September 8. He sold between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of shares on July 17, according to the same disclosure. The latest trades add a new financial link between the president and Musk’s rocket ​company at a time when the administration is making decisions that could affect the firm’s fortunes.  SpaceX priced ​the biggest-ever US IPO on June 12, valuing the space, satellite and ⁠AI provider at $1.77 trillion. Reuters previously reported that Trump bought shares in SpaceX in June. SpaceX’s share price fell by 15 per cent between July 10 and 17, the period when Trump made the trades.  In a statement to Reuters at the time, White …

Musk’s long-time backer is giving SpaceX stock to its investors

Musk’s long-time backer is giving SpaceX stock to its investors

Published by skeptic

VC firm Valor Equity Partners, founded by Antonio Gracias, a long-time Elon Musk backer and current SpaceX board member, has opted to simply give away a chunk of its SpaceX stock to its limited partner investors, according to an SEC filing spotted by Bloomberg. Valor made a killing on SpaceX after investing in it over decades, with entities controlled by Gracias owning more than 500 million shares at the time of the IPO. This was second only to Musk (who owned over 6 billion shares at the time). But instead of cashing out and issuing returns to LPs, Valor handed over 8.5% of its holdings to them, worth about $8.5 billion, Bloomberg estimates. Valor will still own more than 460 million shares after the giveaway, the SEC disclosure form says. Transferring ownership of the shares could give those Valor limited partners a tax advantage. More importantly, it avoids dumping a giant tranche of shares into the open market. Such a dump could cause a glut of available shares and a corresponding dip in price. SpaceX …

SpaceX targets first Starship orbital test on September 22

SpaceX targets first Starship orbital test on September 22

Published by Sam Flores

Sept 15 : SpaceX said on Tuesday it was preparing to launch its next Starship flight test as soon as September 22, a mission expected to send the vehicle into orbit for the first time and deploy Starlink V3 satellites. Starship’s 14th test flight would mark a major leap in the rocket’s development over its last test in July, which flew a suborbital trajectory that took the spacecraft into space before returning it to Earth without completing an orbit. The company plans to place Starship into orbit around Earth, a milestone that would allow it to test the vehicle over a longer-duration flight and deploy the first batch of Starlink V3 satellites. The mission, pending regulatory approval, is expected to last nearly 10 hours, with Starship flying about 275 km above Earth and completing about six orbits before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile. SpaceX plans to test the booster’s launch, separation, boostback and splashdown procedures, advancing the company toward its goal of a fully reusable orbital launch system. Source link

SpaceX will try to put Starship in orbit for the first time on September 22

SpaceX will try to put Starship in orbit for the first time on September 22

Published by skeptic

SpaceX is ready to perform the 14th test flight of its Starship mega-rocket, and now the company will finally try to put the upper stage into Earth’s orbit for the first time, the company announced Tuesday. The test launch is scheduled for September 22, with a 75-minute launch window opening at 7:15 a.m. CT. During the test launch, SpaceX plans to deploy the first batch of third-generation Starlinks into its network of 10,000 internet satellites. The company expects to launch 26 V3 satellites into orbit in this test flight. If successful, this will be the first Starship launch to generate revenue for SpaceX’s launch division (even if that revenue is coming from another division of the company). This will be the second Starship test launch since SpaceX became a publicly traded company in the largest IPO in history in June. The first came in July, when SpaceX successfully deployed V3 Starlink satellites for the first time — though those were only meant to test Starship’s deployment capability and burned up in Earth’s atmosphere after roughly …

Tesla’s new Roadster teaser hints at a ‘Cyber’ redesign it doesn’t need

Tesla’s new Roadster teaser hints at a ‘Cyber’ redesign it doesn’t need

Published by skeptic

Tesla will finally unveil its new Roadster on October 1, more than eight years after it first showed the car in 2017. And a teaser this weekend suggests the production version is getting Tesla’s “Cyber” design treatment. The teaser shows SpaceX cold gas thrusters firing out the back, and Elon Musk has promised “radical design changes.” But the Roadster never needed a redesign. It needed to ship. Tesla has been stuck in a design rut The 2017 Roadster was genuinely great. Low, clean, and fast, it still looks good eight years later. That’s the problem for Tesla: the best-looking car it has ever designed is nearly a decade old and never made it to production. Look at what came after. The Model Y arrived in 2020 and became the best-selling car in the world, but let’s be honest about what it is: a slightly taller Model 3 with a hatch. A great product. Not a design leap. Advertisement – scroll for more content Since then, it’s been all “cyber.” The Cybertruck. The Cybercab. The Robovan. …

Tesla teases new Roadster reveal for October 1: ‘Go for launch’

Tesla teases new Roadster reveal for October 1: ‘Go for launch’

Published by skeptic

Source: Tesla Tesla is teasing an October 1 reveal for the new Tesla Roadster, nine years after it first showed the prototype. The company posted a “Go for launch” teaser image Friday showing the electric hypercar bathed in rocket-launch lighting, with the date “10.01” stamped across it. What Tesla showed The red car sits under bright vertical light like it’s on a launch pad, “Go for launch” is the caption, and the date “10.01” sits at the bottom. The message: the Roadster is going to hover. That squares with what’s been reported for months. Tesla’s Roadster is supposed to debut with a set of SpaceX-developed cold gas thrusters that let it lift off the ground, and the company has been dangling a “flying” demo since 2018. Advertisement – scroll for more content A countdown clock on Tesla’s Roadster page is ticking down to the same date. October 1 is a Thursday, and Tesla didn’t say where the event will happen or whether it’ll be live. Nine years of broken timelines The new Tesla Roadster was …

Macron calls for ‘shared governance’ of space at Paris summit

Macron calls for ‘shared governance’ of space at Paris summit

Published by Sam Flores

Speaking at the two-day International Space Summit in Paris Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron called for “shared governance” of space in a speech urging European nations to work together to build up their joint sovereign space capabilities.  “Outer space remains the only major global commons that is not subject to regulations that match the stakes,” he said. “Shared governance is necessary to address these challenges.” He described Europe’s space sector as “fragile”, but insisted that it could become a major world player. Macron announced some €20 billion in investments for Europe’s space industry, and urged the bloc to develop its own crewed spaceflight programme. “France has a long-reaching and unique history when it comes to space,” he said. “Space policy was always built through cooperation here.” Read more‘Passengers or pilots?’ Europe looks to challenge US dominance in space sector with €10 billion plan Key figures from Europe’s space industry and other international players have converged on Paris to discuss how to advance the continent’s ambitions in a global market dominated by the United States. The …

Whose space is it? Europe scrambles as US rules satellite race – The Debate

Whose space is it? Europe scrambles as US rules satellite race – The Debate

Published by Sam Flores

With the digital age came the scramble for minerals below and to master the heavens above. US President Donald Trump wants a thousand rocket launches per year and with SpaceX’s reusable modules leading the way. The United States towers over the competition – which is why Ukraine’s president has to beg Elon Musk to use his Starlink low orbit satellite system to take out the Russian cruise missile launchers.  Europe is late to the space race. Only around 10 launches are planned for its Ariane rocket next year. In this edition, we look at Norway’s first private launch of a German satellite this past weekend and more broadly, whether there’s room for everyone in an orbit already littered with debris. Those hoping for global cooperation on managing the skies above may be disappointed. Germany dropped out of co-hosting the Paris International Space Summit and the White House reportedly influenced US aerospace leaders to stay away. We ask: Does space need regulating? How urgently? And if not, what are the consequences? Produced by François Picard, Maya Yataghène, …

The Exploration Company nabs 0 million to challenge SpaceX

The Exploration Company nabs $450 million to challenge SpaceX

Published by skeptic

The queue to send objects into orbit is growing, but space infrastructure isn’t keeping up with demand. As the realization sinks in that Elon Musk’s SpaceX can’t be the sole answer, other companies are raising their hand — and money. These include The Exploration Company (TEC), which operates out of Germany, France, Luxembourg, Spain, and Italy, and which has raised $450 million in what it describes as “the largest-ever Series C by a European space company.” But the race is global, with U.S.-based rival Stoke Space currently raising a $1 billion Series E round. Rivalry aside, these rounds show that investors on both sides of the Atlantic are willing to back companies seeking to build reusable spacecraft. That’s a category pioneered by SpaceX, but that many players, both public and private, now believe it shouldn’t solely control as space gains strategic importance. These sovereignty-related concerns create extra tailwinds for an EU-headquartered company like TEC. Led by Hélène Huby, a French national who spent two decades at Airbus and ArianeGroup, the company intends to use its …

Stoke Space raises another billion to rival SpaceX at re-flying rockets

Stoke Space raises another billion to rival SpaceX at re-flying rockets

Published by skeptic

The fuel for a fully reusable rocket that can unlock truly low-cost access to space isn’t methane or liquid oxygen. It’s cash, and Stoke Space Technologies is tanking up. The company has now “completed the initial closing” of a $1 billion Series E round intended to help it reach orbit and prepare a new, larger rocket for operations. “This round is really to scale,” CEO Andy Lapsa told TechCrunch. “To lay the infrastructure, to scale in production and flight frequency, and importantly to fund the development of the second generation vehicle.” The round was led by Point72 Ventures (hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen’s tech investment vehicle), and Spark Capital, and included investment from General Innovation, Glade Brook Capital, US Innovation Technology, Washington Harbour Partners, Woven Capital and Y Combinator, among others. Stoke is one of a handful of startups attempting to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX in the low-cost rocket launch space. SpaceX was built around the Falcon 9, which has a reusable booster stage, and now Musk and company are trying to field a …