

News
Asteroid mining startup faces uphill battle despite industry’s huge promise
Asteroid mining startup Planetary Resources, arguably the pathfinder for the industry’s growing charge, has had difficulty securing reliable funding capable of fueling the company’s aspirations of exploring and mining near-Earth asteroids for resources that could be a boon for in-space industries. Despite the company’s struggles, the near-future prospects of asteroid mining remain bright.
First reported by Geekwire last week, Planetary Resources CEO Chris Lewicki spoke to attendees of the NewSpace 2018 Conference about the status of the struggling asteroid mining company, frankly noting that PR “made a risky and aggressive choice [in 2017] to double down on asteroid exploration” only to have a promising funding round collapse before it could be completed. Without that funding, that company was forced to dramatically shrink its payroll and functionally end all research and development, while also ending operations of a successful satellite tech demonstrator launched in January 2018.
Fundamentally, the difficulties assailing Planetary Resources are unfortunate but should come as no surprise, and they certainly should not take away from the undeniable promise of asteroid mining as both an industry in itself and as an enabler of many other forms of in-space technology and economy, ranging from convenient propellant depots in space to serious, cost-effective manufacturing in zero-gravity.
Further, while the hardware and knowledge needed to successfully gather, process, and refine large quantities of rock from asteroids are extremely immature, a majority of them have already been very successfully demonstrated in space, including an ion thruster-power asteroid orbiter in its sixth year of exploring the massive Ceres and Vesta asteroids and two electrically-powered spacecraft headed to their own respective asteroids – one of which arrived just weeks ago – with plans to collect samples from the ancient surfaces before returning to Earth. Put simply; the technologies present on the extraordinarily successful asteroid explorer spacecraft funded thus far by government space agencies are likely to dramatically grow scientific understanding of the composition of near-Earth asteroids, while also giving private companies a baseline or ceiling for what is achievable today.
- Before Hayabusa2’s arrival, Ryugu was nothing more than a handful pixels on a screen. (JAXA, University of Tokyo, collaborators)
- A pair of images captured by Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft show the Ryugu asteroid’s weird features. (JAXA, University of Tokyo, collaborators)
- The limb of the massive asteroid Ceres, captured by NASA’s Dawn spacecraft in June 2018. (NASA)
- NASA’s OSIRIS-REx probe is scheduled to arrive at the asteroid Bennu in December 2018. (NASA)
Of note, Japan’s Hayabusa2 sample return mission reportedly cost the country less than $300 million, whereas NASA’s comparable OSIRIS-REx sample return mission cost the agency nearly $1 billion including launch. The $50 million in private capital raised thus far by Planetary Resources has clearly not been enough to get the company into deep space, although it did enable the technology development and facilities required to build several impressive cubesat demonstrators, one of which is currently in orbit after successfully completing its mission and demonstrating the integration of true off-the-shelf sensing equipment on a spacecraft.
In 2017, the government of Luxembourg signed into law the creation of state-funded program intended to incubate asteroid mining startups, and Planetary Resources received a bit less than $30 million in cash and grants in 2016 to facilitate the company’s goal of launching the first private asteroid prospector satellite in 2020. While unclear how this factored into PR’s present financial situation, there may be hope of additional financial assistance to help the company build a path to sustainability. In the meantime, CEO Chris Lewicki is still confident that Planetary Resources will find the resources they need to build spacecraft that will take the company to asteroids and towards the creation of a whole new industry.
News
Tesla launches new loaner program that owners will love
Tesla is now giving owners the opportunity to rent a vehicle from them, and it includes a few very attractive features that will have you second-guessing another loaner from insurance.

Tesla has launched a new loaner program that owners will love, as it resolves some concerns over a replacement vehicle while it is being repaired.
Earlier this week, Tesla launched the option to rent a Tesla loaner vehicle for just $45 per day if your vehicle is in Collision Repair. Collision repairs did not formerly warrant the issuance of loaner vehicles, as the insurance provider of the car owner would provide transportation arrangements.
Tesla is now giving owners the opportunity to rent a vehicle from them, and it includes a few very attractive features that will have you second-guessing another loaner from insurance.
The Tesla you rent while your car is in collision repair will come with free Full Self-Driving, free Supercharging, and free toll coverage, no small print included.
🚨 Tesla is offering loaner vehicle for $45/day if your car is in collision repair for body work.
It includes Free Full Self-Driving, Free Supercharging, and Free Tolls https://t.co/cMYxIb1MLF pic.twitter.com/n0Of4OTLvt
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 18, 2025
All things considered, this is a great deal for those who require a car for transportation while their car is being repaired.
The cost of Supercharging and Full Self-Driving alone would warrant the $45 per day price tag. Add in the tolls for those who commute on turnpikes for work or are planning an extensive trip that would require it, and it truly becomes an even more attractive deal.
Tesla has done a good job at improving its Service division over the past few years, and it truly needed it. In hopes of launching an F1-style service experience, Tesla started doing away with some of its perks, including loaner vehicles for single-day visits and even Uber credits.
Tesla’s ‘F1’ Service strategy eliminates same-day loaner vehicles, Uber credits
However, it has listened to the complaints of its owners and tried to cater an experience that is more advantageous and less of a hassle. It’s already made tremendous steps in the past few years, and this is the icing on the cake.
Elon Musk
SpaceX Starship Flight 10: What to expect
SpaceX implemented hardware and operational changes aimed at improving Starship’s reliability.

SpaceX is preparing to launch the tenth test flight of its Starship vehicle as early as Sunday, August 24, with the launch window opening at 6:30 p.m. CT.
The mission follows investigations into anomalies from earlier flights, including the loss of Starship on its ninth test and a Ship 36 static fire issue. SpaceX has since implemented hardware and operational changes aimed at improving Starship’s reliability.
Booster landing burns and flight experiments
The upcoming Starship Flight 10 will expand Super Heavy’s flight envelope with multiple landing burn trials. Following stage separation, the booster will attempt a controlled flip and boostback burn before heading to an offshore splashdown in the Gulf of America. One of the three center engines typically used for landing will be intentionally disabled, allowing engineers to evaluate whether a backup engine can complete the maneuver, according to a post from SpaceX.
The booster will also transition to a two-engine configuration for the final phase, hovering briefly above the water before shutdown and drop. These experiments are designed to simulate off-nominal scenarios and generate real-world data on performance under varying conditions, while maximizing propellant use during ascent to enable heavier payloads.
Starship upper stage reentry tests
The Starship upper stage will attempt multiple in-space objectives, including deployment of eight Starlink simulators and a planned Raptor engine relight. SpaceX will also continue testing reentry systems with several modifications. A section of thermal protection tiles has been removed to expose vulnerable areas, while new metallic tile designs, including one with active cooling, will be trialed.
Catch fittings have been installed to evaluate their thermal and structural performance, and adjustments to the tile line will address hot spots observed on Flight 6. The reentry profile is expected to push the structural limits of Starship’s rear flaps at maximum entry pressure.
SpaceX says lessons from these tests are critical to refining the next-generation Starship and Super Heavy vehicles. With Starfactory production ramping in Texas and new launch infrastructure under development in Florida, the company is pushing to hit its goal of achieving a fully reusable orbital launch system.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk takes aim at Bill Gates’ Microsoft with new AI venture “Macrohard”
It is quite an appropriate name for a company that’s designed to rival Microsoft.

Elon Musk has set his sights on Microsoft with a new company called “Macrohard,” a software venture tied to his AI startup, xAI.
Musk described the project as a “purely AI software company” that’s designed to generate hundreds of specialized coding and generative AI agents that could one day simulate products from companies like Microsoft entirely through artificial intelligence.
Macrohard‘s Purpose
Musk announced Macrohard on Friday, though xAI had already registered the trademark with the US Patent Office a few weeks ago, as noted in a PC Mag report. Interestingly enough, this is not the first time that Musk has mentioned such an initiative.
Just last month, he stated that xAI was “creating a multi-agent AI software company, where Grok spawns hundreds of specialized coding and image/video generation/understanding agents all working together and then emulates humans interacting with the software in virtual machines until the result is excellent.”
At the time, Musk stated that “This is a macro challenge and a hard problem with stiff competition,” hinting at the venture’s “Macrohard” moniker. A few years ago, Musk also posted “Macrohard >> Microsoft” on X.
Powered by xAI and Colossus
Macrohard appears to be closely linked to xAI’s Colossus 2 supercomputer project in Memphis. Musk has confirmed plans to acquire millions of Nvidia GPUs, joining rivals such as OpenAI and Meta in a high-stakes race for AI computing power. Colossus is already one of the most powerful supercomputer clusters in the world, and it is still being expanded.
xAI is only a couple of years old, having been founded in March 2023. During its Engineering Open House event in San Francisco, Elon Musk highlighted that the company’s speed will be its primary competitive edge. “No SR-71 Blackbird was ever shot down and it only had one strategy: to accelerate,” Musk said.
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