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Blue Origin teases first New Glenn rocket prototype at Blue Moon lander event

A cutaway view of New Glenn's massive payload fairing. Blue Origin appears to have begun building the first prototype fairing half as of October 2019. (Blue Origin)

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In May 2019, Blue Origin unveiled plans to build and launch “Blue Moon” lunar landers. Five months later, founder Jeff Bezos has announced a proposal for NASA’s Artemis Moon lander program that would augment Blue Moon with hardware from aerospace stalwarts Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper to land astronauts on the Moon in the 2020s.

On top of that, Bezos also revealed the first unequivocal confirmation that Blue Origin has begun building full-scale prototype hardware for its ambitious New Glenn orbital launch vehicle – in this case, half of a massive carbon fiber payload fairing.

In a press release posted to the company’s website, Blue Origin’s Chief Executive Officer, Bob Smith, stated that “national challenges call for a national response. We are humbled and inspired to lead this deeply committed team that will land NASA astronauts on the Moon.” The national team will be managed with Blue Origin as the principal contractor and “[combine] our partners’ heritage with our advance work on the Blue Moon lunar lander and its BE-7 engine.”

Solving the lunar landing equation

Each company was selected based on a demonstrated area of expertise that solves a very specific piece of the equation that is landing astronauts on the moon. Blue Origin will serve as the primary contractor leading mission engineering and assurance, as well as providing the lunar Descent Element, Blue Moon. Lockheed Martin will provide the reusable Ascent Element vehicle and lead the operations and flight training of the crew, while Northrop Grumman provides the Transfer Element vehicle to deliver Blue Moon to the lunar surface.

Draper’s contribution is integral to mission success. It will provide a navigation system “designed to give crewed missions precise location and navigation data needed for safe and accurate lunar and planetary landings” as outlined in a NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate statement earlier this month. The Draper navigation system is expected to debut during a launch of Blue Origin’s suborbital rocket, New Shepard as proof of concept by year’s end.

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A render of a Blue Moon lander modified to land astronauts (and a separate ascent stage) on the surface of the Moon. (Blue Moon)

Debuting super-heavy rocket hardware

During his IAC presentation, Bezos revealed a video of what is almost certainly the first full-scale prototype hardware of Blue Origin’s reusable New Glenn rocket. In the clip, a massive carbon-composite payload fairing half is moved inside an even larger curing oven located on Blue Origin’s Cape Canaveral, FL campus, offering an incredibly rare glimpse inside the company’s purported New Glenn factory.

New Glenn’s payload fairing will measure 7m (23 ft) wide and roughly 22m (72 ft) tall, dwarfing the 5ish-meter options currently used by SpaceX and ULA. As of now, New Glenn’s payload fairing will be the largest expendable fairing on Earth when it debuts in 2021 or 2022.

Aside from a Blue Moon lander mockup, Blue Origin also brought an entire BE-4 engine to IAC 2019. Seven BE-4s will power New Glenn’s reusable first stage and the United Launch Alliance (ULA) has also selected BE-4 to power its Vulcan booster. Capable of producing roughly 550,000 lbf (2400 kN) of thrust, Blue Origin is slowly but surely qualifying BE-4 for flight and recently began its first full-thrust static fires at the company’s Van Horn, Texas test facilities.

While Bezos’s presentation provided the briefest of views inside Blue Origin’s rocket factory, Space Coast local Julia Bergeron posted a photo on Twitter showing an impressive fleet of cranes hard at work building Blue Origin’s LC-36 New Glenn launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The Blue Origin Cape Canaveral factory where the massive New Glenn rocket is being constructed and an artist rendering of Launch Complex 36 where it will launch from. (Blue Origin)

Blue Origin is notoriously hesitant to share much of anything about its next-generation New Glenn rocket, so it’s a pleasant surprise to receive even the briefest of glimpses behind the scenes. Combined with Blue’s undeniable rocket propulsion expertise and shrewdly political (albeit unsavory) approach to industry collaboration, the company is clearly here to stay and is certainly doing everything it can to give NASA an offer it simply can’t refuse.

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The Boring Company accelerates Vegas Loop expansion plans

The Boring Company clears fire safety delays, paving the way to accelerating its Vegas Loop expansion plans.

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Credit: The Boring Company/X

After overcoming fire safety hurdles, the Boring Company is accelerating its Vegas Loop expansion. The project’s progress signals a transformative boost for Sin City’s transportation and tourism.

Elon Musk’s tunneling company, along with The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) and Clark County, resolved fire safety concerns that delayed new stations.

“It’s new. It’s taken a little time to figure out what the standard should be,” said Steve Hill, LVCVA President and CEO, during last week’s board meeting. “We’ve gotten there. We’re excited about that. We’re ready to expand further, faster, than we have.”

Last month, the company submitted permits for tunnel extensions connecting Encore to a parcel of land owned by Wynn and Caesars Palace. The three tunnels are valued at $600,000 based on country records.

Plans for a Tropicana Loop are also advancing, linking UNLV to MGM Grand, T-Mobile Arena, Allegiant Stadium, Mandalay Bay, and the upcoming Athletics’ ballpark. Downtown extensions from the convention center to the Strat, Fremont Street Experience, and Circa’s Garage Mahal are also in the permitting process.

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“Those are all in process,” Hill noted. “We’ve got machines that are available to be put in the ground. I think we’ve reached a framework for how these projects are going to work and how they’ll be permitted from a safety standpoint, as well as a building standpoint.”

The Boring Company has six boring machines, with three currently active in Las Vegas. Last week, TBC announced that it successfully mined continuously in a Zero-People-in-Tunnel (ZPIT) configuration, enabling it to build more tunnels faster, safer, and at a more affordable rate.

Tunneling under Paradise Road is underway as The Boring Company works on the University Center Loop. The University Center Loop is expected to connect to the Las Vegas Convention Center within two months, linking to the Westgate tunnel. The full Vegas Loop will span 104 stations and 68 miles. Even though The Boring Company’s tunnel network in Las Vegas isn’t nearly finished, it has already become a key attraction in the city.

“It’s such a great attraction for shows that are looking at this building (convention center) and we’re going to be connected to everybody in town,” Hill said. “It’s a real difference-maker.”

A few Vegas Loop stations are already operational, including those connected to Resorts World, Westgate, Encore, and all the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop stations. The Downtown Loop, which connects to the downtown area, and the Riviera Station, the hub that leads to Resorts World with Westgate destinations, are also operational.

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As The Boring Company accelerates the Vegas Loop, its tunnels are poised to redefine mobility and tourism in Las Vegas, blending cutting-edge technology with practical urban solutions.

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Neuralink Blindsight human trials expected to start in the UAE

Neuralink aims to restore vision with its Blindsight BCI implant. First human implant for Blindsight may happen in UAE.

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(Credit: Neuralink)

During Elon Musk’s interview at the Qatar Economic Forum, he announced that Neuralink aims to implant its Blindsight brain-to-computer interface (BCI) device in a human patient by late 2025 or early 2026.

Blindsight focuses on restoring vision. A few years ago, Musk mentioned that Neuralink’s BCI devices would restore vision for people, even those born blind.

“The first two applications we’re going to aim for in humans are restoring vision, and I think this is notable in that even if someone has never had vision ever, like they were born blind, we believe we can still restore vision. The visual part of the cortex is still there. Even if they’ve never seen before, we’re confident they could see,” Musk said during Neuralink’s Show & Tell in 2022. 

Musk said Blindsight could be implanted into a human patient in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Neuralink plans to partner with the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi to implant the first human patient with Blindsight.

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Elon Musk’s neurotechnology company is partnering with the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi to conduct the first clinical trial of the UAE-PRIME study. Like Neuralink’s PRIME study in the United States, UAE-PRIME will focus on human patients with motor and speech impairments.

Neuralink received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to conduct the PRIME and CONVOY studies in the United States. PRIME tests the capabilities of the company’s Link implant to restore or enable motor and speech in participants. Meanwhile, the CONVOY study explores Link’s ability to control assistive robotic devices. Neuralink already has an assistive robotic arm called ARA that could expand patients’ autonomy beyond smart devices.

Blindsight would probably require a separate study from PRIME and CONVOY. As such, Neuralink might need FDA approval in the United States to start human trials for Blindsight. However, Blindsight already received a “breakthrough device” designation from the US FDA.

In April 2025, Neuralink opened its patient registry to participants worldwide. The neurotechnology company has already implanted its Link BCI device into five patients. Earlier this year, Neuralink welcomed one of its first PRIME study participants as the first patient in its CONVOY study.

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Elon Musk just revealed more about Tesla’s June Robotaxi launch

Tesla CEO Elon Musk gave more information about the Robotaxi launch in Austin set for June.

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Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Tesla CEO Elon Musk just revealed more details about the company’s June Robotaxi launch, which will kick off in Austin.

As of right now, Tesla is still set to push out the first Robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, in early June. These vehicles will be in short supply at first, as Musk says the company is purposely rolling out the fleet in a slow and controlled fashion to prioritize safety. There will be ten vehicles in the Robotaxi fleet to start.

Tesla Robotaxi deemed a total failure by media — even though it hasn’t been released

However, in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday afternoon, Musk also revealed some other new details, including where in Austin the vehicles will be able to go, how many Robotaxis we could see on public roads within a few months, and other information regarding Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite.

A Controlled Rollout

Tesla has maintained for a few months now that the Robotaxi fleet will be comprised of between 10 and 20 Model Y vehicles in Austin.

The Cybercab, which was unveiled by the company last October, will not be available initially, as those cars will likely be produced in 2026.

Musk said during the CNBC interview that Tesla is doing a low-yield trial at first to initiate a safety-first mentality. It is important for Tesla to launch the Robotaxi fleet in a small manner to keep things in check, at least at first.

As confidence builds and the accuracy of the fleet is ensured, more vehicles will be added to the fleet.

Musk believes there will be 1,000 Robotaxis on the road “in a few months.”

Geofenced to Certain Austin Areas

Tesla will be launching the Robotaxi program in a geofenced fashion that gives the company the ability to control where it goes. Musk says that the areas the Robotaxis will be able to travel to are among the safest neighborhoods and areas in Austin.

This is yet another safety protocol that will ensure the initial riders are not put in dangerous neighborhoods.

Some might be disappointed to hear this because of Tesla’s spoken confidence regarding Robotaxi, but the initial rollout does need to be controlled for safety reasons. An accident or incident of any kind that would put riders’ lives in danger would be catastrophic.

No Driver, No Problem

As the company has rolled out an employee-only version of the Robotaxi program in Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area, some wondered whether the rides would be driverless, as these initial trials for Tesla workers were not. Employee rides featured a human in the driver’s seat to ensure safety.

Tesla says it has launched ride-hailing Robotaxi teaser to employees only

The company did not report whether there were any interventions or not, but it did state that the vehicles traveled over 15,000 miles through 1,500 trips.

Musk confirmed during the interview that there will be no driver in the vehicle when the Robotaxi program launches in June. This will be groundbreaking as it will be the first time that Tesla vehicles will operate on public roads without anyone in the driver’s seat.

Full Self-Driving Licensing

For more than a year, Tesla has indicated that it is in talks with another major automaker regarding the licensing of Full Self-Driving. Many speculated that the company was Ford, but neither it nor Tesla confirmed this.

Musk said today that Tesla has been in touch with “a number of automakers” that have inquired about licensing FSD. Tesla has yet to sign any deal to do so.

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