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Rocket Lab successfully launches the ‘Beginning of the Swarm’ mission

Electron launches the Beginning of the Swarm mission from New Zealand (Credit Rocket Lab)

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Rocket Lab successfully launched the “Beginning of the Swarm” mission, its 47th overall yesterday.

Electron took the skies at 10:32 am NZT from Launch Complex 1B on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand, sending two small payloads to vastly different orbits.

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The launch was originally scheduled for 10:15 a.m. NZT, just 2 minutes before a Falcon 9 mission from Florida, but it held at t – 12 minutes as the Rocket Lab team worked on a ground support system issue. It didn’t take long for teams to work on the issue, and Electron launched safely from LC-1B.

The primary payload was NEONSAT-1 for the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and Satellite Technology Research Center. This is the first of an eventual 11-satellite constellation. The satellite features a high-resolution camera that will monitor the Korean peninsula and help with recovery after natural disasters.

NEONSAT-1 was deployed into a 520 km circular orbit 50 minutes after lift-off.

The secondary payload was NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3). This satellite is meant to test new materials for the boom that deploys the sail itself. Once deployed, it is about the size of a small apartment.

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ACS-3 was deployed into a much higher orbit than NEONSAT-1 thanks to the abilities of the Electron Kick Stage, which ignited 3 times with one final burn to circularize the orbit and deploy the satellite at 1000 km nearly an hour after the first payload deployment.

While Rocket Lab did not recover the Electron first stage, they confused many viewers when it was revealed that the first stage featured the red and silver look that is used on recovery missions.

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However, as Rocket Lab is progressing towards full first-stage re-usability, these Electrons are now in the standard production flow, according to the company. Yesterday’s mission required Electron to be expended.

Next up for Rocket Lab is likely a dedicated launch for Capella Space, which will launch an Acadia synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite with a to-be-confirmed launch date.

Disclosure: Richard Angle is not an RKLB shareholder.

Questions or comments? Shoot me an email at rangle@teslarati.com, or Tweet me @RDAnglePhoto.

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Launch journalist, specializing in launch photography. Based on the Space Coast, a short drive from Cape Canaveral and the SpaceX launch pads.

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Starlink goes mainstream with first-ever SpaceX Super Bowl advertisement

SpaceX used the Super Bowl broadcast to promote Starlink, pitching the service as fast, affordable broadband available across much of the world.

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Credit: Starlink/X

SpaceX aired its first-ever Super Bowl commercial on Sunday, marking a rare move into mass-market advertising as it seeks to broaden adoption of its Starlink satellite internet service.

Starlink Super Bowl advertisement

SpaceX used the Super Bowl broadcast to promote Starlink, pitching the service as fast, affordable broadband available across much of the world.

The advertisement highlighted Starlink’s global coverage and emphasized simplified customer onboarding, stating that users can sign up for service in minutes through the company’s website or by phone in the United States.

The campaign comes as SpaceX accelerates Starlink’s commercial expansion. The satellite internet service grew its global user base in 2025 to over 9 million subscribers and entered several dozen additional markets, as per company statements.

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Starlink growth and momentum

Starlink has seen notable success in numerous regions across the globe. Brazil, in particular, has become one of Starlink’s largest growth regions, recently surpassing one million users, as per Ookla data. The company has also expanded beyond residential broadband into aviation connectivity and its emerging direct-to-cellular service.

Starlink has recently offered aggressive promotions in select regions, including discounted or free hardware, waived installation fees, and reduced monthly pricing. Some regions even include free Starlink Mini for select subscribers. In parallel, SpaceX has introduced AI-driven tools to streamline customer sign-ups and service selection.

The Super Bowl appearance hints at a notable shift for Starlink, which previously relied largely on organic growth and enterprise contracts. The ad suggests SpaceX is positioning Starlink as a mainstream alternative to traditional broadband providers.

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Tesla engineers deflected calls from this tech giant’s now-defunct EV project

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Image Created by Grok

Tesla engineers deflected calls from Apple on a daily basis while the tech giant was developing its now-defunct electric vehicle program, which was known as “Project Titan.”

Back in 2022 and 2023, Apple was developing an EV in a top-secret internal fashion, hoping to launch it by 2028 with a fully autonomous driving suite.

However, Apple bailed on the project in early 2024, as Project Titan abandoned the project in an email to over 2,000 employees. The company had backtracked its expectations for the vehicle on several occasions, initially hoping to launch it with no human driving controls and only with an autonomous driving suite.

Apple canceling its EV has drawn a wide array of reactions across tech

It then planned for a 2028 launch with “limited autonomous driving.” But it seemed to be a bit of a concession at that point; Apple was not prepared to take on industry giants like Tesla.

Wedbush’s Dan Ives noted in a communication to investors that, “The writing was on the wall for Apple with a much different EV landscape forming that would have made this an uphill battle. Most of these Project Titan engineers are now all focused on AI at Apple, which is the right move.”

Apple did all it could to develop a competitive EV that would attract car buyers, including attempting to poach top talent from Tesla.

In a new podcast interview with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, it was revealed that Apple had been calling Tesla engineers nonstop during its development of the now-defunct project. Musk said the engineers “just unplugged their phones.”

Musk said in full:

“They were carpet bombing Tesla with recruiting calls. Engineers just unplugged their phones. Their opening offer without any interview would be double the compensation at Tesla.”

Interestingly, Apple had acquired some ex-Tesla employees for its project, like Senior Director of Engineering Dr. Michael Schwekutsch, who eventually left for Archer Aviation.

Tesla took no legal action against Apple for attempting to poach its employees, as it has with other companies. It came after EV rival Rivian in mid-2020, after stating an “alarming pattern” of poaching employees was noticed.

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Tesla to a $100T market cap? Elon Musk’s response may shock you

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There are a lot of Tesla bulls out there who have astronomical expectations for the company, especially as its arm of reach has gone well past automotive and energy and entered artificial intelligence and robotics.

However, some of the most bullish Tesla investors believe the company could become worth $100 trillion, and CEO Elon Musk does not believe that number is completely out of the question, even if it sounds almost ridiculous.

To put that number into perspective, the top ten most valuable companies in the world — NVIDIA, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, TSMC, Meta, Saudi Aramco, Broadcom, and Tesla — are worth roughly $26 trillion.

Will Tesla join the fold? Predicting a triple merger with SpaceX and xAI

Cathie Wood of ARK Invest believes the number is reasonable considering Tesla’s long-reaching industry ambitions:

“…in the world of AI, what do you have to have to win? You have to have proprietary data, and think about all the proprietary data he has, different kinds of proprietary data. Tesla, the language of the road; Neuralink, multiomics data; nobody else has that data. X, nobody else has that data either. I could see $100 trillion. I think it’s going to happen because of convergence. I think Tesla is the leading candidate [for $100 trillion] for the reason I just said.”

Musk said late last year that all of his companies seem to be “heading toward convergence,” and it’s started to come to fruition. Tesla invested in xAI, as revealed in its Q4 Earnings Shareholder Deck, and SpaceX recently acquired xAI, marking the first step in the potential for a massive umbrella of companies under Musk’s watch.

SpaceX officially acquires xAI, merging rockets with AI expertise

Now that it is happening, it seems Musk is even more enthusiastic about a massive valuation that would swell to nearly four-times the value of the top ten most valuable companies in the world currently, as he said on X, the idea of a $100 trillion valuation is “not impossible.”

Tesla is not just a car company. With its many projects, including the launch of Robotaxi, the progress of the Optimus robot, and its AI ambitions, it has the potential to continue gaining value at an accelerating rate.

Musk’s comments show his confidence in Tesla’s numerous projects, especially as some begin to mature and some head toward their initial stages.

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