SpaceX
SpaceX prepares for last launch until August: Caution over cadence
After a second automatic T-10s launch abort Monday night, Elon Musk expressed a welcome prioritization of caution over an attempt to break cadence records. As such, the launch team at LC-39A are standing down an attempt today and instead conducting a full review of the Falcon 9 vehicle and ground systems, pushing the launch to either July 5th or 6th. As Musk transparently phrased it, there is only one chance to get a rocket launch right.
We're going to spend the 4th doing a full review of rocket & pad systems. Launch no earlier than 5th/6th. Only one chance to get it right …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 4, 2017
Following a truly unprecedented series of launches for the company, there was understandably a bit of annoyance from fans watching the coverage for a second time, as well as from journalists seeking to cover the launch. I think a tweet from former NASA Space Shuttle Program Manager Wayne Hale summed up the proper response most coherently, however, stating that “it’s tough to remain vigilant and do the right thing, extremely tough after a couple of launch scrubs and [with] range closure looming”. Remaining vigilant is precisely what SpaceX is doing by calling off another attempt on July 4th and choosing to instead carefully examine the systems involved to ensure that there is no real issue with pad or vehicle hardware.
For launch companies, there are an untold number of external and internal pressures urging executives to attempt launches, be those financial, political, or something as simple as employees wanting to get home for a holiday. However, past failures of launch vehicles, particularly the Space Shuttle, have demonstrated that constant vigilance is a necessity when dealing with rocketry. Wayne Hale was flight director for forty Shuttle launches. In fact, he became Program Manager the day of the Columbia disaster, which occurred at the beginning of February in 2003.
In this context, his statement is almost certainly intended as positive – albeit solemn – encouragement for the choice to take a more cautious route before attempting another launch. SpaceX itself has experienced two widely publicized failures of the Falcon 9, with the most recent of those having occurred less than ten months ago. After China suffered a complex failure during the second launch of their Long March 5 heavy lift vehicle last Sunday, Musk offered sympathy for those involved. Any failure in the launch industry often acts as a wake-up call for other companies and agencies involved, and undoubtedly becomes a reminder that one cannot become too comfortable or allow launch processes or vehicle manufacturing to become too routine when the stakes are as high as they can be.
Sorry to hear about China launch failure today. I know how painful that is to the people who designed & built it. https://t.co/iOkj6egF3O
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 2, 2017
It goes without saying that SpaceX is sharply aware of the need to ensure reliability and safety as they march ever closer to the debut flight of Crew Dragon and its first crewed launches, likely to occur in early 2018. If the stakes for launching the payloads of commercial customers are already high, the price of failures that could lead to loss of life are unspeakable and ought to humble those fans and bystanders who may be losing patience while waiting for a third (admittedly enthralling) launch. Those eager to watch SpaceX’s live coverage must seek to remember that the launches we love to watch occur because paying customers have placed trust in SpaceX to deliver their payloads to orbit, be those payloads massive geostationary communications satellites or astronauts and cargo headed to the ISS. Rightfully so, the customer will always come first, and routine live coverage of rocket launches must always be treated as the luxury it is for the indefinite future.
SpaceX has successfully recovery and reused both Falcon 9 and Cargo Dragon in the last several weeks, and has also recovered three first stages from the three related launches that occurred in that same time period. (SpaceX)
Admittedly, a cornerstone of SpaceX’s mission as a company is making access to orbit reliable, affordable, and routine, but there will always be risk in rocket launches, just as there will always be risk when one boards a plane, drives a car, or simply walks down the sidewalk along a busy street. Minimizing and reducing the risk present in spaceflight will take a considerable amount of time and effort, and doing what is necessary to prevent failures from negatively impacting the customers that make SpaceX viable as a company is both a rational and ethical strategy.
Returning to current events, the Falcon 9 intended to launch Intelsat 35e went horizontal on July 4, and is likely now in the integration facility present at LC-39A, providing easier access to engineers as they comb over the vehicle to ensure its health. After an absolutely picturesque launch attempt Monday evening, weather is looking even better for a potential launch attempt on either Wednesday or Thursday evening.
If the vehicle and pad cooperate, Intelsat 35e will be a facing send off for the Eastern Range before it shuts down for the remainder of July to undergo routine maintenance. SpaceX currently does not have Vandenberg (West coast) missions scheduled until August, so July will likely see no launches from the company. There is still plenty to be done in lieu of launching customer payloads, however. LC-40, the pad damaged in the Amos-6 static fire incident last September, is currently preparing to be reactivated, with a recent interview of Gwynne Shotwell pointing to its initial availability sometime in August. Once it is reactivated, all single core Falcon launches will be transferred to LC-40, and LC-39A will begin undergoing structural modifications to accommodate both crewed missions in 2018 and Falcon Heavy, which could debut as early as Q4 of 2017.
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- Intelsat 35e, July 2nd. (SpaceX)
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- A render of Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon at LC-39A. (SpaceX)
The two most visible changes that will occur at LC-39A will be the installation of additional hold-down clamps and modifications to the Transporter Erector, as well as a Crew Access Arm, which will be attached to the large, vertical structure seen directly right of Falcon 9. Of note, it is very likely that at least two, if not all three of the first Falcon Heavy’s cores are already present at the Cape. After years of being deemed a paper rocket, Falcon Heavy is indeed very real and very close to being able to conduct its first launches.
A month of no launches from SpaceX will undoubtedly be less than thrilling, but the Air Force and Kennedy Space Center employees will get a much-deserved break from a busy launch manifest ahead of what will likely be an even busier final four months of the year. There is a lot to look forward to.
For years, there have been images and videos across social media platforms that have reminded me of when I was a 15-year-old kid teased by “Xbox 720” videos on YouTube. These videos are of the supposed “Tesla Phone” that Elon Musk was secretly developing in between leading Tesla with its electric cars and SpaceX with its reusable rockets.
Would you buy a Tesla phone ? pic.twitter.com/aaTwvvIJit
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) October 6, 2023
Although Musk has put those rumors to bed several times, it was never completely out of the realm that he could get involved in cell phones in some capacity. Think outside the box and more macro-level, though. Instead of reinventing the computer, Musk reinvented connectivity by developing Starlink with SpaceX.
It could be something similar, TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams said in a note last week, where he hinted SpaceX could be gathering some steam to acquire T-Mobile.
Williams said it would be the “clear choice” for SpaceX if it decided to go through with a network acquisition. He also suggested AT&T.
The move would be possible through selling more of its own stock, which would help SpaceX raise the money to purchase T-Mobile, which would cost roughly $300 billion. It could be one of the moves SpaceX makes post-IPO in terms of an acquisition: it already acquired Cursor AI for $60 billion.
Other analysts, like Dan Ives of Wedbush, believe SpaceX and Tesla will eventually merge into one anyway, and that conglomeration could come as soon as this year, some have said.
The implications of SpaceX purchasing T-Mobile are massive. A combined entity would create a truly ubiquitous network: T-Mobile’s terrestrial 5G towers and Starlink’s growing constellation of Direct-to-Cell satellites. This would essentially eliminate dead zones across the U.S. and potentially globally.
SpaceX would instantly become a full-scale facilities-based carrier with satellite differentiation; a huge advantage. This would pressure AT&T and Verizon heavily.
There are also concerns like a potential reduction in long-term competition, and of course, a deal of that size would face intense scrutiny from government agencies.
The strategic fit is compelling due to the existing Starlink–T-Mobile partnership and complementary technologies (space + terrestrial). It could create a dominant integrated communications player. However, the regulatory, financial, and execution hurdles are enormous — this remains highly speculative with no indication SpaceX is actively pursuing it right now.
Elon Musk
SpaceX’s newest Starmind will make earth data centers obsolete
Elon Musk confirmed Starmind as SpaceX’s AI satellite constellation name, targeting one million orbital compute nodes.
Elon Musk confirmed that Starmind will be the official name of SpaceX’s planned AI satellite constellation, following a trademark filing by xAI that surfaced earlier this week. Starmind is what’s being described to the FCC as a constellation of up to one million AI satellites
It’s worth noting that SpaceX’s Starlink communication satellite and Starmind are built on the same orbital infrastructure concept but serve entirely different purposes. Starlink is a connectivity network, with satellites receiving and relaying data between points on Earth, and functioning as a high-speed internet backbone in space. The satellites themselves do not process or think, and move information from one place to another, the same function a fiber cable performs underground.
SpaceX just forced Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile to team up for the first time in history
Starmind, on the other hand, is something completely different, and tather than moving data, its satellites would compute data through artificial intelligence and directly in orbit using onboard processors powered by large solar arrays. Where a Starlink satellite is essentially a very fast pipe, a Starmind satellite is a server. The practical implication is that Starmind would allow AI models to run inference, process queries, and generate outputs from space, then beam results down to users anywhere on Earth within milliseconds, and without the data ever needing to travel to a terrestrial data center.
Starship will be able to carry 30 to 50 AI1 satellites per launch, delivering the equivalent of dozens of server racks per flight, with no land acquisition, no power grid approval, and no cooling infrastructure required on the ground.
SpaceX is pursuing this new technology as terrestrial data centers are running into hard limits such as lack of physical space, community opposition, and power and water consumption at a scale that is increasingly difficult to permit. Space has unlimited solar power, natural vacuum cooling, and no zoning boards. Musk said in a June 8 video presentation that he expects space to become the lowest-cost location to deploy AI compute within two to three years. Two AI1 prototypes are scheduled to launch in early 2027, with volume production targeted for the end of that year at a new facility called Gigasat.
The real world applications Starmind enables extend well beyond powering Grok. A constellation of orbiting AI processors could run inference workloads for any paying customer, anywhere on Earth, with latency measured in milliseconds rather than the seconds associated with ground-based cloud routing across continents. Starmind, if it scales as described, would make SpaceX the landlord of AI compute the same way Starlink made it the landlord of satellite internet.
SpaceX announced today that it commenced its first-ever public bond offering, marking a significant step in the newly public company’s capital markets strategy.
The company announced an offering of senior unsecured notes expected to raise at least $20 billion.
The move comes just a short time after SpaceX completed one of the largest initial public offerings in history. In mid-June, the company priced shares at $135 and raised more than $85 billion, propelling founder Elon Musk’s net worth past the trillion-dollar mark and giving the firm substantial liquidity.
🚨 SpaceX has announced its inaugural offering of senior unsecured notes.
The net proceeds will be used to repay outstanding loans under its bridge loan facility in full.
This inaugural debt offering represents a financing milestone for SpaceX, which previously depended… pic.twitter.com/pcOZuVbTRv
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) June 22, 2026
According to the company’s SEC filing, the net proceeds from the notes will be used primarily to repay in full the outstanding borrowings under its existing bridge loan facility, cover related fees and expenses, and fund general corporate purposes. The offering is being conducted under Rule 144A, as well as Regulation S, targeting qualified institutional buyers and non-U.S. investors. Notes will be unsecured obligations ranking equally with other unsubordinated debt.
The $20 billion bridge loan was used to refinance approximately $17.5 billion in higher-cost “junk” debt tied to X and xAI. SpaceX had merged with xAI in February 2026 in an all-stock deal. The bridge facility, which matures in September 2027, had represented the bulk of SpaceX’s long-term debt.
SpaceX officially acquires xAI, merging rockets with AI expertise
In connection with the bond launch, SpaceX disclosed it held approximately $100.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of June 19. Investor calls began on the announcement date, with pricing and launch expected shortly thereafter. Rating agencies have assigned investment-grade ratings to the proposed bonds, reflecting confidence in SpaceX’s dominant position in commercial launches and the growth trajectory of its Starlink internet offering.
The debt raise also allows SpaceX to optimize its balance sheet by replacing short-term, higher-cost bridge financing with longer-date, lower-cost fixed-income securities. This provides greater financial flexibility to support capital-intensive initiatives, including the development of Starship, the expansion of the Starlink constellation, and the integration of AI capabilities following the xAI combination.
SpaceX shares (NASDAQ: SPCX) fell sharply on the news, dropping over 16 percent overall on the market on Monday. The stock had surged initially after debuting but pulled back amid profit-taking and broader market dynamics.
Overall, the bond offering underscores SpaceX’s transition to a mature public company with access to diverse funding sources. It positions the firm to pursue its long-term vision of multiplanetary expansion and AI infrastructure, while maintaining a disciplined approach to its capital structure in a high-growth but capital-heavy industry.
Tesla expands massive safety feature worldwide in latest update
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