News
SpaceX astronaut launch slips into November
Update: A “minor medical issue involving one of [the] crew members” has forced NASA to delay Crew-3 a bit less than four more days from early November 3rd to 11:36 pm EDT (03:36 UTC), Saturday, November 6th. Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon are in good health and will remain vertical at Pad 39A.
Poor sea states and weather conditions along the Falcon 9 rocket’s ‘ascent corridor’ has forced SpaceX and NASA to delay their next joint astronaut launch from Sunday to Wednesday.
While conditions improved soon after, unfavorable orbital mechanics precluded backup launch windows on Monday or Tuesday, pushing SpaceX’s Crew-3 launch and crew rotation mission to no earlier than (NET) 1:10 am EDT (05:10 UTC) on Wednesday, November 3rd. Barring further delays, NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Kayla Barron, and ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer – all rookies save for Thomas – will ride a new Crew Dragon spacecraft into space atop once-flown Falcon 9 booster B1067 and a new, expendable Falcon upper stage.
Due to the delay, Crew-2 Dragon astronauts Shane Kimbrough (NASA), Megan McArthur (NASA), Akihiko Hoshide (JAXA), and Thomas Pesquet (ESA) will spend several more days in orbit than initially planned as they wait for Crew-3 to relieve them – hence the term “crew rotation.”
Crew-3’s delay means that for the second time in H2 2021, after launching 20 times in just the first half of the year, SpaceX hasn’t launched once in an entire month. Put simply, SpaceX’s internal Starlink launch cadence fell off a cliff in July and hasn’t recovered since. In H1 2021, 14 of 20 launches primarily carried Starlink satellites. With just two months left in the year, SpaceX has only launched one Starlink mission in H2 2021 and twice otherwise. Crew-3 will be the company’s fourth Falcon 9 launch in as many months.
It’s unclear just how much of that downtick has been a conscious decision made by SpaceX but odds are good that whatever is causing it is largely outside of the company’s control or, at least, is not intentional. One clear possibility is that SpaceX has run into significant issues while attempting to finalize, qualify, and mass-produce new space lasers designed to allow Starlink satellites to route communications without ground stations. So far, SpaceX has only launched one batch of 51 new Starlink V1.5 satellites, seemingly ruling out design or qualification issues. That leaves issues with production, which could potentially be hampered by widespread shortages currently affecting most manufacturing industries to some degree.
Most recently, SpaceX indefinitely delayed a second Starlink V1.5 launch previously scheduled in mid-October. According to launch photographer Ben Cooper, SpaceX has no other launches scheduled in November beyond Crew-3 and Starlink 2-3, both of which were initially meant to launch in October. In December, things could potentially pick back up, with NASA’s IXPE X-ray observatory, a European imaging satellite (CSG-2/CosmoSkyMed), Cargo Dragon’s CRS-24 resupply mission, and Turkey’s Turksat 5B communications satellite all scheduled to launch in the last month of the year.
Elon Musk
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has ordered the closure of an investigation involving Elon Musk and social media platform X. The inquiry had been pending for about two years and examined whether the platform was used to coordinate attacks against members of the judiciary.
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
According to a report from Agencia Brasil, the investigation conducted by the Federal Police did not find evidence that X deliberately attempted to attack the judiciary or circumvent court orders.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet concluded that the irregularities identified during the probe did not indicate fraudulent intent.
Justice Moraes accepted the prosecutor’s recommendation and ruled that the investigation should be closed. Under the ruling, the case will remain closed unless new evidence emerges.
The inquiry stemmed from concerns that content on X may have enabled online attacks against Supreme Court justices or violated rulings requiring the suspension of certain accounts under investigation.
Justice Moraes had previously taken several enforcement actions related to the platform during the broader dispute involving social media regulation in Brazil.
These included ordering a nationwide block of the platform, freezing Starlink accounts, and imposing fines on X totaling about $5.2 million. Authorities also froze financial assets linked to X and SpaceX through Starlink to collect unpaid penalties and seized roughly $3.3 million from the companies’ accounts.
Moraes also imposed daily fines of up to R$5 million, about $920,000, for alleged evasion of the X ban and established penalties of R$50,000 per day for VPN users who attempted to bypass the restriction.
Brazil remains an important market for X, with roughly 17 million users, making it one of the platform’s larger user bases globally.
The country is also a major market for Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, which has surpassed one million subscribers in Brazil.
Elon Musk
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Amazon after the company opposed SpaceX’s proposal to launch a large satellite constellation that could function as an orbital data center network.
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
Amazon recently urged the FCC to reject SpaceX’s application to deploy a constellation of up to 1 million low Earth orbit satellites that could serve as artificial intelligence data centers in space.
The company described the proposal as a “lofty ambition rather than a real plan,” arguing that SpaceX had not provided sufficient details about how the system would operate.
Carr responded by pointing to Amazon’s own satellite deployment progress.
“Amazon should focus on the fact that it will fall roughly 1,000 satellites short of meeting its upcoming deployment milestone, rather than spending their time and resources filing petitions against companies that are putting thousands of satellites in orbit,” Carr wrote on X.
Amazon has declined to comment on the statement.
Amazon has been working to deploy its Project Kuiper satellite network, which is intended to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service. The company has invested more than $10 billion in the program and has launched more than 200 satellites since April of last year.
Amazon has also asked the FCC for a 24-month extension, until July 2028, to meet a requirement to deploy roughly 1,600 satellites by July 2026, as noted in a CNBC report.
SpaceX’s Starlink network currently has nearly 10,000 satellites in orbit and serves roughly 10 million customers. The FCC has also authorized SpaceX to deploy 7,500 additional satellites as the company continues expanding its global satellite internet network.
Energy
Tesla Energy gains UK license to sell electricity to homes and businesses
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
Tesla Energy has received a license to supply electricity in the United Kingdom, opening the door for the company to serve homes and businesses in the country.
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
According to Ofgem, the license took effect at 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday and applies to Great Britain.
The approval allows Tesla’s energy business to sell electricity directly to customers in the region, as noted in a Bloomberg News report.
Tesla has already expanded similar services in the United States. In Texas, the company offers electricity plans that allow Tesla owners to charge their vehicles at a lower cost while also feeding excess electricity back into the grid.
Tesla already has a sizable presence in the UK market. According to price comparison website U-switch, there are more than 250,000 Tesla electric vehicles in the country and thousands of Tesla home energy storage systems.
Ofgem also noted that Tesla Motors Ltd., a separate entity incorporated in England and Wales, received an electricity generation license in June 2020.
The new UK license arrives as Tesla continues expanding its global energy business.
Last year, Tesla Energy retained the top position in the global battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator market for the second consecutive year. According to Wood Mackenzie’s latest rankings, Tesla held about 15% of global market share in 2024.
The company also maintained a dominant position in North America, where it captured roughly 39% market share in the region.
At the same time, competition in the energy storage sector is increasing. Chinese companies such as Sungrow have been expanding their presence globally, particularly in Europe.
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
