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SpaceX teams up with NASA to launch a galaxy-mapping space telescope

SpaceX has won $98.8 million to launch a tiny NASA space telescope in 2024. (ESA)

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SpaceX appears to be continuing a streak of NASA launch contract awards, winning $98.8 million to launch a galaxy-mapping spacecraft known as SPHEREx in 2024.

Designed to perform surveys of hundreds of millions to billions of stars and galaxies across a vast swath of the universe, SPHEREx’s primary scientific goal is to better understand and quantify the state of the universe relative to the Big Bang. Additionally, the space telescope could be used to map the presence of water ice throughout the Milky Way, potentially helping to determining the role ice plays in stellar and planetary formation.

Oddly, the best current estimate of SPHEREx’s mass pegs the small but capable space telescope at approximately 200 kg (440 lb). “It’s just a little bit too big for Pegasus [XL] now, but it is a pretty small thing,” according to principal investigator Jamie Bock in a 2019 interview. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket vastly outclasses such a small payload and is capable of delivering at least 5-10 metric tons to SPHEREx’s targeted 700 km (~435 mi) polar orbit.

At almost $99 million, it’s also a relatively expensive Falcon 9 launch contract, though it continues a recent trend of the rocket winning near-nine-figure launch contracts for tiny NASA science spacecraft. Still, according to the US Government Accountability Office (GAO), NASA had reserved $120 million for SPHEREx’s launch contract, meaning that SpaceX still likely saved the US taxpayer more than $21 million relative to the cheapest possible ULA Atlas V configuration. Altogether, including launch costs, the SPHEREx mission is now expected to cost NASA approximately $340 million.

Adding further to the oddity of this NASA award, SpaceX won an $80.4 million contract to launch NASA’s ~$900 million PACE oceanography observatory on a Falcon 9 rocket in the same year as SPHEREx. It’s difficult to explain why NASA’s Launch Service Program (LSP) would pay almost 25% more than PACE to launch SPHEREx, a spacecraft that is several times smaller and less than half the total cost. SPHEREx isn’t alone, though, and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has also won a $106M NASA contract to launch the ~$750M IMAP mission, $50M to launch the ~$140M IXPE mission, $112M to launch the ~$750M SWOT mission, and $69M to launch NASA’s $250M DART spacecraft.

At the same time, Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket and Firefly’s Alpha – both actively engaged with NASA – could likely deliver SPHEREx to its intended orbit for as much as $50-80 million less than the cost of SpaceX’s launch contract.

Ultimately, SPHEREx continues a streak of lucrative launch contract victories for SpaceX, further strengthening the company’s strong relationship with NASA as it gears up for increasingly important science launches on Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

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Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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Tesla will open two new Diners after raging success at LA location

It took several years to get the Diner developed, built, and opened. On July 21, Tesla launched the Diner to the public at 4:20 p.m. local time (of course), after years of development. Musk first offered the idea of a drive-in Supercharger Diner back in December 2018.

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tesla diner in los angeles during daytime
Credit: Matt Hartman

Tesla will open two new Diner locations in the United States after its first location in Los Angeles has been a raging success, as it is constantly packed and serving food for 24 hours a day, every day.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the initial Diner location on Santa Monica Boulevard is “going well,” and based on reviews and its constant out-the-door lines, it is safe to say it has been a major outlet of interest for people in the area.

It features two massive movie screens, a menu that is locally sourced and has been created by a world-class chef, and Supercharging for EVs. It truly is the perfect stop for those who are hungry, need entertainment, or need a quick charge.

tesla diner

Credit: Tesla

So far, Tesla has not released too many details on the success of the restaurant, but it did state in a graphic for its Q3 Supercharging stats that it sold roughly 50,000 burgers at the Diner in Q3, roughly 715 each day. Burgers are not the only thing on the menu, either.

With how well it has gone, Musk is now considering the possibility of new locations that are notable to Tesla, including Austin and Palo Alto.

On Friday, Musk revealed he believes it “probably makes sense to open one” near Gigafactory Texas and Engineering HQ in Palo Alto:”

It took several years to get the Diner developed, built, and opened. On July 21, Tesla launched the Diner to the public at 4:20 p.m. local time (of course), after years of development. Musk first offered the idea of a drive-in Supercharger Diner back in December 2018.

By 2023, Tesla had secured building permits and broken ground on the site in September of that year.

Since its launch, it has been a popular hotspot for Tesla fans and others to visit, although it has attracted unwanted attention from protestors as well.

They look hungry. If they walked inside and ordered some food, maybe they’d stop yelling into microphones and threatening Musk.

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Elon Musk’s AI empire grows as xAI leases Palo Alto space near Tesla

The expanding footprint of Elon Musk’s companies in Palo Alto bodes well for the CEO’s plans in the area.

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Credit: xAI/X

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI, is expanding its Silicon Valley footprint, leasing roughly 105,000 square feet of office space at Palo Alto’s Page Mill Center, just blocks away from Tesla’s engineering complex.

Musk’s deepening Silicon Valley footprint

People familiar with the matter have informed the San Francisco Business Times that xAI’s lease at Page Mill Center may already have been finalized, adding to the company’s existing headquarters at 1450 Page Mill Road. The two offices share a parking lot, reflecting Musk’s strategy of consolidating his ventures. Tesla’s engineering hub is also just a few blocks away.

The new offices form a growing cluster of Musk-led companies in the heart of the Valley and come as xAI has listed over 250 job openings. These include listings for engineers, designers, and technical staff, among others. 

xAI’s aggressive hiring push hints at rapid scaling, which makes quite a lot of sense considering the company’s ambitious projects. xAI oversees the large language model Grok and other AI initiatives such as the newly launched Grokipedia, and the startup has also acquired the social media platform X. Real estate owner Hudson Pacific Properties, the owners of Page Mill Center, have so far declined to comment.

AI demand and Silicon Valley’s office rebound

Silicon Valley’s office market, long subdued by remote work trends, is seeing renewed activity from AI firms. Hudson Pacific told investors this summer that tenant demand has reached a three-year high, with over half of new leases driven by artificial intelligence companies. Vacancy rates have now fallen for four straight quarters to 16.6% as well, CBRE reported.

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The expanding footprint of Elon Musk’s companies in Palo Alto bodes well for the CEO’s plans in the area. Musk, after all, has previously butted heads with officials, resulting in his two biggest ventures, electric vehicle maker Tesla and private space company SpaceX, officially relocating their headquarters to Texas.

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Starship lunar update shows SpaceX will not give up the Moon without a fight

SpaceX stated that the revised concept aims to “result in a faster return to the moon while simultaneously improving crew safety.”

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Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX is reassessing its Starship mission plan for NASA’s Artemis 3 program, exploring what it calls a “simplified” architecture that could accelerate the first crewed lunar landing of the 21st century. 

The private space company stated that the revised concept aims to “result in a faster return to the moon while simultaneously improving crew safety,” following NASA’s decision to reopen the lunar mission contract to new competition.

SpaceX outlines HLS progress

In a blog post titled To the Moon and Beyond, SpaceX detailed recent Starship milestones and reaffirmed its role as a “core enabler” of NASA’s lunar ambitions. As per SpaceX, its efforts are not just aimed at returning to the Moon. It is aimed at establishing a permanent, sustainable presence on the lunar surface. 

“Since the contract was awarded, we have been consistently responsive to NASA as requirements for Artemis III have changed and have shared ideas on how to simplify the mission to align with national priorities. In response to the latest calls, we’ve shared and are formally assessing a simplified mission architecture and concept of operations that we believe will result in a faster return to the Moon while simultaneously improving crew safety,” SpaceX wrote in its post.

The post described Starship’s vast potential for lunar operations, noting that a single vehicle provides over 600 cubic meters of pressurized habitable volume, roughly two-thirds that of pressurized volume of the entire International Space Station, and is “complete with a cabin that can be scaled for large numbers of explorers and dual airlocks for surface exploration.” 

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SpaceX also mentioned its fixed-price NASA contract, which ensures taxpayer protection while incentivizing milestone-based progress. As part of its preparations for a Moon mission, SpaceX plans to conduct a key in-space refueling demonstration in 2026, as noted in a Space.com report. Regerdless, SpaceX is still continuing the parallel development of its “core” Starship for Mars and deep-space exploration.

SpaceX’s update followed NASA concerns

NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy recently voiced frustration over Starship’s pace, noting on CNBC that SpaceX “pushed their timelines out” while the U.S. remains in a race against rivals. In a comment, Duffy stated that NASA will not wait for one company as it pushes forward with its Artemis program.

“I love SpaceX. It’s an amazing company. The problem is, they’re behind. They’ve pushed their timelines out, and we’re in a race against China. The president and I want to get to the Moon in this president’s term, so I’m going to open up the contracts. I’m going to let other space companies compete with SpaceX, like Blue Origin,” Duffy said.

Elon Musk publicly criticized Duffy over his remarks, but SpaceX’s latest update has shifted the focus back to technical progress and mission readiness. While SpaceX did not elaborate on the details of its simplified architecture, Musk hinted that Starship could eventually accomplish “the whole moon mission” on its own. “Starship will build Moonbase Alpha,” Musk wrote in a recent post on X. 

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