News
SpaceX rocket nosecone catch years in the making caught on camera
In a milestone more than three years in the making, SpaceX has successfully caught both halves of a Falcon 9 rocket’s payload fairing (i.e. nosecone) and shared videos of the historic feat.
Meanwhile, twin ships GO Ms. Tree and GO Ms. Chief returned to Port Canaveral before dawn on July 22nd with their trophies safely in hand. After years of development, at least a dozen failed catch attempts, numerous soft ocean landings, and the introduction of a second identical recovery ship, SpaceX has finally proven that a full rocket fairing can be recovered for (relatively) easy reuse.
Ironically, just eight months ago, SpaceX reused an orbital-class payload fairing for the first time, proving that fairings can be recovered and reused even if they fail to land in a recovery ship’s net. As such, the milestone is slightly less monumental than it otherwise could have been – but that’s not a bad thing, in this case. Most importantly, the successful catch of both halves of a Falcon fairing serves as a reminder of SpaceX’s extraordinary tenacity in the face of repeated failures and the reality that – given enough time and resources – the company almost invariably achieves its goals.
In the scope of orbital-class rocket recovery and reusability, payload fairings – nosecones that protect payloads from the atmosphere and environment and deploy several minutes after launch – rarely register. Relative to launch vehicle stages, the fairing typically represents a small fraction of the overall rocket’s cost. However, when built almost entirely out of carbon fiber composites to save as much weight as possible, they can require an outsized amount of labor and production time. At the same time, for a company like SpaceX that has already effectively solved the problem of routine booster recovery and reuse, a part that may have once represented a small fraction of launch costs can quickly become a major portion.
For Falcon 9, with the booster representing something like 65% of the rocket’s material cost, the payload fairing’s share of overall launch cost with a reused booster can quickly balloon from 10% to ~30%. Of course, those savings really only register from an internal perspective, which is precisely way SpaceX has continued to invest in fairing reuse after years with minimal success. Cutting ~30% off the material cost of the dozens to hundreds of Starlink launches planned over the next several years could easily save SpaceX hundreds of millions of dollars.
As such, SpaceX continues to reap the benefits of a healthy, industry-leading commercial launch business, more or less allowing it to pay for the production of rockets and facilities by launching a few commercial missions before moving on to many, many more Starlink launches. Up to now, only Falcon boosters have been able to take advantage of that unique opportunity, but SpaceX has very recently begun to reuse payload fairings – also frequently debuting on commercial missions. As of July 23rd, SpaceX has reused Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy fairings three times, all on Starlink satellite launches.
On July 20th, Falcon 9 booster B1058 lifted off for the second time after a record-breaking turnaround, carrying South Korea’s ANASIS II military communications satellite and a fresh payload fairing atop a new upper stage. Simultaneously breaking a drought of fairing catches, GO Ms. Tree and GO Ms. Chief successfully caught both halves of said payload fairing in their respective nets for the first time ever. Protected from saltwater immersion that can easily corrode the aluminum both inside and outside the fairings, the successful catch all but guarantees that SpaceX will be able to quickly and easily reuse this fairing on a future Starlink mission.
Two simultaneously successful catches after 12 attempts – three successful – in ~30 months is either an extraordinary fluke or a sign that SpaceX may have solved fairing recovery after years of hard work and iterative improvement. SpaceX’s next firm launch is scheduled no earlier than July 30th and another Starlink mission could potentially happen between now and then, so the company should have several attempts to test its fairing recovery luck in the near future.
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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
