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SpaceX fires up rocket for second launch in two days but high seas threaten delays

SpaceX just static fired Falcon 9 B1051 ahead of its second Starlink launch of 2020. B1051 previously supported Crew Dragon's Demo-1 launch debut and the Radarsat Constellation Mission. (NASA)

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SpaceX has static fired a Falcon 9 barely 24 hours after its most recent launch and could launch a second mission with that rocket less than 24 hours from now. However, bad weather in the Atlantic Ocean – threatening the booster’s drone ship landing – could cause delays.

At 10:30 am EST (15:30 UTC) on January 19th, SpaceX threaded the needle through clouds, sea states, and winds to successfully launch a Falcon 9 rocket in support of Crew Dragon’s In-Flight Abort (IFA) test – flawlessly completed shortly after liftoff. A bit less than 28 hours after and 3.5 miles (5.5 km) south of Crew Dragon’s liftoff, a separate Falcon 9 rocket – complete another batch of 60 Starlink v1.0 satellites tucked inside its payload fairing – was fully loaded with liquid oxygen, refined kerosene propellant (RP-1), helium, and nitrogen in what is known as a Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR).

About 35 minutes after that process began, Falcon 9 booster B1051 fired up its nine Merlin 1D engines for around 7-10 seconds – a routine static fire meant to verify the overall health of the booster and ensure its launch readiness. SpaceX rapidly confirmed that the static fire data looked good just a few minutes after booster shutdown, verifying that Falcon 9 is ready for its second Starlink satellite launch of 2020. Carrying the third batch of 60 upgraded Starlink v1.0 satellites, the mission – deemed Starlink V1 L3 – was most recently scheduled to launch no earlier than 11:59 am EST (16:59 UTC), January 21st. It appears, however, that weather in the Atlantic Ocean might trigger some minor delays.

Normally, SpaceX’s routine static fire confirmation tweet also includes the associated mission’s targeted launch date. This time around, SpaceX announced that it was still analyzing conditions and orbital mechanics to determine a launch window, uncertainty triggered by “extreme weather in the recovery area”.

Headed some 630 km (390 mi) downrange, drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) departed Port Canaveral for its Starlink V1 L3 booster recovery mission on January 17th. Meanwhile, twin SpaceX fairing recovery ships Ms. Tree (formerly Mr. Steven) and Ms. Chief made their own Port Canaveral departure on January 18th and are headed around 740 km (460 mi) downrange. SpaceX did not specify, so it’s possible that weather in both areas of the Atlantic Ocean are currently unfavorable.

Historically, the giant arms and nets that adorn SpaceX’s fairing recovery ships have been uniquely sensitive to even mildly rough seas, suffering repeated damage over the last year. At the same time, large swells and/or high winds also pose a big risk for any Falcon boosters attempting drone ship landings, as those boosters don’t actually account for the motion of the deck, instead assuming it will be at a certain position and aiming for that fixed bullseye.

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Ms. Chief, for reference, suffered arm damage and lost one of its arm’s two white supports on its most recently fairing catch attempt. (Richard Angle)
OCISLY is far more resilient but Falcon boosters could be easily damaged if they shut off their engines while the drone ship deck was at the peak or trough of a large swell. (Richard Angle)

As such, it’s sadly likely that SpaceX’s Starlink L3 launch will slip a bit later into the week, although there is certainly a chance that weather at the recovery zone will clear up in the next 12 or so hours. Stay tuned for updates!

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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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SpaceX’s Anthropic deal has a catch, and Elon Musk just addressed it

Elon Musk says SpaceX’s Anthropic compute deal cuts both ways after Chamath floats higher prices.

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Elon Musk pushed back on Sunday against the idea that SpaceX’s compute contract with Anthropic is a one way bet, after venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya argued the company could use a termination clause to charge the AI lab far more.

“It works both ways, of course. If compute becomes plentiful and cheap, SpaceX revenue will drop. No crying in the casino for either party,” Musk wrote on X Sunday evening, replying to a clip of Palihapitiya’s comments shared by AI commentator Rohan Paul.

On the All-In podcast released Sunday, Palihapitiya said either side can walk away from the agreement on 90 days’ notice. If data center supply tightens, he argued, SpaceX could exercise that option and bring the contract back at two to three times the current price, and Anthropic would have little choice but to accept. He called it “the kingmaking move,” according to BigGo Finance.

The clause itself is not new. SpaceX disclosed in its IPO filings in May that Anthropic would pay $1.25 billion per month for dedicated capacity at its Colossus clusters through May 2029, nearly $45 billion in total, with both companies able to terminate on 90 days’ notice, as Teslarati reported at the time. SpaceX’s later compute deals with Google and Reflection AI carry similar exit terms.

What has changed is the political backdrop. Palihapitiya’s thesis rests on incoming Democratic governors pulling tax incentives for data centers and slowing new construction. In Texas, Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa campaigned on a moratorium on new data center approvals, and Deutsche Bank analysts warned last week that SpaceX’s Texas compute capacity could face delays. SpaceX and Tesla shares both fell after the midterm results.

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A slowdown would favor companies that already own capacity. SpaceX acquired xAI in February and has been renting data centers to outside AI labs before the space is needed for Grok. At the Baron Investment Conference on Friday, Musk said SpaceX was “getting 50 billion a year for 35 billion dollar investments” and that it can bring a data center online in eight or nine months, compared to two and a half years for competitors. He also said SpaceX is tracking toward an annualized revenue rate above $100 billion in December, with a “best guess” of $500 billion by December 2027.

Musk’s reply points to the other side of the clause. Anthropic has signed large compute agreements with Amazon, Google and Microsoft, and if that capacity comes online faster than new construction slows, the AI lab would have its own leverage to renegotiate or leave. Musk has called Anthropic “obviously currently the leader in AI,” and it remains one of SpaceX’s largest compute customers.

SpaceX shares rose more than 2 percent in overnight trading late Sunday after closing Friday at $134.27, according to Stocktwits.

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Elon Musk spotlights the Starlink rescue that got through where no cell tower could

Elon Musk spotlighted how Starlink helped rescuers reach five people stranded in Kazakhstan’s snowy mountains.

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Elon Musk put a spotlight on a mountain rescue in eastern Kazakhstan on Sunday, writing “Starlink saves lives” in response to a post describing how SpaceX’s satellite internet helped five stranded people reach emergency crews.

The post from DogeDesigner, which had been viewed more than 500,000 times by Sunday afternoon, said the group’s SUV broke down about 15 kilometers from the village of Kystau Kurchum in an area with no usable mobile network. Starlink carried their call for help and kept them in contact with rescuers, who used the connection to locate them.

The rescue itself took place in October. Local outlet YK.kz reported on October 22 that Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations responded to the breakdown in the Kurchum district of East Kazakhstan region and noted that the group stayed in touch through Starlink. Rescuers covered roughly 100 kilometers in a Trekol, a low pressure tire vehicle built for snow and marshland, then escorted the disabled SUV back to Kystau Kurchum. Nobody needed medical attention.


Conditions in the region were rough at the time. Kazakh broadcaster Channel 7 identified the five as hunters caught in a snow trap and said satellite communication allowed rescuers to pinpoint where they were. A spokesperson for the East Kazakhstan emergency department said a storm warning was in effect and urged residents not to leave populated areas unless necessary. The same weather stranded seven utility workers repairing power lines in the nearby Kuygan rural district, according to Tengrinews.

Kazakhstan has been one of Starlink’s more notable markets in Central Asia. Teslarati reported in 2024 that Starlink was serving 1,731 of the country’s 1,879 schools, with the country’s Education Minister saying it had set a new standard for internet service in schools.

Rescue stories like this one have followed Starlink for years, usually in places where ground networks fail or never existed in the first place. Then Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis called Starlink a “game changer” for search and rescue crews during Hurricane Milton, and SpaceX and T-Mobile switched on Starlink Direct to Cell in North Carolina to push emergency alerts to phones after Hurricane Helene.

The next target is dead zones for people who do not carry a dish at all. SpaceX is building out Starlink Mobile and earlier this week selected Qualcomm to supply core infrastructure for a planned terrestrial 5G network in the United States, which it intends to pair with its next generation satellite constellation.

Sunday’s post is at least the third time Musk has written “Starlink saves lives” on X this week, following identical posts on November 5 and November 7.

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SpaceX will perform Starship double catch attempt with Flight 15

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Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX plans to attempt what will be a defining moment in rocket reusability on Starship Flight 15.

As Elon Musk announced in a recent X post, SpaceX will attempt to catch both the Super Heavy Booster and the Starship upper stage during the upcoming orbital flight. If successful, it will mark the first time that all parts of an orbital rocket return to Earth intact, a breakthrough Musk has called essential to making life multiplanetary.

Previous flights have demonstrated the tower-catch technique with Super Heavy. SpaceX has successfully caught V1 boosters three times (on Flights 5, 7, and 8), with some even reflown. The Ship upper stage has never been caught.

Returning from orbital velocity after deploying payload makes it a significantly harder challenge due to higher energy, heat loads, and the need for precise belly-flop reentry, a flip maneuver, and a final landing burn to settle between the Mechazilla tower’s chopstick arms.

Flight 15, using Booster 22 and Ship 42 (both Block 3 vehicles), is targeted for no earlier than Friday, November 13, 2026, from Orbital Launch Pad 2 at Starbase, Texas. The 75-minute window opens at 4:45 p.m. CT, pending regulatory approval. After hot staging and separation, the booster is planned to return for a catch roughly 6 minutes and 35 seconds after liftoff.

The Ship will insert into a roughly 275 km orbit, deploy 26 advanced Starlink V3 satellites, complete about 14 orbits over more than 22 hours, and—if systems check out—perform a deorbit burn, reentry, flip, and landing burn for a tower catch at approximately T+22 hours 32 minutes.

SpaceX confirms Starship 15 launch window with massive ambitions

A simulation shown during SpaceX’s October earnings call depicted the Ship descending in a belly-flop attitude, flipping upright with a short engine burn, and being captured by the arms:

Contingency splashdown zones exist in the Gulf of Mexico (booster) and Pacific (Ship) if a catch is not viable. SpaceX has stressed rigorous health checks before committing the Ship to a return-to-launch-site trajectory.

Musk has described the odds of success on this first dual-catch attempt as “more likely than not,” noting a steady stream of additional flights is already scheduled if needed. Full recovery would enable rapid inspection, refurbishment, and reflight—slashing costs and supporting the high launch cadence required for Starlink expansion, lunar missions, and eventual Mars settlement.

As Musk put it, this is “the critical breakthrough needed to make life multiplanetary.”

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