SpaceX
SpaceX’s first private Mars conference is focusing on the ‘how’ of living on the red planet
Earlier this week, SpaceX kicked off an under-the-radar conference focused on the technological and strategic requirements for building and sustaining a permanent human presence on Mars.
Likely the first of many more to come over the next few years, guests of SpaceX’s 2018 Mars Workshop include several dozen attendees (50-100) and a few dozen government agencies, academic institutions, and companies.
At the inaugural @SpaceX Mars Workshop, planning how to put humans on Mars, then how to have 100s living there. So exciting! pic.twitter.com/25jXutKzhX
— Dr. Phil Metzger (@DrPhiltill) August 7, 2018
Likely for a number of political and practical reasons, SpaceX’s first Mars Workshop has been kept very quiet, likely including NDAs for attendees, media embargoes, and more. In this case, the extremely preliminary nature of the discussions and the attendance of a wide array of NASA representatives made excessive publicity somewhat undesirable. NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and #JourneyToMars media program – themselves motivated primarily by political forces and NASA’s own ‘contractors’ (Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Aerojet-Rocketdyne, etc.) – could quite reasonably feel threatened by the highly-publicized attendance of NASA officials at a SpaceX Mars Workshop.
What to bring to Mars
Whether SpaceX’s first BFR launches to Mars happen in 2022 or 2030, it will remain true that every single kilogram of cargo included on those foundational missions will need to be laser-focused on autonomously creating and sustaining significant infrastructure on another planet. As it turns out, Earthbound humans are currently quite good at doing the Earthly equivalent, albeit with much less automation than SpaceX will need to replicate it on Mars.
Regardless of the rationale behind the secrecy, it means that non-attendees currently know next to nothing about the event. The most valuable information provided thus far happens to be a list of the groups involved in the workshop. By no means a coincidence, at least four of the groups in attendance are primarily focused on or at least have secondary expertise in mining, drilling, resource extraction, or industrial machinery: Colorado School of Mines, Tesla, Bechtel Corporation (engineering & construction), Caterpillar Inc (heavy machinery design and production), and Schlumberger (oilfield services).
More tangentially, Japan’s space agency (JAXA) is in attendance and is known to have a working with Japanese heavy machinery manufacturer Kajima, kindled for the purpose of designing and building industrial equipment specifically optimized for use beyond Earth.
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- A NASA deep space habitat concept, potentially representative of something that might also work well on Mars. (NASA)
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- SpaceX executives believe The Boring Company will one day help humans live on Mars. (Teslarati/SpaceX)
Schlumberger may initially feel like an unsavory addition, but it is simply undeniable that oil and gas extraction companies are the global experts of finding, characterizing, and extracting underground resources in a liquid or gas state. Schlumberger also happens to specialize in groundwater extraction, an absolute necessity for prospecting and extracting meaningful quantities of water from liquid (if they exist on Mars) or ice aquifers (definitely present).
With its first Mars Workshop, SpaceX is clearly setting itself up to be a massive force in the currently obscure fields of interplanetary colonization, habitation, and in-situ resource extraction (ISRU). If SpaceX chooses to double down on these regular conferences with some form of grant awards for exceptional research, the company could rapidly become the primary leader (and beneficiary) of cutting-edge research that will be absolutely necessary for building colonies on Mars and throughout the solar system.
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News
SpaceX’s triple-rocket that launched a Tesla into space is back on a mission
SpaceX Falcon Heavy returns after 18 months away to deliver a satellite that only it could carry.
After an 18-month absence, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy is returning to mission on Monday morning when it’s scheduled to lift off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center at 10:21 a.m. EDT.
The mission is called ViaSat-3 F3, and the heavy satellite payload needs to reach geostationary orbit, sitting 22,236 miles above Earth where its speed matches the planet’s rotation. Getting a satellite that heavy to that altitude demands more thrust than a single-core Falcon 9 can deliver.
This marks the Falcon Heavy’s 12th flight overall since its debut in February 2018, and its first since NASA’s Europa Clipper mission in October 2024.
Arguably, the most exciting element for spectators will be watching the booster recoveries in action when the two side boosters, B1072 and B1075, will attempt simultaneous landings at Landing Zone 2 and the newer Landing Zone 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, while the center core will be expended over the ocean.
SpaceX wins its first MARS contract but it comes with a catch
Following satellite deployment, expected roughly five hours after launch, ViaSat-3 F3 will spend several months traveling to its final orbital slot before undergoing in-orbit testing, with service entry expected by late summer 2026
As Teslarati reported, NASA awarded SpaceX a $175.7 million contract on April 16, 2026 to launch the ESA Rosalind Franklin Mars rover aboard a Falcon Heavy no earlier than late 2028, which would mark the first time SpaceX has ever sent a payload to Mars. That contract came on top of an already deep pipeline that includes the Roman Space Telescope, the Dragonfly Saturn mission, and multiple national security payloads.
SpaceX executed 165 missions in 2025 and now accounts for approximately 85% of all global orbital launches. With Starlink surpassing 10 million subscribers and an IPO targeting a $1.75 trillion valuation still ahead, Monday’s launch is one more data point in a company that has quietly become the backbone of both commercial and government space access worldwide.
Elon Musk
The FCC just said ‘No’ to SpaceX for now
SpaceX is fighting the FCC for spectrum that could put satellites inside every smartphone.
SpaceX was dealt a new setback on April 23, 2006 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) after the U.S. government agency dismissed the company’s petition to access a Mobile Satellite Service spectrum that would allow direct-to-device (D2D) capabilities.
The FCC regulates communications by radio, television, wire, and cable, which also includes regulating D2D technology that lets your existing smartphone connect directly to a satellite orbiting Earth, the same way it would connect to a cell tower.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been building toward this through its Starlink Mobile service, formerly called Direct-to-Cell, in partnership with T-Mobile. The service officially launched on July 23, 2025, starting with messaging and expanding to broadband data in October of that year.
T-Mobile Starlink Pricing Announced – Early Adopters Get Exclusive Discount
It’s worth noting that SpaceX is not alone in this race. AT&T and Verizon have their own satellite texting deals with AST SpaceMobile, while Verizon separately offers free satellite texting through Skylo on newer phones.
The regulatory foundation for all of this dates to March 14, 2024, when the FCC adopted the world’s first framework for what it called Supplemental Coverage from Space, allowing satellite operators to lease spectrum from terrestrial carriers and fill gaps in their coverage. On November 26, 2024, the FCC granted SpaceX the first-ever authorization under that framework, approving its partnership with T-Mobile to provide service in specific frequency bands. SpaceX then went further, completing a roughly $17 billion acquisition of wireless spectrum from EchoStar, which gave it the ability to negotiate with global carriers more independently.
Starlink’s EchoStar spectrum deal could bring 5G coverage anywhere
This recent ruling by the FCC blocked SpaceX from going further, protecting incumbent spectrum holders like Globalstar and Iridium. But the market momentum is already in motion. As Teslarati reported, SpaceX is targeting peak speeds of 150 Mbps per user for its next generation Direct-to-Cell service, compared to roughly 4 Mbps today, which would bring satellite connectivity close to standard carrier performance.
With a reported IPO targeting a $1.75 trillion valuation on the horizon, each spectrum fight, carrier deal, and regulatory win or loss now carries weight beyond just connectivity. SpaceX is quietly becoming the infrastructure layer underneath the phones of millions of people, and the FCC’s next move will help determine how much further that reach extends.
FCC Satellite Rule Makings can be found here.
Elon Musk
SpaceX just got pulled into the biggest Weapons Program in U.S. history
SpaceX joins the Golden Dome software group, deepening its role in America’s most expensive defense program.
SpaceX has joined a nine-company group developing the core operating software for the Golden Dome, America’s next-generation missile defense system. According to a Bloomberg report, SpaceX is focused on integrating satellite communications for military operations and is working alongside eight other defense and artificial intelligence companies, including Anduril Industries, Palantir Technologies, and Aalyria Technologies, to build software connecting missile defense capabilities.
The Golden Dome concept dates back to President Trump’s 2024 campaign, and on January 27, 2025, he signed an executive order directing the U.S. Armed Forces to construct the system before the end of his term. The system is planned to employ a constellation of thousands of satellites equipped with interceptors, with data centers in space providing automated control through an AI network.
FCC accepts SpaceX filing for 1 million orbital data center plan
Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein, director of the Golden Dome initiative, has described the software layer as a “glue layer” that would enable officers to manage and control radars, sensors, and missile batteries across services. The consortium is aiming to test the platform this summer.
Trump selected a design in May 2025 with a $175 billion price tag, expected to be operational by the end of his term in 2029, though the Congressional Budget Office projected the cost could reach $831 billion over two decades.
The Golden Dome role is only the latest in a string of military wins for SpaceX. As Teslarati reported, the U.S. Space Force awarded SpaceX a $178.5 million task order on April 1, 2026 to launch missile tracking satellites for the Space Development Agency, covering two Falcon 9 launches beginning in Q3 2027. That came on top of more than $22 billion in government contracts held by SpaceX as of 2024, per CEO Gwynne Shotwell, spanning NASA resupply missions, classified intelligence satellites through its Starshield program, and military broadband.
The accumulation of defense contracts, now including a seat at the table on the most expensive weapons program in U.S. history, positions SpaceX as the dominant infrastructure provider for American national security in space. With a SpaceX IPO still on the horizon, each new contract adds weight to what is already one of the most consequential companies in aerospace history, raising real questions about how much of America’s defense architecture will depend on a single private operator before it ever trades publicly.
SpaceX’s triple-rocket that launched a Tesla into space is back on a mission
The FCC just said ‘No’ to SpaceX for now
