Space
SpaceX shares how it’s making Starlink satellites less bright.
SpaceX shared how it’s making its Starlink satellites less bright. The space exploration company published a document titled, Brightness Mitigation Best Practices for Satellite Operators that outlines how it’s working with the astronomy community to reduce light pollution.
New document from @SpaceX https://t.co/aI17WdaqrF
explaining what they have been doing to make their satellites less bright.
I applaud SpaceX for their work on this (and for making the document public), while remaining concerned to see how bright the Gen2 Starlinks end up being— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) July 29, 2022
SpaceX has been criticized for the brightness of its Starlink satellites by astronomers. Elon Musk and the team at SpaceX not only listened to the criticism but are actively responding to it by collaborating with the astronomy community to solve the issue.
SpaceX Is Making Starlink satellites Invisible to the naked eye.
SpaceX noted that through the collaboration, it has identified and mitigated the key causes of satellite brightness. The company is working on making the satellites invisible to the naked eye when they are at their standard operational altitude.
If satellites are illuminated by the sun at night, they can be visible to observers from the earth. However, the visibility of any satellite depends on the materials used for its surfaces.
Since satellites don’t emit their own light, the brightness results from natural sunlight scattering off of the satellites’ surfaces and reflecting down to earth. The light can scatter in two different ways: specular or diffuse.
SpaceX is focusing on specular scatter
SpaceX is investing in specular surfaces. Specular light is reflected at a single angle just like a mirror. Diffuse light reflects from many angles. The image above shows the difference between how specular light scatters and diffuse light scatters.
SpaceX noted that not all materials are highly reflective and some can be absorptive or make the light that is reflected much less bright.
SpaceX’s satellites are visible from the ground in two ways.
- Sunlight scatters off the main body.
- Sunlight scatters from the solar arrays.
To solve this, SpaceX adopted mitigations for both problems for its current, first-generation satellites.
Sun Visors and RF-Transparent mirror films
Sun Visors
For the first-gen satellites, SpaceX developed sun visors that block sunlight from hitting the bottom side of the chassis (body of the satellite.) They were made from materials that engineers developed to be invisible to radio frequencies.
However, the sun visors blocked the laser links that SpaceX uses to expand coverage to remote regions of the world. Additionally, the visors generated significant drag on the satellites. So, SpaceX determined that the sun visors weren’t a long-term solution.
RF- transparent mirror films.
SpaceX developed RF-transparent mirror films as an alternative to the sun visors. The film scatters most of the sunlight away from the Earth. SpaceX said that it has been improving its mirror films to scatter less light back to the earth.
It plans to deploy a new and improved version of the film on its next-generation satellites.
Inter-cell backing material
Another change that SpaceX made to its first-gen satellites involved the inter-cell backing material. The material was initially white but SpaceX changed it to a dark red that reduces the arrays’ brightness.
The downside is that the darkening of the material increases the temperature of the solar array which reduces performance. However, SpaceX will adopt many designs such as this one to reduce the brightness of the satellites.
Dielectric Mirror Film for Starlink satellites.
SpaceX noted that its second-gen satellite will add more capacity to the Starlink network; connecting more people in more places.
The second-gen satellites will use the following three advanced brightness techniques and I will dive into one of them: Dielectric Mirror film.
SpaceX will cover the bottom of the satellites with a second-gen dielectric mirror film. This version reduces the observed brightness ten times better than the first-gen film by using a Bi-Directional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) metric.
You can see how the BRDF for decreases visibility in the chart below.
Credit: SpaceX
Through extensive research and iteration, SpaceX maximized the film’s specular scatter. The core of the film is a Bragg mirror that includes many thin layers of plastic that have a variety of refractive indices which create interference patterns internally to reflect the light.
It also allows radio waves to pass through with no issues. Protective layers of titanium dioxide and silicon dioxide were added to protect the film in thin, pure layers that don’t affect the film itself. Below is a comparison between the first-gen and second-gen mirrors.
SpaceX plans to offer the dielectric mirror film as a product
SpaceX plans to offer the dielectric mirror film as a product on the Starlink website. The reason is that SpaceX can not reduce the effect of satellites on space exploration by itself.
The film will be offered at cost and all operators will be able to use it to reduce the effect of their own constellations.
SpaceX will continue to work with the astronomy community
SpaceX emphasized that not only is the astronomy community’s work important but that it would continue to work with them to reduce the effects of all satellite operations.
“SpaceX is committed to connecting as many people as possible through Starlink, improving the lives of millions of people here on Earth.”
“As a space exploration company, SpaceX is a strong supporter of astronomy and the scientific community.”
You can read the full document here.
I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, or concerns, see a typo, you can email me at johnna@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @JohnnaCrider1
Elon Musk
SpaceX files confidentially for IPO that will rewrite the record books
SpaceX files confidentially for a record-breaking IPO targeting a $1.75T valuation and $80B raise, driven by Starlink growth and its xAI merger.
Elon Musk’s rocket and satellite company submitted its draft registration to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today for an initial public offering, targeting June at a $1.75 trillion valuation. This would be the largest in history.
SpaceX has filed confidentially with the SEC, first reported by Bloomberg. SpaceX would be valued above every S&P 500 company except Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon.
The filing uses a confidential process that allows companies to work through SEC disclosures privately before initiating a public roadshow. With a June target, official details through a formal prospectus is expected to go public in April or early May, after which SpaceX must wait at least 15 days before beginning investor marketing.
While SpaceX is best known for its Falcon 9 and Starship rockets, the $1.75 trillion valuation is anchored by Starlink, its satellite internet service. Starlink ended 2025 with 9.2 million subscribers and over $10 billion in revenue, which is a figure analysts project could reach a staggering $24 billion by the end of 2026. A February all-stock merger with xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, further boosted the valuation.
SpaceX officially acquires xAI, merging rockets with AI expertise
Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley are lined up as senior underwriters. SpaceX is also considering a dual-class share structure to preserve insider voting control, and plans to allocate up to 30% of shares to retail investors, which is roughly three times the typical norm.
Elon Musk
Countdown: America is going back to the Moon and SpaceX holds the key to what comes after
NASA’s Artemis II launches Wednesday, sending humans near the Moon for the first time since 1972.
For the first time since Apollo 17 touched down on the lunar surface in December 1972, the United States is sending humans back toward the Moon. NASA’s Artemis II mission is set to launch as early as this week from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back to Earth. It will not land anyone on the surface this time, but it is the first crewed flight in over half a century to travel beyond low Earth orbit, and it sets the stage for Elon Musk’s SpaceX missions to follow.
The mission uses NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft, which will fly around the Moon before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean around April 10. For context, an uncrewed Artemis I flew the same path in 2022, proving the hardware worked. Artemis II now tests it with people aboard.
According to NASA’s official countdown blog, launch preparations are on track with an 80 percent chance of favorable weather. “Hey, let’s go to the moon!” Commander Wiseman told reporters upon arriving at Kennedy Space Center.
Source: NASA
Beyond Artemis II lies the lander question, and that is where SpaceX enters directly. In 2021, NASA awarded SpaceX a $2.89 billion contract to develop the Starship Human Landing System, a modified version of Starship designed to ferry astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface. The original plan called for SpaceX to deliver that lander for Artemis III, which was to be the first crewed lunar landing. Timing for Starship development, however, caused NASA to restructure the mission sequence entirely.
Before SpaceX’s Starship Human Landing System (HLS) can put anyone on the Moon, it has to solve a problem no rocket has demonstrated at scale, which is refueling in orbit. Because the Starship HLS requires approximately ten tanker launches worth of propellant loaded into a depot in low Earth orbit before it has enough fuel to reach the lunar surface, SpaceX plans to conduct this refueling process using its upgraded V3 Starship. And until that demonstration flies and succeeds, the Starship moon lander remains a question mark.
SpaceX’s Starship V3 is almost ready and it will change space travel forever
In February 2026, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman confirmed that Artemis III, now planned for mid-2027, and will instead test lunar landers in low Earth orbit, with the actual landing pushed to Artemis IV that’s targeted for 2028.
Musk responded to earlier criticism of SpaceX’s schedule by posting on X that his company is “moving like lightning compared to the rest of the space industry,” and added that “Starship will end up doing the whole Moon mission.” The contract competition was also reopened in October 2025 by then NASA chief Sean Duffy, who cited Starship’s delays and said the agency needed speed given China’s own stated goal of landing astronauts on the Moon by 2030.
They won’t. SpaceX is moving like lightning compared to the rest of the space industry.
Moreover, Starship will end up doing the whole Moon mission. Mark my words.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 20, 2025
Artemis came from the first Trump administration’s 2017 Space Policy Directive 1, which directed NASA to return humans to the Moon. The program picked up pace through the 2020s, with the Orion spacecraft and SLS taking years to develop at enormous costs. SpaceX entered the picture in 2021 as the chosen lander contractor, tying the commercial space sector into what had historically been an all government undertaking.
Whether SpaceX’s Starship ultimately carries astronauts to the lunar surface or shares that role with Blue Origin’s competing lander, this week’s Artemis II launch is the necessary first step. Getting four humans to the Moon’s vicinity and back safely is the proof of concept everything else depends on.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk debunks latest rumors about SpaceX IPO
Musk has swiftly put to rest circulating reports suggesting that SpaceX would exclude popular retail brokerages Robinhood and SoFi from its highly anticipated initial public offering. In a direct response posted on X on March 31, Musk stated simply, “These reports are false,” addressing widespread speculation fueled by a Reuters article.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk debunked the latest rumors about the space exploration company’s initial public offering (IPO), which has been the subject of a wide array of speculation over the last few weeks.
With SpaceX likely heading to Wall Street to become a publicly-traded stock in the coming months, there is a lot of speculation surrounding how it will happen, whether the company will potentially combine with Tesla, and more.
Tesla and SpaceX to merge in 2027, Wall Street analyst predicts
But the latest rumors have to do with where SpaceX will list the stock.
Musk has swiftly put to rest circulating reports suggesting that SpaceX would exclude popular retail brokerages Robinhood and SoFi from its highly anticipated initial public offering.
In a direct response posted on X on March 31, Musk stated simply, “These reports are false,” addressing widespread speculation fueled by a Reuters article.
These reports are false
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 31, 2026
The Reuters report, published March 30, claimed that Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade was in talks to lead the sale of SpaceX shares to small U.S. investors.
Sources indicated that Robinhood and SoFi, despite pitching for roles, faced potential exclusion from the retail allocation, with Fidelity also competing for a piece of the action. The story quickly spread across financial media, raising concerns among retail investors eager to participate in what could be one of the largest IPOs in history.
SpaceX has a reported valuation nearing $1.75 trillion, and Musk’s plan to allocate up to 30 percent of shares to individual investors — far above the typical 5-10% — had generated massive excitement.
Musk’s concise denial immediately calmed the narrative. The original X post quoting the rumor garnered significant engagement, with users expressing relief that everyday investors would not be sidelined.
This episode reflects Musk’s hands-on approach to SpaceX’s public debut.
Earlier reporting revealed plans for an unusually large retail slice to leverage Musk’s dedicated fan base and stabilize post-IPO trading. SpaceX aims to file potentially as early as this period, building on momentum from its Starship program and Starlink growth.
The IPO could mark a transformative moment, potentially elevating Musk’s status further while democratizing access to a company long reserved for accredited investors and institutions.
The rumor’s quick debunking also revives debates about retail access in high-profile listings. Robinhood gained popularity during the 2021 meme-stock surge but faced criticism for past trading restrictions.
SoFi has positioned itself as a modern financial platform for younger investors. Excluding them could have limited participation from tech-savvy retail traders who form a core part of Musk’s supporter base across Tesla and SpaceX.
While details remain fluid, Musk’s intervention reinforces commitment to broad accessibility. As preparations advance, investors await official filings. For now, the message is clear: rumors of restricted retail access were overstated, keeping the door open for widespread participation in SpaceX’s public chapter.
This development comes amid broader market enthusiasm for space and technology stocks. Musk’s transparency through X continues to shape public perception, distinguishing SpaceX’s path from traditional Wall Street norms. With retail allocation potentially reaching 30 percent, the IPO promises to be both commercially massive and culturally significant.
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