News
SpaceX rocket suffers rare landing failure after kicking off Starlink doubleheader
In a rare surprise for Starlink launches, a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster has failed to successfully land after kicking off the first of two Starlink missions planned in a 25-hour period.
Some nine minutes after liftoff, Falcon 9 booster B1059 suffered an unknown failure that cut short its sixth landing attempt a second or two after landing burn. With no sign of a sustained burn, the booster most likely impacted the ocean at supersonic or high-subsonic speeds, unfortunately ending a record streak of 24 consecutively successful Falcon landings.
Thankfully, Falcon 9 B1059 had already supported five orbital-class launches since its December 2019 debut and, as always, booster recovery is always a secondary objective for SpaceX launches. The primary objective, deploying another batch of 60 Starlink satellites, is on its way to completion as Falcon 9’s upper stage orbits the Earth in preparation for a second small burn and payload deployment around 65 minutes after liftoff.
Update: Falcon 9’s upper stage performed flawlessly, igniting for a brief one-second orbit-raising burn and ultimately deploying a batch of 60 Starlink satellites without issue.
Known as Starlink V1 L19 or Starlink-19, the February 15th mission will be SpaceX’s 19th Starlink launch since operational ‘v1.0’ satellites first began flying in November 2019 and the 20th Starlink launch overall. Earlier this month, SpaceX’s Starlink-18 launch pushed the vast satellite broadband constellation past the 1000-satellite mark, making it the first constellation in history to grow to four digits strong.
Starlink-19 continues that growth just days after SpaceX quietly opened Starlink internet signups to almost anyone on Earth. According to SpaceX, the company expects the growing Starlink constellation to offer connectivity almost anywhere on Earth by the end of 2021.
Starlink-19’s landing failure serves as a bittersweet reminder that SpaceX’s ambitions of a broadband constellation several thousand (to several tens of thousands of) satellites strong is almost intrinsically contingent upon routine, reliable booster reusability. If SpaceX lost boosters on even a small fraction of the one or several hundred Falcon 9 launches needed to launch that constellation, the cost of getting Starlink into orbit would likely balloon by a factor of 5-10, if not more.
Ultimately, SpaceX will almost certainly determine the root cause of Falcon 9 B1059’s landing failure and use any lessons learned – however painfully acquired – to benefit all future Falcon launches and landings. There is a limited chance that this could impact SpaceX’s upcoming Crew Dragon Crew-2 mission in April, which is scheduled to be the first crewed launch ever to use a privately-developed flight-proven booster, but any knowledge gained will ultimately make Falcon 9 a safer rocket in ways that no other existing launch provider can match.
Barring delays caused by B1059’s landing failure, Starlink-17 – delayed roughly ten times by weather and technical bugs over the last month – is scheduled to launch no earlier than 12:55 am EST (5:55 UTC) on Wednesday, February 17th, a few minutes less than 26 hours after Starlink-19. Stay tuned for SpaceX’s official webcast!
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
