Wall Street Journal
• Tim Higgins
SpaceX has completed what the article describes as the biggest IPO ever, but the initial public-market milestone marks the start of a more difficult phase. This week’s volatility underscores the challenge for Elon Musk of sustaining investor confidence as the company moves beyond selling its growth story.
Commercial Space
Latest source-backed stories
SpaceX has completed what the article describes as the biggest IPO ever, but the initial public-market milestone marks the start of a more difficult phase. This week’s volatility underscores the challenge for Elon Musk of sustaining investor confidence as the company moves beyond selling its growth story.
High activity
SpaceX launched 24 Starlink internet satellites aboard a Falcon 9 from California’s central coast, continuing a surge of West Coast missions. The flight extends the company’s ongoing effort to expand its low-Earth-orbit constellation through frequent, repeatable launches.
High activity
Relativity Space has begun integrating engines with the first-stage thrust structure of its reusable Terran R launch vehicle, marking a further development milestone for the company’s next-generation rocket as it advances the vehicle toward flight readiness.
SpaceX plans to build factories on the Moon, with robots handling much of the heavy lifting, Elon Musk said during the company’s first-ever quarterly earnings call on Aug. 4. The comments outline a longer-term lunar industrialization concept, but provide no further detail on timing, scope or execution.
SpaceX’s Starship is likely to be lost at sea roughly two weeks after its 13th test flight, according to Elon Musk. Despite the expected loss, teams obtained close-up images of critical heat-shield and engine regions that could inform future vehicle upgrades.
The private LINK spacecraft, launched last month on a mission to save a NASA space telescope, has itself encountered trouble. Engineering teams report progress as they work to recover the spacecraft, adding a second layer of operational risk to an already complex in-space rescue effort.
Chinese commercial launch company Landspace is preparing for its second attempt to catch an orbital rocket, with liftoff and the recovery maneuver targeted for Aug. 10. The test will put both the company’s launch architecture and its recovery approach under scrutiny.
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