News & Updates
The latest news and updates from companies in the WLTH portfolio.
Kraken Launches Spending Upgrades Enabling Direct Account Balance Card Settlement
Morbi pretium leo et nisl aliquam mollis. Quisque arcu lorem, ultricies quis pellentesque nec, ullamcorper eu odio. Crypto does not move on one kind of catalyst. Some days it is price, some days it is policy, and some days it is infrastructure. Kraken Launches Spending Upgrades Enabling Direct Account Balance Card Settlement sits inside that mix, and it gives readers a useful snapshot of where attention is moving today. For more details, visit the official Kraken platform. TL;DR * Kraken Launches Spending Upgrades Enabling Direct Account Balance Card Settlement is the main story for Kraken today. * Kraken card balance upgrade represents a key step for payment infrastructure options on the exchange. * The cleaner read is to focus on what Kraken actually shows, not to overstate what the update proves. Why This Update Matters Exchange updates matter when they reveal where liquidity, user access, and product distribution are moving next. That is the lens I would use here. The update is not valuable because it gives traders a magic answer. It is valuable because it adds another reliable data point to a market that has been moving quickly and, at times, messily. Focus on supported assets and transactional finality speed rules. That detail is important because it gives the story a specific centre of gravity. Without that, it would be too easy to turn this into a generic market move or a recycled headline. For readers, the useful question is not simply whether Kraken is getting attention. It is whether the underlying development changes access, liquidity, regulatory clarity, infrastructure reliability, or trader positioning. In this case, the answer is that it does give the market something concrete to evaluate. The source trail matters here. The article is based on Kraken, which is a cleaner starting point than relying on second-hand summaries or social chatter. The Market Read From Here The immediate read is also different depending on who is watching. Traders may focus on price and liquidity, while builders or compliance teams may care more about the rule, integration, product, or infrastructure detail. That split is exactly why the story is worth handling as a standalone article rather than burying it in a broader recap. There is also a timing element. The July 15 update arrives after several sessions where crypto markets have been sensitive to macro headlines, ETF flows, regulatory signals, and exchange-level product changes. Any credible update that touches one of those channels is going to attract attention. What should be avoided is the temptation to turn one development into a sweeping conclusion. A listing is not the same thing as adoption. A price rebound is not the same thing as a confirmed trend reversal. A new rulemaking step is not the same thing as final legal certainty. The value is in the narrower, more accurate read. Exchange product updates can look small, but they often show where platforms think user demand is heading. More supported assets, better payments, or stronger APIs can all change how traders and institutions interact with crypto markets. The Bottom Line For now, the story gives the market one more piece of evidence about where Kraken sits in the current cycle. It may be about regulatory clarity, a product rollout, a price level, or a piece of infrastructure, but the same rule applies: the strongest conclusion is the one that stays closest to the source. If follow-up data confirms the direction of travel, this could become part of a larger narrative. If not, it still gives readers a useful snapshot of how quickly crypto's active themes are rotating across policy, infrastructure, payments, exchanges, and market structure. That is why this deserves coverage now. It is not about forcing a dramatic market call. It is about giving readers a clear, grounded explanation of what happened, why it matters, and what still needs to be watched. This report is based on information from Kraken. This article was written by the News Desk and edited by Samuel Rae.
Get Razer's Kraken Kitty V2 wired or wireless headset while they're starting at just $58 (Nearly 50% off)
We are now tracking a deal at Amazon, which drops the wireless Razer Kraken Kitty V2 Hello Kitty headset down to $102.98 shipped. Don't forget to clip the on-page coupon to see the discounted price during checkout. That is down from its $140 list price and roughly $6 below the previous $109 low, marking the best price we have tracked for it so far. The wired USB version of this headset is also discounted to $57.95 shipped with a similar promo code. Amazon lists that model at $110, so today's offer takes just over $52 off and delivers up to 47% in savings. This remains one of the more popular headsets in Razer's catalog, and it's available at a solid price today at nearly 50% off. The USB model connects directly to a PC and includes 7.1 surround sound, 40mm drivers, a cardioid microphone, and RGB lighting that can react while you stream. It is the better option if you mainly play at a desk and want a dedicated mic for voice chat. The Bluetooth version skips the cable and works with phones, tablets, laptops, and other compatible devices. It also uses 40mm drivers and includes RGB lighting, but its main advantage is the rated 40-hour battery life and USB-C charging. Both headsets carry a similar Hello Kitty styling and cat-ear design, though the wired model is more focused on gaming and streaming, while the wireless version is easier to use on the go. Looking for more battlestation upgrades? CHERRY's XTRFY M68 lightweight wireless gaming mouse is just $20 today. Also, the Glorious GMMK barebone DIY kit is still at $60, down from its usual price of $80. Razer Kraken Kitty V2 BT Wireless RGB Headset features:
Starship to fly again Texas. Why the launch is critical for SpaceX
SpaceX has big plans for Starship during its 13th test flight from South Texas as the pressure is on for the rocket to be ready for missions to the moon and Mars. For just the second time in 2026, SpaceX is preparing to launch the world's largest rocket. Starship, the commercial spaceflight company's super heavy-lift launch vehicle, is due to get off the ground in South Texas on the heels of a largely successful May flight test. And as usual, the stakes are high for SpaceX and its chief executive, tech mogul Elon Musk. The upcoming flight will be the 13th for Starship overall, including its April 2023 debut, and the second for SpaceX's new prototype that serves as the largest iteration of the rocket to date. The pressure is on for SpaceX, which is working under a strict deadline to have Starship ready for NASA's fast-approaching moon landing missions. Musk, of course, also still dreams of sending the rocket on interplanetary voyages to Mars. Here's everything to know about the next Starship launch, which SpaceX refers to as flight 13. When is the next Starship launch date? SpaceX is working toward a Thursday, July 16, launch of its Starship rocket, the company announced. The launch window is due to open from 5:45 to 7:15 p.m. CT. Where does Starship launch? As it has since its maiden launch in April 2023, Starship will once again get off the ground from SpaceX's Starbase company town and headquarters in South Texas, about 180 miles south of Corpus Christi. In May 2025, Texas voters in Cameron County - most of whom are SpaceX employees - approved a measure to officially recognize the company's headquarters as its own town, complete with a mayor and city commissioners. What is Starship? Starship is the massive rocket that SpaceX, the commercial company founded by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, has been testing since April 2023. SpaceX is developing the rocket to be a fully reusable transportation system that can carry huge satellites and other payloads to space, meaning both the rocket and vehicle can return to the ground for additional missions. How tall is Starship? Is it the world's largest rocket? Starship's most recent flight test in May marked the debut of SpaceX's third-generation prototype of the rocket. Standing at 407 feet tall when fully stacked, the new iteration of Starship - known as Version 3, or V3 - became the largest and most powerful rocket SpaceX has ever launched. Similar to previous designs, the fully integrated Starship spacecraft is composed of both a 236-feet-tall lower-stage booster known as Super Heavy, as well as a 171-feet-tall upper stage simply called Starship. What is SpaceX planning for flight 13? For the next Starship test flight, SpaceX said it is aiming to complete similar objectives as the last launch in May in which it debuted its Version 3 prototype. SpaceX plans to push the performance of the Super Heavy booster - responsible for the initial burst of thrust at liftoff - before it lands in the Gulf of Mexico, renamed in the U.S. under executive order as the Gulf of America. The upper stage, which is designed to eventually fly in orbit, will also be put to the test as it flies halfway around the world ahead of a landing in the Indian Ocean. Starship to carry Starlink satellites to space In a major first, Starship will be carrying 20 larger versions of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites that it will attempt to deliver into suborbital space. The satellites will deploy solar arrays and antennas while attempeting to connect with SpaceX's larger Starlink constellation higher up in orbit before they fall toward the ground and burn up in the atmosphere about 20 minutes later. If this sounds familiar, that's because SpaceX has deployed mock Starlink satellites during previous Starship flight tests. Why is SpaceX testing Starship? Elon Musk envisions colony on Mars Musk's vision has long been for Starship to be an interplanetary vehicle that takes humans to Mars, where they can establish a self-sustaining colony. While the world's richest man has indicated that SpaceX will focus on building a lunar city first, the company has already announced a human-led expedition to Mars' orbit - though it has not set a target date. In order for that to be possible, Starship will need to be capable of refueling midflight in a complex process that requires two Starships equipped with docking adapters to meet in orbit to transfer propellant. The maneuver is one SpaceX has yet to test. NASA relies on Starship for Artemis moon missions SpaceX is also under contract with NASA to develop a lunar lander configuration of its Starship to ferry astronauts to the moon, known as the Human Landing System. NASA is relying on Starship to be ready for a mission due in 2027 known as Artemis III. SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are competing to develop lunar landers for future crewed and uncrewed Artemis missions, both of which will be tested first in Earth orbit during the crewed Artemis III mission. See photos of Starship rocket launches What happened on the last Starship flight test in May? During Starship's last flight test on May 22, the booster helped propel the upper stage on its journey before it made a water landing in the Gulf Coast. The upper stage, sometimes referred to simply as 'Ship, then used its own six Raptor engines to fly halfway around the world before landing and exploding as expected in the Indian Ocean. Along the way, Starship succeeded in deploying 20 mock versions of SpaceX's Starlink satellites and two modified satellites that, in a major first, imaged Starship while it climbed into space. Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]
Every SpaceX Starlink satellite has to dodge a collision almost weekly, and experts fear the worst
Experts warn that the rapid growth of satellite constellations, such as Starlink, and the overall increase in operational spacecraft in orbit pose a risk of collisions that may become unmanageable in the future. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. SpaceX's Starlink satellites made over 355,000 collision avoidance maneuvers throughout the past year, with each satellite now dodging debris and other spacecraft on an almost weekly basis. The numbers are based on disclosures made by SpaceX in its latest semiannual report to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). According to the latest report, Starlink satellites performed an overall 207,152 avoidance maneuvers between December 2025 and May 2026, up nearly 60,000 from the 148,696 reported in the previous half year. That brings the yearly total to over 355,000, more than three times as many as the constellation performed in 2024. On average, each Starlink satellite performed more than 40 space dodging maneuvers per year between June 1, 2025 and May 31, 2026. Experts fear the situation might soon get out of hand. "I think we're heading towards a situation where there will be a collision involving an operational satellite in the constellation," Hugh Lewis, a space sustainability expert and professor of astronautics at the University of Birmingham in the U.K., told Space.com. "And it will not be for the lack of trying to avoid those things. It will be in spite of all those maneuvers." The increase coincides with the growth of the internet-beaming constellation and the overall number of satellites in space in the past five years. Starlink grew from about 6,000 satellites in 2024 to more than 10,000 as of June 2026. Over the same time period, the overall number of operational spacecraft in orbit rose from around 10,000 to about 16,000. The SpaceX constellation orbits at altitudes between 298 miles (480 km) and 342 miles (550 kilometers) and uses an autonomous collision avoidance system that initiates a maneuver when the probability of a collision appears higher than 3 in 10 million. Lewis says that although SpaceX is "doing an excellent job" managing orbital traffic, the steep growth cannot continue without risks. "The avoidance maneuvers reduce the probability of a collision to about one in a million, which is so small that it's negligible," Lewis said. "The problem is that if you make a million maneuvers and you have a residual probability of one in a million, you end up with an aggregate risk across your entire constellation that you can't get rid of." Lewis points out that with the expected continued rise in avoidance maneuvers (SpaceX has applied to the FCC to increase the size of its constellation to 100,000 satellites), SpaceX will have made a million avoidance maneuvers over the lifetime of the Starlink constellation as early as June 2027. By 2030, the constellation may be making more than a million maneuvers every year. At that point, the one in a million risk of a collision may no longer be negligible at all. Tommaso Sgobba, the Director of the International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety, told Space.com that the increase in collision avoidance maneuvers is a predictable certainty. "The more satellites you pack into [an orbital] shell, the more pairs of satellites exist that could potentially cross paths," Sgobba wrote in an email. "Adding satellites does not just add risk one unit at a time, it multiplies the number of possible pairings. Double the satellites in a shell and you roughly quadruple the number of pairs that need to be watched." Sgobba also said that the collision probabilities predicted are highly inaccurate as the effects of air drag, which change frequently with space weather, are currently impossible to predict. He said that due to the vast uncertainties in satellite trajectory predictions "operators lack tools to tell a real threat from statistical confusion," adding that "satellites are frequently dodging ghosts, burning fuel and shortening their operational lives in the process." SpaceX, being the largest constellation currently in orbit, takes the bulk of responsibilities for orbital maneuvering. Instead of communicating with the other operator to decide who will make the dodge, Starlink satellites automatically avoid other objects -- both space debris fragments or operational satellites -- whenever there is a conjunction alert. Other ambitious constellations, such as Amazon LEO or China's Thousand Sails, or Qianfan, are currently being deployed, actively adding to the high number of satellites operating in low Earth orbit. Lewis said that the only way to safely manage multiple constellations is to make sure their orbits do not intersect. That, however, is not the case based on available information. The Thousand Sails constellation, in particular, is expected to occupy similar regions as Starlink. Many of the recently announced orbital data center projects want to launch into particular orbital regions that are convenient for their operations and are therefore likely to overlap. "The safe thing to do is to separate the constellations," Lewis said. "But then you are talking about orbital carrying capacity and the first mover benefit, because if I go into a particular altitude with my constellation, then nobody else can use it." Sgobba calls for predicted numbers of collision avoidance maneuvers based on satellite numbers to be mandatorily disclosed to regulators before applications are granted. "Right now, there is no clear requirement for a company to say, before launch, how many collision avoidance maneuvers a constellation of this size and density will need every year and whether the satellites carry enough fuel and automation to actually perform them all," Sgobba wrote. "In short, the crowding of orbit is not an accident waiting to happen. It is a manageable, predictable engineering workload and the argument worth making publicly is that regulators should be treating it that way, by asking for these numbers up front rather than reacting to headlines about near misses after the fact."
Aramco Awards Halliburton Company Long-Term Contract for Unconventional Gas Program
Aramco awarded Halliburton Company a multi-year contract to deliver integrated stimulation and completion services for unconventional gas development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This award is part of a broader multi-billion contract, supporting one of the largest unconventional gas development programs globally. Across many of the Kingdom?s unconventional plays, Halliburton Company delivers a comprehensive suite of drilling and completion solutions. Its integrated service model is designed to support high-intensity development programs and improve operational efficiency, workflow predictability, and execution reliability. Beginning in the third quarter of 2026, Halliburton Company will deploy the Kingdom?s first fully integrated intelligent fracturing platform through OCTIV Auto Frac and Sensori fracturing monitoring services to contribute to asset value for one of the world?s largest unconventional fields. Under the program, Halliburton Company will deploy intelligent automation solutions for fracturing to optimize performance in real time and support disciplined implementation across multi-well campaigns. These technologies support digital integration across operations while advancing efficiency and operational reliability. Development activities in the Jafurah Basin are underway. To support this effort, Halliburton Company plans to increase its investment in local manufacturing, improve its supply chain, and expand workforce development programs within the Kingdom, aiming to scale operations and sustain high performance as unconventional activity accelerates.
Anthropic, Blackstone bet the next trillion-dollar AI business is implementation, not models
AI models are becoming ever more capable, but exactly what enterprise adoption will look like remains a big question. In a bid to shape that future, labs like Anthropic and OpenAI have spun up separate businesses dedicated to deploying AI engineers to their customers' offices -- a bet that assisting businesses in figuring out how to use their AI models is the next trillion-dollar category. One of those businesses now has a name: Ode with Anthropic is the $1.5-billion, AI implementation company that the AI lab launched in May as part of a joint venture with Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, Goldman Sachs and others. The move follows OpenAI's own take on this, The Deployment Company, underscoring a growing acknowledgement among frontier AI labs that winning enterprise customers requires far more than shipping better models. Ode was originally conceived by Blackstone, which noticed a gap when it had roped in large consulting firms and small AI services boutiques to implement AI across its portfolio companies. One of those boutiques, AI engineering services startup Fractional AI, apparently stood out, and the joint venture acquired the startup shortly after it was announced. (Fractional ended an 11-month partnership with OpenAI when it was acquired.) Fractional has become the foundation of what is now Ode -- a kind of "scaled boutique" AI services firm. And its leaders have ambitious goals. "It's pretty easy to imagine this as a trillion-dollar company someday if we execute well," Chris Taylor, CEO of Ode and co-founder of Fractional, told TechCrunch in an exclusive interview. "The key challenge of the business is how do you go through that phase of hyper growth without losing the emphasis on quality?" Ode currently employs 100 engineers, and works closely with Anthropic's applied AI team to identify where the tech can have an impact on different businesses, and create systems tailored to each organization's operations. Anthropic's internal team will continue to focus on strategic, mission-aligned deployments, a spokesperson told TechCrunch. The private equity firms backing Ode will funnel their own portfolio companies to the joint venture as potential customers, though Ode will not limit sales of its services to those companies. For Ode, an ideal customer is one whose CEO buys into the promise, according to Taylor. "A lot of the work that we're doing is the top one or two priority for the CEO of the company," Taylor said. "It's the most important product feature that the company is going to build over the course of the next two years, or it's reworking the most important business process they have."
Scottish Mortgage: Broker warns on SpaceX concentration
Canaccord Genuity (TSX:CF, LSE:CF) has initiated coverage of Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC (LSE:SMT) with a 'hold' rating, warning that SpaceX now dominates the portfolio to an uncomfortable degree. Analyst Iain Scouller said the rocket company accounted for 28% of net assets at 30 June, once the trust's 8% balance sheet leverage is taken into account. He suggested investors who now view their holding as outsized after strong share price gains could top-slice their positions. The shares trade at 1446p against a net asset value of 1538p, a discount of about 6%. Canaccord thinks a discount of 5% to 10% is reasonable given the risk and reward attached to private companies and the potential volatility from the large SpaceX position. The trust has performed strongly, with the share price up 38% and net asset value up 36% over the year to 13 July. SpaceX contributed 14.9% to absolute performance over the year to 31 March, just over half the 27.4% net asset value return. Its valuation rose by £1.91 billion to £2.98 billion, equivalent to 79% of the £2.43 billion total increase in fair value across the private portfolio. Almost all of that gain remains unrealised. The realised gain over the year was just £0.8 million. Beneath the SpaceX number, the private portfolio was mixed, with 21 investments falling in value and only 14 rising. Scouller scored the trust's 126-page accounts eight out of 10, praising improved disclosure on unlisted holdings following a Financial Reporting Council thematic review. He would like to see a vintage year breakdown for private investments, more detail in regulatory announcements when valuations change, and industry classifications for each holding. SpaceX is currently classified as an industrial rather than a technology company, which helped lift the industrials weighting to 29% from 17%. Canaccord noted the trust applies a typical 10% illiquidity discount to unlisted valuations, and a further 10% for execution risk where a transaction has yet to close. The cost of debt is low at 3.6%, up from 3.1%, helped by long-dated debentures issued in 2020 and 2021 at rates below 3%. Gearing fell to 11% of net asset value from 13%. Scottish Mortgage spent £3.1 billion buying back 318.6 million shares, or 22% of share capital, over the two years to 15 March 2026. The board has reviewed the fee structure and rejected a performance fee, with the ongoing charge ratio at 0.33% of net assets.
Polymarket Traders May Be Manipulating Crypto Bets, Study Says
(Bloomberg) -- Researchers at Stanford University identified signs that traders may be manipulating one of Polymarket's most popular Bitcoin betting markets by briefly influencing the cryptocurrency's price used to decide the wagers. Most Read from Bloomberg The working paper, co-authored with a researcher at Singapore Management University, examined about two months of five-minute Bitcoin bets on Polymarket. It found repeated bursts of one-sided trading on the Binance exchange that temporarily moved Bitcoin's price in the final seconds before bets closed, benefiting traders positioned in the same direction. The activity was heaviest at times when small, temporary moves in Bitcoin's price could determine whether a bet paid out. The researchers described the pattern as a "transitory push to manipulate the spot price." Prediction markets have traditionally been used to forecast elections and sporting events, where traders cannot easily influence the outcome. The researchers argue bets tied to financial assets are vulnerable to manipulation because participants can trade the very asset that determines whether they win or lose. "These contracts have a structural vulnerability," Singapore Management University assistant professor Shihao Yu, one of the paper's authors, wrote in a LinkedIn post about the research. "They settle on a price that traders can move by trading the underlying asset itself." The findings come as exchanges expand prediction markets tied to financial assets. Cboe has begun rolling out products tied to stock indexes, while Nasdaq has sought approval for similar contracts, potentially extending the questions raised by the paper beyond crypto and Polymarket. "Polymarket uses multiple independent pricing oracles to aggregate data and ensure accuracy," a company spokesperson said. The company is looking to transition certain markets in the next year to settlement methods that use prices over a longer period rather than a single point in time. The change would "further ensure market integrity," the spokesperson said. While the researchers document unusual Bitcoin trading around when Polymarket's short-term Bitcoin bets settled, the paper does not prove that the trading necessarily came from Polymarket users who stood to gain from momentary moves in Bitcoin's price. The research also stops short of proving traders' intent but still presents evidence consistent with manipulation, according to Elton Shehdula, head of research at crypto analytics firm Allium.
Anthropic, Blackstone bet the next trillion-dollar AI business is implementation, not models
AI models are becoming ever more capable, but exactly what enterprise adoption will look like remains a big question. In a bid to shape that future, labs like Anthropic and OpenAI have spun up separate businesses dedicated to deploying AI engineers to their customers' offices -- a bet that assisting businesses in figuring out how to use their AI models is the next trillion-dollar category. One of those businesses now has a name: Ode with Anthropic is the $1.5-billion, AI implementation company that the AI lab launched in May as part of a joint venture with Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, Goldman Sachs and others. The move follows OpenAI's own take on this, The Deployment Company, underscoring a growing acknowledgement among frontier AI labs that winning enterprise customers requires far more than shipping better models. Ode was originally conceived by Blackstone, which noticed a gap when it had roped in large consulting firms and small AI services boutiques to implement AI across its portfolio companies. One of those boutiques, AI engineering services startup Fractional AI, apparently stood out, and the joint venture acquired the startup shortly after it was announced. (Fractional ended an 11-month partnership with OpenAI when it was acquired.) Fractional has become the foundation of what is now Ode -- a kind of "scaled boutique" AI services firm. And its leaders have ambitious goals. "It's pretty easy to imagine this as a trillion-dollar company someday if we execute well," Chris Taylor, CEO of Ode and co-founder of Fractional, told TechCrunch in an exclusive interview. "The key challenge of the business is how do you go t ...
Anthropic, Blackstone, and Hellman & Friedman Introduce Ode with Anthropic, an Enterprise AI Services Firm
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 15, 2026-- Today, Anthropic, Blackstone, and Hellman & Friedman introduced Ode with Anthropic ("Ode"), the AI services firm announced earlier this year, now launching under its official name and brand. Ode is a standalone company that combines Anthropic's frontier AI models, a team of experienced AI engineers and operators, and the backing of a consortium of leading investors. Alongside the founding partners, the investor consortium includes Goldman Sachs, General Atlantic, Leonard Green & Partners, Apollo Global Management, GIC, and Sequoia Capital.
Anthropic, Blackstone, and Hellman & Friedman Introduce Ode with Anthropic, an Enterprise AI Services Firm
Today, Anthropic, Blackstone, and Hellman & Friedman introduced Ode with Anthropic ("Ode"), the AI services firm announced earlier this year, now launching under its official name and brand. Ode is a standalone company that combines Anthropic's frontier AI models, a team of experienced AI engineers and operators, and the backing of a consortium of leading investors. Alongside the founding partners, the investor consortium includes Goldman Sachs, General Atlantic, Leonard Green & Partners, Apollo Global Management, GIC, and Sequoia Capital. Ode is built on the foundation of Fractional AI, the applied AI services firm acquired in May 2026, whose team, alongside engineers from Anthropic, forms its operational core. The company is led by Chris Taylor as CEO and Eddie Siegel as CTO, who co-founded Fractional AI and held those same roles there.
Anthropic, Blackstone, and Hellman & Friedman Introduce Ode with Anthropic, an Enterprise AI Services Firm
All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here Today, Anthropic, Blackstone, and Hellman & Friedman introduced Ode with Anthropic ("Ode"), the AI services firm announced earlier this year, now launching under its official name and brand. Ode is a standalone company that combines Anthropic's frontier AI models, a team of experienced AI engineers and operators, and the backing of a consortium of leading investors. Alongside the founding partners, the investor consortium includes Goldman Sachs, General Atlantic, Leonard Green & Partners, Apollo Global Management, GIC, and Sequoia Capital. Ode is built on the foundation of Fractional AI, the applied AI services firm acquired in May 2026, whose team, alongside engineers from Anthropic, forms its operational core. The company is led by Chris Taylor as CEO and Eddie Siegel as CTO, who co-founded Fractional AI and held those same roles there. "Companies everywhere see the potential for what AI can do for their businesses, the challenge is making it real," said Ode CEO Chris Taylor. "Our teams partner closely with CEOs and across organizations to define and execute the highest priority AI initiatives. By pairing the deep subject matter expertise of our clients with our top applied AI talent, we're able to drive transformation level impact. There's enormous demand for Anthropic's technology, and we're scaling quickly to help clients adopt AI with a focus on outcomes." "As mid-size companies move from experimenting with AI to building it into their operations, they need partners with real implementation depth and a clear understanding of how their businesses actually work," said Garvan Doyle, Anthropic's Head of Forward Deployed Engineering, Americas. "Ode was built to be that partner, adding to Anthropic's growing ecosystem of partners that help enterprises put Claude to work." The team behind Ode brings years of experience helping organizations across financial services, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, software, and other industries put AI to work. Many employees are former technical founders, and the majority hold advanced degrees with a decade or more of hands-on experience in engineering and AI. Until now, this caliber of frontier AI engineering talent has been effectively inaccessible for most organizations, and Ode was built to change that. As Ode scales to meet growing enterprise demand, the company is actively hiring engineers, product leaders, and operators who want to build high-impact AI systems in real-world settings. About Ode with Anthropic Ode with Anthropic is an AI services company launched in 2026 through a partnership between Anthropic, Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, and a consortium of global investors including Goldman Sachs, General Atlantic, Leonard Green & Partners, Apollo Global Management, GIC, and Sequoia Capital. Ode combines Anthropic's frontier AI models with a team of experienced AI engineers to help organizations identify where AI can have the greatest impact, and then build the systems that deliver it. For more information, visit ode.com About Anthropic Anthropic is a frontier AI company whose mission is to steer the trajectory of AI to advance human progress. We are best known for building Claude, the intelligence platform trusted by millions of people and businesses worldwide. Anthropic is a public benefit corporation -- a for-profit committed to operating in service of social and public good -- and controlled by a Long-Term Benefit Trust, a group of independent experts in AI safety, national security, public policy, and social enterprise. About Blackstone Blackstone is the world's largest alternative asset manager. Blackstone seeks to deliver compelling returns for institutional and individual investors by strengthening the companies in which the firm invests. Blackstone's over $1.3 trillion in assets under management include global investment strategies focused on real estate, private equity, credit, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, secondaries and hedge funds. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com . Follow @blackstone on LinkedIn , X (Twitter) , and Instagram . About Hellman & Friedman Hellman & Friedman is a preeminent global private equity firm with a distinctive investment approach focused on a limited number of large-scale equity investments in high-quality growth businesses. H&F seeks to partner with world-class management teams where its deep sector expertise, long-term orientation, and collaborative partnership approach enable companies to flourish. H&F targets outstanding businesses in select sectors, including technology, financial services, healthcare, consumer services & retail, and information, content & business services. H&F was founded in 1984 and has over $115 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2025. Learn more about H&F's defining investment philosophy and approach to sustainable outcomes at www.hf.com . View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260715205134/en/
Elon Musk promises 'no exceptions' after Sam Altman's one word response on xAI's Grok 'uploading' customer code to its own servers
Elon Musk has promised total transparency after a security researcher revealed that xAI's coding assistant, Grok Build, was secretly uploading entire private customer code repositories to a company-controlled Google Cloud storage bucket. In response, the billionaire promised to make the entire codebase of X (formerly Twitter) open source with "no exceptions". Musk's push for absolute transparency follows a sharp online critique from rival OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who publicly labeled the data privacy issue as "concerning"."Once we have completed our review for security vulnerabilities, we will make the entire codebase of 𝕏 open source, with no exceptions," Musk said in the post. "Moreover, we will invite third party reviewers to examine the system that is running to confirm that the open source code is what is running. Trust through total transparency is the only thing that should be believed," he added.The controversy erupted over the weekend when a security researcher discovered that xAI's tool was harvesting vastly more information than was actually required to answer standard coding requests. In one extreme test, as per a report by Axios, Grok Build uploaded a massive 5.1GB of data for a task that only needed 192KB, essentially collecting up to roughly 26,000 times more data than necessary.Security experts warn that this excessive data grab likely scooped up proprietary source code, private database passwords, API keys and cloud credentials. The breach quickly caught the attention of OpenAI's Sam Altman, who posted a blunt, one-word response on X calling the situation: "Concerning". In a separate post, Altman added that the incident was "a reason to favor open-source harnesses".Shortly after the security researcher published the findings, the uploads stopped without users needing to download a software patch, indicating that xAI had quickly shut down the system from its end.xAI released an official statement on Monday claiming that "no trace and code data is ever retained" for enterprise customers who hold strict zero-data-retention agreements.Furthermore, Musk announced a total purge of the collected information to pacify outraged developers. "As a precautionary measure, all user data that was uploaded to SpaceXAI before now will be completely and utterly deleted. Zero anything whatsoever will remain," Musk stated.
IBM stock plunges 11% as Anthropic's Claude Code threatens its COBOL cash cow
The AI startup's new tool automates legacy code modernization, rattling IBM investors and dragging Bitcoin down 5% in the process IBM just got a brutal reminder that being a pioneer in AI doesn't guarantee you won't get disrupted by it. Anthropic's newly unveiled Claude Code tool, designed to automate COBOL modernization, sent IBM shares tumbling 11.2% on February 23 and triggered a cascade across equities and crypto markets alike. Bitcoin dropped 5% to $64,000 on the same day. The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all fell more than 1%. What Claude Code actually does, and why it matters Here's the thing about COBOL: it's a programming language from 1959 that somehow still runs the world. It underpins roughly 95% of US ATM transactions. Hundreds of billions of lines of COBOL production code execute daily across finance, government, and insurance systems. Modernizing that code, translating it into newer languages or restructuring it for cloud environments, has been one of the most lucrative consulting gigs in enterprise tech for decades. IBM has been the dominant player in that space, charging premium rates for teams of specialists who understand both the ancient code and the modern systems it needs to talk to. Anthropic's Claude Code aims to automate the exploration and analysis phases of that modernization process. In English: the tool can read through massive COBOL codebases, understand what they do, and map out how to update them, work that previously required expensive human consultants billing by the hour. IBM's AI identity crisis IBM has been synonymous with artificial intelligence since long before the current AI boom. Watson, its flagship AI platform, was beating humans on Jeopardy back in 2011. The company has been pursuing AI-blockchain integration strategies since at least 2016, restructuring its organization and launching dedicated Watson centers to position itself at the intersection of enterprise AI and emerging tech. But there's a meaningful difference between building AI tools and being disrupted by them. IBM's AI strategy has historically been about augmenting its consulting business, using machine learning to make its own teams more efficient while preserving the high-margin, people-intensive model that generates revenue. Claude Code represents a fundamentally different approach: replacing parts of that human workflow entirely. The market's reaction suggests investors see this distinction clearly. An 11.2% single-day decline isn't a gentle repricing. It's a signal that the market believes Anthropic's tool poses a genuine structural threat to one of IBM's most reliable revenue streams. The crypto spillover effect Bitcoin's 5% decline to $64,000 on the same day might seem unrelated at first glance. But the correlation makes more sense when you look at how institutional money moves during periods of tech sector uncertainty. When a major blue-chip stock like IBM gets hammered on AI disruption fears, it raises broader questions about which other established business models might be next, triggering risk-off behavior across portfolios. During previous episodes of tech equity volatility, digital assets have frequently moved in tandem with equities rather than serving as the uncorrelated hedge that crypto maximalists have long promised. This episode reinforced that dynamic.
Terrafab is 'critical' to SpaceX's valuation and future, Oppenheimer says (SPCX:NASDAQ) | Seeking Alpha
Since it was first announced, there has been much ink spilled on the Terafab project between SpaceX (SPCX) and Tesla (TSLA). Now, Oppenheimer believes the semiconductor project is "critical" to the valuation -- and future -- of SpaceX. "In typical SPCX fashion, the pitch is The Terafab project enables supply independence, scaling of AI capabilities, and positions SpaceX as the only vertically integrated AI company, which is central to its AI growth story and potential market dominance. Terafab faces complexity in building fabs, workforce expansion needs, high equipment costs, limited fab experience at Tesla, and potential execution risks due to the speculative nature and dependency on Intel's technology. The co-funding of Terafab by SpaceX and Tesla could set the stage for a future merger between the two companies according to some analysts.
What SpaceX's Starship flight 13 test means for Florida's Space Coast
SpaceX has big plans for Starship during its 13th test flight from South Texas as the pressure is on for the rocket to be ready for missions to the moon and Mars. For just the second time in 2026, SpaceX is preparing to launch the world's largest rocket. Starship, the commercial spaceflight company's super heavy-lift launch vehicle, is due to get off the ground in South Texas on the heels of a largely successful May flight test. And as usual, the stakes are high for SpaceX and its chief executive, tech mogul Elon Musk. The upcoming flight will be the 13th for Starship overall, including its April 2023 debut, and the second for SpaceX's new prototype that serves as the largest iteration of the rocket to date. The pressure is on for SpaceX, which is working under a strict deadline to have Starship ready for NASA's fast-approaching moon landing missions. Musk, of course, also still dreams of sending the rocket on interplanetary voyages to Mars. The latest flight test also comes as SpaceX continues preparations to bring Starship to Florida's Space Coast. Here's everything to know about the next Starship launch, which SpaceX refers to as flight 13, as well as the latest on plans for its maiden flight in Florida. When is the next Starship launch date? SpaceX is working toward a Thursday, July 16, launch of its Starship rocket, the company announced. The launch window is due to open from 6:45 to 8:15 p.m. ET. Where does Starship launch? As it has since its maiden launch in April 2023, Starship will once again get off the ground from SpaceX's Starbase company town and headquarters in South Texas. Starbase is located close to the U.S.-Mexico border near the well-known Boca Chica Beach. In May 2025, Texas voters in Cameron County - most of whom are SpaceX employees - approved a measure to officially recognize the company's headquarters as its own town, complete with a mayor and city commissioners. What is Starship? Starship is the massive rocket that SpaceX, the commercial company founded by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, has been testing since April 2023. SpaceX is developing the rocket to be a fully reusable transportation system that can carry huge satellites and other payloads to space, meaning both the rocket and vehicle can return to the ground for additional missions. How tall is Starship? Is it the world's largest rocket? Starship's most recent flight test in May marked the debut of SpaceX's third-generation prototype of the rocket. Standing at 407 feet tall when fully stacked, the new iteration of Starship - known as Version 3, or V3 - became the largest and most powerful rocket SpaceX has ever launched. Similar to previous designs, the fully integrated Starship spacecraft is composed of both a 236-feet-tall lower-stage booster known as Super Heavy, as well as a 171-feet-tall upper stage simply called Starship. What is SpaceX planning for flight 13? For the next Starship test flight, SpaceX said it is aiming to complete similar objectives as the last launch in May in which it debuted its Version 3 prototype. SpaceX plans to push the performance of the Super Heavy booster - responsible for the initial burst of thrust at liftoff - before it lands in the Gulf of Mexico, renamed in the U.S. under executive order as the Gulf of America. The upper stage, which is designed to eventually fly in orbit, will also be put to the test as it flies halfway around the world ahead of a landing in the Indian Ocean. Starship to carry Starlink satellites to space In a major first, Starship will be carrying 20 larger versions of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites that it will attempt to deliver into suborbital space. The satellites will deploy solar arrays and antennas while attempeting to connect with SpaceX's larger Starlink constellation higher up in orbit before they fall toward the ground and burn up in the atmosphere about 20 minutes later. If this sounds familiar, that's because SpaceX has deployed mock Starlink satellites during previous Starship flight tests. Why is SpaceX testing Starship? Elon Musk envisions colony on Mars Musk's vision has long been for Starship to be an interplanetary vehicle that takes humans to Mars, where they can establish a self-sustaining colony. While the world's richest man has indicated that SpaceX will focus on building a lunar city first, the company has already announced a human-led expedition to Mars' orbit - though it has not set a target date. In order for that to be possible, Starship will need to be capable of refueling midflight in a complex process that requires two Starships equipped with docking adapters to meet in orbit to transfer propellant. The maneuver is one SpaceX has yet to test. When could Starship launch in Florida? Florida's first landmark Starship launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center could also take flight in 2026 in late summer or early fall, according to the U.S. Space Force. Plans to get the rocket off the ground from the Sunshine State come as SpaceX continues to ready longterm launch and landing operations at not only Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A, but Launch Complex 37 at the neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Super Heavy boosters could begin arriving on SpaceX's drone barge You'll Thank Me Later in the coming months. And at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Gigabay - an enormous Starship maintenance facility - is rising beam-by-beam off Roberts Road. NASA relies on Starship for Artemis moon missions SpaceX is also under contract with NASA to develop a lunar lander configuration of its Starship to ferry astronauts to the moon, known as the Human Landing System. NASA is relying on Starship to be ready for a mission due in 2027 known as Artemis III. SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are competing to develop lunar landers for future crewed and uncrewed Artemis missions, both of which will be tested first in Earth orbit during the crewed Artemis III mission. See photos of Starship rocket launches What happened on the last Starship flight test in May? During Starship's last flight test on May 22, the booster helped propel the upper stage on its journey before it made a water landing in the Gulf Coast. The upper stage, sometimes referred to simply as 'Ship, then used its own six Raptor engines to fly halfway around the world before landing and exploding as expected in the Indian Ocean. Along the way, Starship succeeded in deploying 20 mock versions of SpaceX's Starlink satellites and two modified satellites that, in a major first, imaged Starship while it climbed into space. Contributing: Rick Neale, Brooke Edwards, Florida Today Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]. Subscribe to the free Florida TODAY newsletter.
Kraken Borrow: spend more than your cash balance
Use your cash first. Then use the crypto already in your portfolio to cover the rest. * Kraken Borrow now works inside your normal buy flow. Your cash goes first, and eligible crypto you already hold covers the rest. * Your buying power combines your cash balance and your on-platform crypto, so you can buy more without selling anything. * Repayment is flexible: no fixed term and no early repayment fee. * A 1x leverage cap keeps the feature simple and accessible for everyday investors, not just professional traders. Every investor has faced this situation: You're holding an asset you believe in. Then something new catches your attention, but you don't have free cash on hand, and suddenly you're doing mental math about what to sell to fund this next move. It's a frustrating position. Not because the opportunity isn't real, but because the choice feels artificial. You don't have the dry powder to act on it. In an ideal world, you shouldn't have to exit a long-term position you believe in just to enter one you're excited about. That's the problem Kraken Borrow is designed to solve. What is Kraken Borrow? Kraken Borrow is a feature that extends your buying power beyond your cash balance, backed by the crypto you already hold on Kraken. Your portfolio now counts toward every buy, without having to sell anything. The mechanics are straightforward. You buy the way you always have, on the same screen. Your cash is spent first. When a purchase goes beyond your cash, Kraken Borrow covers the rest, backed by eligible assets in your portfolio. At confirmation, you see exactly what's cash and what's borrowed. When you're ready, you repay on your own terms, with no fixed repayment schedule and no rigid deadlines. It's a revolving structure, meaning you can draw, repay, and draw again as your needs change. Built for everyday investors Crypto-backed borrowing isn't a new concept, but it has historically skewed toward professional traders comfortable with complex instruments and high leverage. Kraken Borrow is built for a different audience. Designed for a range of everyday investors, the feature includes a 1x leverage cap, a familiar buy screen with borrowing built in, and a structure that prioritizes clarity over complexity. Whether you're a long-term holder looking to stay invested through a volatile period, or an active investor looking to capitalize on something new, Kraken Borrow gives you a practical trading tool without requiring you to navigate a steep learning curve. Collateral and margin levels are clearly defined throughout, so the experience stays transparent from start to finish. Put your portfolio to work The best financial tools remove tradeoffs that don't need to exist. With Kraken Borrow, selling a position to fund another doesn't have to be your only option. Now, instead of choosing between holding and acting, you can do both. Kraken Borrow is available in the Kraken app for eligible customers. Kraken Borrow is a crypto-collateralized borrowing feature. Borrowing involves risk, including the potential loss of collateral through liquidation if your Loan Maintenance Ratio falls below the required threshold. Interest rates are variable and may change over the life of an open-ended loan. An origination fee of 0.5% applies. Collateral assets are ring-fenced and cannot be withdrawn while a loan is active. Kraken Borrow is not available in all jurisdictions and is not currently available in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, UAE, Brazil, or India. Geographic restrictions and eligibility criteria apply. See https://support.kraken.com/articles/borrow for full terms. These materials are for general information purposes only and are not investment advice or a recommendation or solicitation to buy, sell, stake, or hold any cryptoasset or to engage in any specific trading strategy. Kraken does not and will not work to increase or decrease the price of any particular cryptoasset it makes available. The unpredictable nature of the cryptoasset markets can lead to loss of funds. Tax may be payable on any return and/or on any increase in the value of your cryptoassets and you should seek independent advice on your taxation position.
What SpaceX's Starship flight 13 test means for Florida's Space Coast
SpaceX has big plans for Starship during its 13th test flight from South Texas as the pressure is on for the rocket to be ready for missions to the moon and Mars. For just the second time in 2026, SpaceX is preparing to launch the world's largest rocket. Starship, the commercial spaceflight company's super heavy-lift launch vehicle, is due to get off the ground in South Texas on the heels of a largely successful May flight test. And as usual, the stakes are high for SpaceX and its chief executive, tech mogul Elon Musk. The upcoming flight will be the 13th for Starship overall, including its April 2023 debut, and the second for SpaceX's new prototype that serves as the largest iteration of the rocket to date. The pressure is on for SpaceX, which is working under a strict deadline to have Starship ready for NASA's fast-approaching moon landing missions. Musk, of course, also still dreams of sending the rocket on interplanetary voyages to Mars. The latest flight test also comes as SpaceX continues preparations to bring Starship to Florida's Space Coast. Here's everything to know about the next Starship launch, which SpaceX refers to as flight 13, as well as the latest on plans for its maiden flight in Florida. When is the next Starship launch date? SpaceX is working toward a Thursday, July 16, launch of its Starship rocket, the company announced. The launch window is due to open from 6:45 to 8:15 p.m. ET. Where does Starship launch? As it has since its maiden launch in April 2023, Starship will once again get off the ground from SpaceX's Starbase company town and headquarters in South Texas. Starbase is located close to the U.S.-Mexico border near the well-known Boca Chica Beach. In May 2025, Texas voters in Cameron County - most of whom are SpaceX employees - approved a measure to officially recognize the company's headquarters as its own town, complete with a mayor and city commissioners. What is Starship? Starship is the massive rocket that SpaceX, the commercial company founded by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, has been testing since April 2023. SpaceX is developing the rocket to be a fully reusable transportation system that can carry huge satellites and other payloads to space, meaning both the rocket and vehicle can return to the ground for additional missions. How tall is Starship? Is it the world's largest rocket? Starship's most recent flight test in May marked the debut of SpaceX's third-generation prototype of the rocket. Standing at 407 feet tall when fully stacked, the new iteration of Starship - known as Version 3, or V3 - became the largest and most powerful rocket SpaceX has ever launched. Similar to previous designs, the fully integrated Starship spacecraft is composed of both a 236-feet-tall lower-stage booster known as Super Heavy, as well as a 171-feet-tall upper stage simply called Starship. What is SpaceX planning for flight 13? For the next Starship test flight, SpaceX said it is aiming to complete similar objectives as the last launch in May in which it debuted its Version 3 prototype. SpaceX plans to push the performance of the Super Heavy booster - responsible for the initial burst of thrust at liftoff - before it lands in the Gulf of Mexico, renamed in the U.S. under executive order as the Gulf of America. The upper stage, which is designed to eventually fly in orbit, will also be put to the test as it flies halfway around the world ahead of a landing in the Indian Ocean. Starship to carry Starlink satellites to space In a major first, Starship will be carrying 20 larger versions of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites that it will attempt to deliver into suborbital space. The satellites will deploy solar arrays and antennas while attempeting to connect with SpaceX's larger Starlink constellation higher up in orbit before they fall toward the ground and burn up in the atmosphere about 20 minutes later. If this sounds familiar, that's because SpaceX has deployed mock Starlink satellites during previous Starship flight tests. Why is SpaceX testing Starship? Elon Musk envisions colony on Mars Musk's vision has long been for Starship to be an interplanetary vehicle that takes humans to Mars, where they can establish a self-sustaining colony. While the world's richest man has indicated that SpaceX will focus on building a lunar city first, the company has already announced a human-led expedition to Mars' orbit - though it has not set a target date. In order for that to be possible, Starship will need to be capable of refueling midflight in a complex process that requires two Starships equipped with docking adapters to meet in orbit to transfer propellant. The maneuver is one SpaceX has yet to test. When could Starship launch in Florida? Florida's first landmark Starship launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center could also take flight in 2026 in late summer or early fall, according to the U.S. Space Force. Plans to get the rocket off the ground from the Sunshine State come as SpaceX continues to ready longterm launch and landing operations at not only Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A, but Launch Complex 37 at the neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Super Heavy boosters could begin arriving on SpaceX's drone barge You'll Thank Me Later in the coming months. And at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Gigabay - an enormous Starship maintenance facility - is rising beam-by-beam off Roberts Road. NASA relies on Starship for Artemis moon missions SpaceX is also under contract with NASA to develop a lunar lander configuration of its Starship to ferry astronauts to the moon, known as the Human Landing System. NASA is relying on Starship to be ready for a mission due in 2027 known as Artemis III. SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are competing to develop lunar landers for future crewed and uncrewed Artemis missions, both of which will be tested first in Earth orbit during the crewed Artemis III mission. See photos of Starship rocket launches What happened on the last Starship flight test in May? During Starship's last flight test on May 22, the booster helped propel the upper stage on its journey before it made a water landing in the Gulf Coast. The upper stage, sometimes referred to simply as 'Ship, then used its own six Raptor engines to fly halfway around the world before landing and exploding as expected in the Indian Ocean. Along the way, Starship succeeded in deploying 20 mock versions of SpaceX's Starlink satellites and two modified satellites that, in a major first, imaged Starship while it climbed into space. Contributing: Rick Neale, Brooke Edwards, Florida Today Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]. Subscribe to the free Florida TODAY newsletter.
What SpaceX's Starship flight 13 test means for Florida's Space Coast
SpaceX has big plans for Starship during its 13th test flight from South Texas as the pressure is on for the rocket to be ready for missions to the moon and Mars. For just the second time in 2026, SpaceX is preparing to launch the world's largest rocket. Starship, the commercial spaceflight company's super heavy-lift launch vehicle, is due to get off the ground in South Texas on the heels of a largely successful May flight test. And as usual, the stakes are high for SpaceX and its chief executive, tech mogul Elon Musk. The upcoming flight will be the 13th for Starship overall, including its April 2023 debut, and the second for SpaceX's new prototype that serves as the largest iteration of the rocket to date. The pressure is on for SpaceX, which is working under a strict deadline to have Starship ready for NASA's fast-approaching moon landing missions. Musk, of course, also still dreams of sending the rocket on interplanetary voyages to Mars. The latest flight test also comes as SpaceX continues preparations to bring Starship to Florida's Space Coast. Here's everything to know about the next Starship launch, which SpaceX refers to as flight 13, as well as the latest on plans for its maiden flight in Florida. When is the next Starship launch date? SpaceX is working toward a Thursday, July 16, launch of its Starship rocket, the company announced. The launch window is due to open from 6:45 to 8:15 p.m. ET. Where does Starship launch? As it has since its maiden launch in April 2023, Starship will once again get off the ground from SpaceX's Starbase company town and headquarters in South Texas. Starbase is located close to the U.S.-Mexico border near the well-known Boca Chica Beach. In May 2025, Texas voters in Cameron County - most of whom are SpaceX employees - approved a measure to officially recognize the company's headquarters as its own town, complete with a mayor and city commissioners. What is Starship? Starship is the massive rocket that SpaceX, the commercial company founded by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, has been testing since April 2023. SpaceX is developing the rocket to be a fully reusable transportation system that can carry huge satellites and other payloads to space, meaning both the rocket and vehicle can return to the ground for additional missions. How tall is Starship? Is it the world's largest rocket? Starship's most recent flight test in May marked the debut of SpaceX's third-generation prototype of the rocket. Standing at 407 feet tall when fully stacked, the new iteration of Starship - known as Version 3, or V3 - became the largest and most powerful rocket SpaceX has ever launched. Similar to previous designs, the fully integrated Starship spacecraft is composed of both a 236-feet-tall lower-stage booster known as Super Heavy, as well as a 171-feet-tall upper stage simply called Starship. What is SpaceX planning for flight 13? For the next Starship test flight, SpaceX said it is aiming to complete similar objectives as the last launch in May in which it debuted its Version 3 prototype. SpaceX plans to push the performance of the Super Heavy booster - responsible for the initial burst of thrust at liftoff - before it lands in the Gulf of Mexico, renamed in the U.S. under executive order as the Gulf of America. The upper stage, which is designed to eventually fly in orbit, will also be put to the test as it flies halfway around the world ahead of a landing in the Indian Ocean. Starship to carry Starlink satellites to space In a major first, Starship will be carrying 20 larger versions of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites that it will attempt to deliver into suborbital space. The satellites will deploy solar arrays and antennas while attempeting to connect with SpaceX's larger Starlink constellation higher up in orbit before they fall toward the ground and burn up in the atmosphere about 20 minutes later. If this sounds familiar, that's because SpaceX has deployed mock Starlink satellites during previous Starship flight tests. Why is SpaceX testing Starship? Elon Musk envisions colony on Mars Musk's vision has long been for Starship to be an interplanetary vehicle that takes humans to Mars, where they can establish a self-sustaining colony. While the world's richest man has indicated that SpaceX will focus on building a lunar city first, the company has already announced a human-led expedition to Mars' orbit - though it has not set a target date. In order for that to be possible, Starship will need to be capable of refueling midflight in a complex process that requires two Starships equipped with docking adapters to meet in orbit to transfer propellant. The maneuver is one SpaceX has yet to test. When could Starship launch in Florida? Florida's first landmark Starship launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center could also take flight in 2026 in late summer or early fall, according to the U.S. Space Force. Plans to get the rocket off the ground from the Sunshine State come as SpaceX continues to ready longterm launch and landing operations at not only Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A, but Launch Complex 37 at the neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Super Heavy boosters could begin arriving on SpaceX's drone barge You'll Thank Me Later in the coming months. And at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Gigabay - an enormous Starship maintenance facility - is rising beam-by-beam off Roberts Road. NASA relies on Starship for Artemis moon missions SpaceX is also under contract with NASA to develop a lunar lander configuration of its Starship to ferry astronauts to the moon, known as the Human Landing System. NASA is relying on Starship to be ready for a mission due in 2027 known as Artemis III. SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are competing to develop lunar landers for future crewed and uncrewed Artemis missions, both of which will be tested first in Earth orbit during the crewed Artemis III mission. See photos of Starship rocket launches What happened on the last Starship flight test in May? During Starship's last flight test on May 22, the booster helped propel the upper stage on its journey before it made a water landing in the Gulf Coast. The upper stage, sometimes referred to simply as 'Ship, then used its own six Raptor engines to fly halfway around the world before landing and exploding as expected in the Indian Ocean. Along the way, Starship succeeded in deploying 20 mock versions of SpaceX's Starlink satellites and two modified satellites that, in a major first, imaged Starship while it climbed into space. Contributing: Rick Neale, Brooke Edwards, Florida Today Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]. Subscribe to the free Florida TODAY newsletter.
What SpaceX's Starship flight 13 test means for Florida's Space Coast
SpaceX has big plans for Starship during its 13th test flight from South Texas as the pressure is on for the rocket to be ready for missions to the moon and Mars. For just the second time in 2026, SpaceX is preparing to launch the world's largest rocket. Starship, the commercial spaceflight company's super heavy-lift launch vehicle, is due to get off the ground in South Texas on the heels of a largely successful May flight test. And as usual, the stakes are high for SpaceX and its chief executive, tech mogul Elon Musk. The upcoming flight will be the 13th for Starship overall, including its April 2023 debut, and the second for SpaceX's new prototype that serves as the largest iteration of the rocket to date. The pressure is on for SpaceX, which is working under a strict deadline to have Starship ready for NASA's fast-approaching moon landing missions. Musk, of course, also still dreams of sending the rocket on interplanetary voyages to Mars. The latest flight test also comes as SpaceX continues preparations to bring Starship to Florida's Space Coast. Here's everything to know about the next Starship launch, which SpaceX refers to as flight 13, as well as the latest on plans for its maiden flight in Florida. When is the next Starship launch date? SpaceX is working toward a Thursday, July 16, launch of its Starship rocket, the company announced. The launch window is due to open from 6:45 to 8:15 p.m. ET. Where does Starship launch? As it has since its maiden launch in April 2023, Starship will once again get off the ground from SpaceX's Starbase company town and headquarters in South Texas. Starbase is located close to the U.S.-Mexico border near the well-known Boca Chica Beach. In May 2025, Texas voters in Cameron County - most of whom are SpaceX employees - approved a measure to officially recognize the company's headquarters as its own town, complete with a mayor and city commissioners. What is Starship? Starship is the massive rocket that SpaceX, the commercial company founded by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, has been testing since April 2023. SpaceX is developing the rocket to be a fully reusable transportation system that can carry huge satellites and other payloads to space, meaning both the rocket and vehicle can return to the ground for additional missions. How tall is Starship? Is it the world's largest rocket? Starship's most recent flight test in May marked the debut of SpaceX's third-generation prototype of the rocket. Standing at 407 feet tall when fully stacked, the new iteration of Starship - known as Version 3, or V3 - became the largest and most powerful rocket SpaceX has ever launched. Similar to previous designs, the fully integrated Starship spacecraft is composed of both a 236-feet-tall lower-stage booster known as Super Heavy, as well as a 171-feet-tall upper stage simply called Starship. What is SpaceX planning for flight 13? For the next Starship test flight, SpaceX said it is aiming to complete similar objectives as the last launch in May in which it debuted its Version 3 prototype. SpaceX plans to push the performance of the Super Heavy booster - responsible for the initial burst of thrust at liftoff - before it lands in the Gulf of Mexico, renamed in the U.S. under executive order as the Gulf of America. The upper stage, which is designed to eventually fly in orbit, will also be put to the test as it flies halfway around the world ahead of a landing in the Indian Ocean. Starship to carry Starlink satellites to space In a major first, Starship will be carrying 20 larger versions of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites that it will attempt to deliver into suborbital space. The satellites will deploy solar arrays and antennas while attempeting to connect with SpaceX's larger Starlink constellation higher up in orbit before they fall toward the ground and burn up in the atmosphere about 20 minutes later. If this sounds familiar, that's because SpaceX has deployed mock Starlink satellites during previous Starship flight tests. Why is SpaceX testing Starship? Elon Musk envisions colony on Mars Musk's vision has long been for Starship to be an interplanetary vehicle that takes humans to Mars, where they can establish a self-sustaining colony. While the world's richest man has indicated that SpaceX will focus on building a lunar city first, the company has already announced a human-led expedition to Mars' orbit - though it has not set a target date. In order for that to be possible, Starship will need to be capable of refueling midflight in a complex process that requires two Starships equipped with docking adapters to meet in orbit to transfer propellant. The maneuver is one SpaceX has yet to test. When could Starship launch in Florida? Florida's first landmark Starship launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center could also take flight in 2026 in late summer or early fall, according to the U.S. Space Force. Plans to get the rocket off the ground from the Sunshine State come as SpaceX continues to ready longterm launch and landing operations at not only Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A, but Launch Complex 37 at the neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Super Heavy boosters could begin arriving on SpaceX's drone barge You'll Thank Me Later in the coming months. And at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Gigabay - an enormous Starship maintenance facility - is rising beam-by-beam off Roberts Road. NASA relies on Starship for Artemis moon missions SpaceX is also under contract with NASA to develop a lunar lander configuration of its Starship to ferry astronauts to the moon, known as the Human Landing System. NASA is relying on Starship to be ready for a mission due in 2027 known as Artemis III. SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin are competing to develop lunar landers for future crewed and uncrewed Artemis missions, both of which will be tested first in Earth orbit during the crewed Artemis III mission. See photos of Starship rocket launches What happened on the last Starship flight test in May? During Starship's last flight test on May 22, the booster helped propel the upper stage on its journey before it made a water landing in the Gulf Coast. The upper stage, sometimes referred to simply as 'Ship, then used its own six Raptor engines to fly halfway around the world before landing and exploding as expected in the Indian Ocean. Along the way, Starship succeeded in deploying 20 mock versions of SpaceX's Starlink satellites and two modified satellites that, in a major first, imaged Starship while it climbed into space. Contributing: Rick Neale, Brooke Edwards, Florida Today Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]. Subscribe to the free Florida TODAY newsletter.