News & Updates
The latest news and updates from companies in the WLTH portfolio.
Anthropic policy chief Jack Clark says, "AI will help make a Nobel prize-winning discovery within a year.
AI is rapidly evolving beyond a search engine, with predictions of Nobel Prize-winning scientific discoveries and AI-staffed companies within the next 18 months. While AI offers immense potential, concerns are rising about its impact on human critical thinking, with a call to use AI as a partner rather than a replacement for thought. If you've been using AI as a fancy search engine, it's time to think bigger. Way bigger. Jack Clark, a co-founder of Anthropic and the creator of the AI assistant Claude, recently told students at Oxford University that in the next 12 months, an AI system will work with humans to produce a scientific discovery that could win a Nobel Prize. That's just the tip of the iceberg of his predictions. Clark spoke of a "vertiginous sense of progress" in the field, almost dizzy at how fast things are moving. This is the kind of bold claim that deserves both attention and scrutiny from a generation that has seen endless delays to self-driving cars and AI chatbots fumbling basic questions. This is already beginning to happen The thing is, Clark's Nobel prediction isn't coming out of nowhere. It has almost already happened. 2024 saw AI receive its biggest accolade yet, with two Nobel Prizes awarded to researchers whose work stemmed from artificial intelligence. John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton won the Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering work in machine learning. In another development, David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John Jumper were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for using AI to crack the protein-folding problem, a challenge that had stumped scientists for more than 50 years. What Clark is saying is that the next breakthrough is already in the pipeline, and this time, AI won't just help with research. It might push it. A timeline that sounds wild, until it doesn't Clark did not stop at the Nobel Prizes. He laid out a bigger roadmap for where he sees AI going. Within 18 months, he believes we'll be seeing companies staffed entirely by AI agents making millions in revenue. In two years, we'll have bipedal robots with AI brains working alongside tradespeople on job sites. And by 2028, AI systems could be designing their own successors, effectively creating the next generation of themselves. He also warned that one day AI could become "more capable than all of us collectively," comparing the failure to prepare the public to the failure to prepare for pandemics such as COVID-19 adequately. Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons| Anthropic co-founder Jack Clark has warned that worst-case AI scenarios, including existential risks, have not been ruled out. The part of this story no one wants to talk about Clark didn't just deliver a talk full of hype. He was also blunt about the dangers, saying that worst-case scenarios, including ones where AI poses an existential threat, had not been ruled out. He said that there are still plausible scenarios where the technology has "a non-zero chance of killing everyone on the planet," adding it was important to make clear that the risk had not gone away. He also said he wished humanity would slow down development to prepare better for what's coming. But he doesn't think that will happen, given the fierce competition between companies and countries racing to build more powerful AI. That tension, between knowing things are moving too fast and feeling unable to stop, is something a lot of young Americans feel, even if they can't quite name it. Outsourcing your thinking has a real price Labs are seeing scientific breakthroughs unlocked by AI, but there is a quieter conversation about what AI is doing to the rest of us. Michael Gerlich's peer-reviewed study in Societies surveyed 666 participants across different ages and education levels and found a significant association between greater AI tool use and lower critical thinking abilities, with younger participants relying more on AI and scoring lower on critical thinking assessments than older participants. That's a surprising finding for a generation of millennials and young adults who have grown up, quite literally, with a smart device in hand. The more we have AI do our thinking for us, the less we may do it ourselves. In simple terms, Oxford's Institute for Ethics in AI Prof Edward Harcourt warns that AI systems that do more and more for us run the risk of creating "cognitive atrophy," a gradual weakening of our judgment and decision-making. He advocates what some call "Socratic AI," tools that make people think, not think for them. What this means for you AI isn't coming. It's already here. And if Clark is right, the next 12 to 24 months will see changes that make the last two years look slow. Young Americans' dilemma isn't whether to engage with AI; that ship has already sailed. The question is what to do about it. Another way is to make it a shortcut for every decision you make. Another is to use it as a partner while sharpening your own judgment. The scientists who just won Nobel Prizes didn't let AI take over their thinking. They aimed it at the hardest problems in the world and hung on. That's a model worth keeping.
SpaceX's $2 Trillion Pitch: Is Elon Musk Quietly Building a Backup Internet for Civilization?
The analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 stocks and Tesla wasn't one of them. Get them here FREE. On a recent All-In Podcast episode dissecting SpaceX's S-1 filing, guest investor Gavin Baker and the hosts framed Elon Musk's privately held rocket and connectivity empire as something more ambitious than a high-growth tech company. David Friedberg argued that "having a space-based communication network, space-based data centers, and space-based communication back down to Earth wireless" creates "a backup for civilization" that governments cannot control. That framing is the philosophical core of the bull case for a $2 trillion valuation, and it matters for every public company building the terrestrial side of the AI stack. Those raw S-1 numbers give the entire investment pitch real teeth. SpaceX generated a massive $18.674 billion in consolidated 2025 revenue, with its powerhouse Starlink Connectivity segment pulling in $11.4 billion of that total and printing a $4.4 billion operating profit. For Q1 2026, consolidated revenue held strong at $4.694 billion with Adjusted EBITDA tracking at $1.127 billion. Chamath Palihapitiya's bullish take on the All-In Podcast has SpaceX setting the tone for a $2 trillion IPO valuation, which looks incredibly achievable once you bake in their exponential, multi-segment forward run rates. The wild AI angle is what bridges pure science fiction directly to a Wall Street spreadsheet. SpaceX officially absorbed xAI back in February 2026, forming a heavy-hitting third operating segment alongside Space and Starlink. Their newly disclosed compute deal with Anthropic, paying a mind-boggling $1.25 billion every single month for access to the Colossus supercomputer clusters, validates this tech stack instantly, turning their AI division into a massive, multi-billion-dollar annual revenue machine. Baker noted SpaceX has compressed its data center build time from 122 days to 66 days, dramatically faster than competitors. Cursor's Composer 2.5 model reportedly became "Pareto dominant" after just three to four weeks of reinforcement learning on SpaceX's Colossus 2 cluster, with allegedly more tokens of coding data than exist on the public internet. SpaceX itself argues that "the key constraints in the continued growth of AI are physical" and that no other AI company has better control over the full physical stack. Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA | TSLA Price Prediction) is the public-market proxy. Tesla disclosed a $2 billion investment in SpaceX equity and a partnership to build the largest chip fab for vertically integrated semiconductor manufacturing at the Gigafactory Texas campus, per the company's Q1 FY2026 8-K filing. Tesla shares closed at $426.01 on May 22, up 25% over the past year, with Polymarket assigning a 92% probability that SpaceX will carry a higher valuation than Tesla by June 30, 2026. The hyperscaler CapEx race is the backdrop. NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) reported Q1 FY2027 revenue of $81.61 billion, up 85% year over year, with total supply-related commitments of $119.0 billion. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) posted Q3 FY2026 commercial RPO of $627 billion and an AI business at a $37 billion annualized run rate, up 123% year over year. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) guided 2026 CapEx of $175 to $185 billion, with Google Cloud backlog above $460 billion. If Musk's orbital compute layer delivers on Friedberg's framing, every dollar Big Tech is committing to terrestrial racks becomes more competitive, not less. Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) sits at the center of that terrestrial layer. Equinix carries a $105.5 billion market cap, trades at a forward PE of 61, and has 25 analyst Buy or Strong Buy ratings against six Holds or Sells. The stock is up 42% year to date through May 22. If you're looking to play this, remember that SpaceX is still private, so you have to look at the public markets for an indirect trade. Here is the big takeaway for investors: if that eye-popping $2 trillion valuation pitch is even halfway right, the massive AI infrastructure spending we're seeing at NVIDIA, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Equinix isn't the peak, it's just the opening chapter of a massive buildout where space and ground tech supercharge each other. Moving forward, you'll want to watch three things closely: how deeply Tesla and SpaceX integrate their tech, how that massive Anthropic compute partnership plays out, and whether Elon Musk can actually maintain his wild 66-day construction cadence as the satellite constellation scales up.
SpaceX launches rocket from Cape Canaveral on Memorial Day morning. See photos.
A SpaceX rocket soared into the Monday morning sky, starting off Memorial Day on Florida's Space Coast with a rumble. Liftoff occurred on time at 7:48 a.m. May 25 from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The mission, known as Starlink 10-47, featured a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the latest batch of Starlink internet satellites to orbit. The rocket rumbled on a northeast trajectory, across the clearing morning sky. Showers had moved through the area overnight, but cleared in time for the liftoff, which marked the 35 of the year for Florida. No Brevard County sonic booms were heard, as the Falcon 9's first stage booster landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. When is the next Florida rocket launch? Early risers are in for a treat, as the next liftoff is also set to occur in the morning hours. The next launch from Florida is set for no earlier than 7:52 a.m. Friday, May 29 from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Expect to see a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lift off on another Starlink mission. If needed, the May 29 launch window extends until 11:52 a.m. Be sure to follow the FLORIDA TODAY Space Team at FloridaToday.com/Space for the latest updates from Cape Canaveral. Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at [email protected] or on X: @brookeofstars.
Texas sues Discord, arguing online messaging platform endangered children, misled users
Close up on the hands of young woman using computer, tablet and smart phone - business, technology, multitasking concept Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing online messaging platform Discord, accusing the tech company of exposing children to predators using the service and deceiving users about the safety of the platform. Paxton filed the lawsuit Friday in a Collin County state district court, the latest in a recent flurry of lawsuits by Paxton's office against tech companies and other businesses ahead of his U.S. Senate GOP runoff against incumbent John Cornyn on Tuesday. Texas joins Nevada, Indiana and New Jersey as states that have recently sued Discord. Florida announced its investigation of the company in March. Many private lawsuits have been filed in recent months, as well, largely from families accusing the messaging service of allowing children to be sexually abused or exploited while using Discord. Paxton first opened an investigation into the messaging platform in 2024, along with several other tech companies, all broadly focused on user data privacy. Paxton announced last October, following the killing of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk, that he would expand the investigation of Discord to include a focus on the sexual exploitation of minors and extremist content on the platform. Discord is an online messaging service generally used by people to communicate while playing video games. It also includes chat functions and the ability for users to create topic-based servers. Paxton has sued other video game and social media platforms, like Snapchat, Tiktok and Roblox, in recent months over similar concerns that they are violating users' data privacy and allowing their platforms to be used to exploit children. "Discord has allowed and invited all kinds of nihilistic violence and evil," Paxton said. "We live in a time where the dangers children face online have never been greater, and every parent in Texas deserves to know their child is protected." A Discord spokesperson said the platform has robust safety features for teenage users and is continuously working to improve existing safety features. The spokesperson noted roughly 80% of Discord's users are adults and the service requires its users to be at least 13. "The lawsuit's characterization of Discord does not reflect the platform we have built or the investments we have made in user safety," a Discord spokesperson wrote in a statement. "We look forward to collaborating with policymakers in working toward a safer online experience for all users on Discord and across the internet." In 2023, Texas lawmakers strengthened laws requiring social media platforms to protect minors from inappropriate content online. That legislation, called Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment (SCOPE) Act, is still fighting its way through the courts and parts have been blocked for being unconstitutionally vague. Paxton has used the remaining provisions of the SCOPE Act to bring lawsuits against Discord and the other tech companies. The lawsuit asks the courts to require Discord to implement age verification for all users under that law, the Securing Children Online through Parental Empowerment Act. The lawsuit also seeks for Discord to pay fines under the state Deceptive Trade Practices Act, arguing the company has misled users about the safety of the platform. Paxton cited a 2025 lawsuit filed by the family of a 13-year-old girl who says she was groomed on Roblox, then later Discord, before being sexually assaulted in her home. The family's lawsuit argues the companies failed to protect the girl. This week, Paxton also sued WhatsApp and its parent company Meta, alleging the platform can access users' private messages. This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
SpaceX launches rocket from Cape Canaveral on Memorial Day morning. See photos.
A SpaceX rocket soared into the Monday morning sky, starting off Memorial Day on Florida's Space Coast with a rumble. Liftoff occurred on time at 7:48 a.m. May 25 from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The mission, known as Starlink 10-47, featured a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the latest batch of Starlink internet satellites to orbit. The rocket rumbled on a northeast trajectory, across the clearing morning sky. Showers had moved through the area overnight, but cleared in time for the liftoff, which marked the 35 of the year for Florida. No Brevard County sonic booms were heard, as the Falcon 9's first stage booster landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. When is the next Florida rocket launch? Early risers are in for a treat, as the next liftoff is also set to occur in the morning hours. The next launch from Florida is set for no earlier than 7:52 a.m. Friday, May 29 from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Expect to see a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lift off on another Starlink mission. If needed, the May 29 launch window extends until 11:52 a.m. Be sure to follow the FLORIDA TODAY Space Team at FloridaToday.com/Space for the latest updates from Cape Canaveral. Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at [email protected] or on X: @brookeofstars.
Indonesia blocks Polymarket amid crackdown on online betting
We'd love your feedback. Take a 30-second survey to help improve The Block. Indonesia's Ministry of Communication and Digital has blocked access to the crypto-native prediction market platform Polymarket as authorities intensify a broader crackdown on online betting in the country, where gambling is illegal under national law. Director General of Digital Space Supervision Alexander Sabar said in a statement on Friday that Polymarket's activities involve "betting and speculation on uncertain outcomes," placing the platform in violation of Indonesian law. The ministry said it has also begun tracing all social media accounts affiliated with Polymarket to ensure comprehensive access restrictions. According to the statement, the ministry is also planning to block access to similar services suspected of facilitating prediction market practices. The move aims to protect the public, particularly younger digital users, from financial losses and regulatory violations, the ministry said. Polymarket gained traction in Indonesia last week after users opened contracts predicting when President Prabowo Subianto would be "out as president," despite his current term running through 2029, Reuters reported on Monday. The market launched on May 21, one day after Prabowo unveiled plans to centralize control of key commodity exports, including coal and palm oil, sectors closely watched by global investors. The Block reached out to Polymarket for comment. Global crackdown The development adds Indonesia to a growing list of jurisdictions restricting Polymarket and rival event-contract platforms. Brazil moved against Polymarket and Kalshi in April after regulators said the platforms failed to comply with local derivatives trading rules and raised concerns tied to investor protection and market integrity. Finance Minister Dario Durigan said roughly 28 betting platforms were banned as part of a wider campaign targeting online gambling activity. Argentina also ordered a nationwide restriction on Polymarket in March after a Buenos Aires court directed internet service providers, Google, and Apple to block access to the platform. Authorities alleged the site operated as an unlicensed betting system without sufficient identity and age verification controls. In the United States, prediction markets remain under active legal scrutiny despite a more permissive federal stance toward event contracts. On May 22, a Ninth Circuit panel rejected bids by Kalshi and Polymarket to halt gambling-related enforcement actions in Nevada and Washington, where state authorities argue sports-event contracts amount to unlicensed gambling products. The regulatory pressure comes as Polymarket continues expanding internationally, including efforts tied to the Japanese market, where authorities have imposed restrictions on political betting and related prediction contracts under national law.
Elon Musk's best friend could make $100 billion on SpaceX. His firm is also owed billions | Fortune
Antonio Gracias, founder, chief executive officer and chief investment officer of Valor Equity Partners.Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images His name is Antonio Gracias, a handsome private equity investor from Detroit. The two met through the Silicon Valley web at the turn of the century, and soon Gracias -- at 55, just one year older than Musk -- lent Musk $1 million in his early days at Tesla, when the company was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. The two have been best friends ever since. Gracias was a groomsman at Kimbal Musk's wedding, the families have vacationed together, spent the holidays together, and even traveled to David Copperfield's private island in the Bahamas. And Gracias trailed Musk through all of his ventures. He's sat on the boards of Tesla -- where he spent eight years as lead independent director -- SpaceX, SolarCity, Neuralink, and The Boring Company. His firm, Valor Equity Partners, was one of Tesla's earliest institutional investors and has put money into nearly every Musk company. Gracias even followed Musk into the federal government, taking a role at the Department of Government Efficiency before resigning in July amid scrutiny over managing $2 billion in public pension assets while serving as a government employee. Now, with SpaceX preparing for the largest IPO in history, Gracias' loyalty is about to pay off. His Valor entities collectively hold more than 500 million shares of SpaceX Class A stock -- roughly 7.3% of the company, making him the second-largest individual shareholder after Musk. At the $1.75 trillion valuation Bloomberg and Reuters have reported SpaceX is targeting, Gracias' stake will be worth around $90 billion. At $2 trillion, it climbs past $140 billion. Either way, the IPO will make him one of the 50 wealthiest people alive. Last October, SpaceX's S-1 shows, an xAI subsidiary called CTC signed an equipment lease agreement with Valor for AI infrastructure hardware -- specifically, the GPUs needed to power xAI's data centers. (xAI was a separate Musk company at the time; SpaceX absorbed it in February.) In January, CTC signed a second lease with Valor. In April, a third. Together, the three agreements obligate the company to pay Valor close to $20 billion over their terms. And SpaceX guarantees the payments -- meaning if the xAI subsidiary can't cover them, SpaceX itself is on the hook. That guarantee is unusual on its own: It suggests xAI couldn't get this kind of financing on its own credit, and needed its parent company to step in. Indeed, the new filing shows xAI was ridden with debt, including secured senior notes at a 12.5% interest rate -- distressed-borrower pricing that shows the company was struggling to access typical financing routes. Once SpaceX goes public, all that liability transfers to public shareholders, who will inherit billions in obligations from a deal struck while the company was still private. So far, the Valor entities have collected roughly $885 million from the leases in 2025, and another $857 million in just the first two months of 2026. The structure is unusual enough that SpaceX's auditor, PwC, refused to treat it as a normal lease, and instead called it a "failed sale leaseback." In a typical sale-leaseback, one party sells an asset to another, then leases it back. Here, that meant CTC -- the xAI subsidiary -- "sold" the GPUs to Valor, then leased them back for use in its own data centers. For the deal to count as a real sale, Valor needed to actually obtain control of the GPU. But the terms of the arrangement, in PwC's view, meant CTC retained effective control of the assets, making Valor just like a regular lender, with the GPUs serving as collateral. In other words, SpaceX and xAI structured the deals in a way that, if accepted, would have kept the financing off SpaceX's balance sheet. But it appears as if PwC refused. The auditors concluded the transactions were loans in substance, not leases, and forced SpaceX to record the debt anyway. The $9 billion now sits on SpaceX's balance sheet as related-party debt payable to the firm of one of SpaceX's own directors. Nell Minow, a chair of ValueEdge Advisors, called the Valor leases "deeply troubling" -- both for what they suggest about SpaceX's numbers and for what they suggest about its governance. Asked where the arrangement falls on the spectrum of related-party deals she's seen across four decades of corporate governance work, Minow didn't hesitate. "That's to me, that's the worst," she said. "They wouldn't know an arm's-length transaction if they saw one." An "arm's-length transaction" is the standard corporate governance jargon for a simple test: Would the terms hold up if the two parties were strangers, with no shared interest in cutting each other a favor? It's how public companies prove to investors that insiders aren't quietly enriching themselves through company business -- and it's exactly that assurance that SpaceX's S-1 doesn't give for the Valor deals, she suggests. Robert Willens, an accounting and tax expert at Columbia Business School, spotted that same gap. Public companies typically include a sentence in their related-party disclosures promising the terms are "no less favorable" than what an unaffiliated party would have gotten. SpaceX uses exactly that language in the section of the S-1 describing its dealings with Tesla, another Musk company. But it doesn't use it in the section describing the Valor leases. "If they don't say it explicitly, you have to be led to believe that maybe they're not being as careful as they are in the first agreement, and that they very well might be agreeing to terms that are less favorable than they would be with an unrelated party," Willens said. "They know how to say it when they want to say it." If the Valor terms aren't arm's-length, Willens said, the lease payments could function as a "disguised dividend"; extra money flowing to Gracias not because the GPUs are worth what Valor is charging, but because he's a powerful insider. The S-1 also doesn't disclose whether Gracias recused himself from the board's approval of any of the three deals, an omission both Minow and Willens said is notable for a $20 billion related-party transaction. Minow said the arrangement is typical of SpaceX, which wants "the access to capital of a public company" but "the control of a private company." It will actually be a "controlled company" under Nasdaq rules -- exempt from requirements that a majority of its board be independent. Gracias himself is being seated on the compensation and nominating committee. The company reincorporated in Texas in 2024 after Musk personally lobbied state legislators to weaken shareholder protections; shareholder disputes are now subject to mandatory arbitration; and under SpaceX's charter, Musk can only be removed from his leadership positions by holders of Class B stock, the majority of which he controls. And all of it is happening just as Nasdaq has changed its rules to ensure millions of Americans will own SpaceX whether they want to or not. In March, the exchange rolled out a new "Fast Entry" rule letting large IPOs join the Nasdaq 100 after just 15 trading days; down from a typical period of three months to a year. For comparison, Facebook waited seven months, while Airbnb waited a year, and Tesla waited three. Reuters reported that fast index inclusion was a condition of SpaceX's Nasdaq listing. The consequence: Every fund tracking the Nasdaq 100 -- including the $385 billion Invesco QQQ and trillions in other ETFs and retirement accounts -- will be forced to buy SpaceX stock weeks after it lists, regardless of price or governance. Goldman Sachs analysts estimate the rule change could trigger up to $60 billion in forced buying across the Nasdaq 100 ecosystem. "I wish they were as good at engineering," Minow said of SpaceX, "as they are at cutting off every possible avenue of independent oversight."
Polymarket $700,000 Wallet Drain
Security experts suggest the breach resulted from a failure in key management rather than a flaw in the underlying prediction market infrastructure. Polymarket recently identified a security breach that led to the unauthorized draining of funds from an internal wallet. On-chain investigator ZachXBT first flagged the suspicious activity, which involved an address linked to the platform's rewards infrastructure on the Polygon network. Subsequent analysis from the platform and firms like Bubblemaps estimated the total loss at roughly $700,000, distributed across several addresses. Developers were quick to emphasize that the compromise was isolated to a wallet used for routine operational top-ups. Crucially, the core smart contracts that handle user bets and market outcomes remained entirely unaffected throughout the event, ensuring that the integrity of individual positions remained intact. Security analysts view this incident as part of a larger trend where attackers target the operational layers of a protocol rather than the code itself. Industry experts noted that the breach mirrors a series of recent failures in key management and access control across the broader decentralized finance ecosystem. Instead of attempting to identify complex logic errors in smart contracts, malicious actors are increasingly focusing on the privileged wallets and administrative keys that facilitate routine operations. This transition highlights a critical need for projects to enhance their internal security protocols, including stricter signing policies and more robust monitoring of administrative activity to prevent similar compromises of operational infrastructure. While the Polymarket incident was contained, it serves as a stark reminder of the operational risks facing high-profile crypto platforms. Securing admin keys is just as important as auditing code. Was user money stolen? No, the company confirmed that user funds and market outcomes were not affected by the incident. How much was lost? Estimates indicate that approximately $700,000 was drained from the internal rewards wallet. What was the cause of the exploit? Experts believe it was a compromise of the private key used for operational top-ups.
SpaceX Sets June 12 IPO Date, Targeting $1.75 Trillion Valuation - NaturalNews.com
Elon Musk, already the world's richest person with a net worth exceeding $800 billion, is set to become the first trillionaire, analysts said. A report from business intelligence firm Informa Connect projected that Musk could achieve this milestone by 2027, driven by the growth of SpaceX, Tesla, and other ventures. [4] The prospectus disclosed cumulative losses of £30.8 billion ($41 billion) to date, including £3.7 billion in losses for the latest fiscal year on revenue of £13.9 billion. In the first quarter of 2026, losses rose eightfold year-over-year to £3.2 billion, according to the document. [7] Despite the losses, investor demand is expected to be high due to Musk's track record with Tesla, the prospectus stated. The company's history includes near-bankruptcy in its early days after the first three rocket launches failed, leaving only enough money for one more attempt, according to a biography of Musk. [5] However, the fourth launch succeeded, and the company secured contracts that sustained its operations. SpaceX's Starlink division, with a network of 10,000 satellites serving 10 million users, generated £3.3 billion in operating income in 2025, doubling the prior year, the prospectus said. The space launch division reported a £490 million loss, while the AI unit (xAI, acquired by SpaceX) posted a £4.7 billion loss, according to the filing. [7] SpaceX holds contracts worth millions of dollars with the U.S. military and NASA, officials confirmed. The xAI business has also attracted significant outside investment, including a $20 billion funding round led by Nvidia. [2] Musk's approach to engineering, as described in a book on entrepreneurial skills, includes a willingness to abandon initial assumptions. He once said that the idea of licensing existing chassis and powertrain technology for the Tesla Roadster was "extremely dumb." [6] Musk will retain 85% of voting rights under the proposed shareholder structure, according to the prospectus. [7] Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said: "Investors interested in the IPO still need to tread carefully, with the risk that gravity could pull valuations back down to earth." [7] The company's long-term ambitions include building a self-sustaining city on the Moon within 10 years, according to a company statement. [3] However, much of that vision depends on unbuilt technology, the prospectus noted. The IPO is expected to raise about £56 billion, with Goldman Sachs serving as the lead underwriter among several New York investment banks, sources said. [7] Competitors OpenAI and Anthropic are also preparing public listings, with OpenAI reportedly aiming for a £740 billion valuation, according to reports this week. [8] SpaceX's IPO puts Musk ahead of rivals Sam Altman and Dario Amodei in the race to public markets, analysts said. [1]
Fractional AI: Anthropic-Led AI Services Venture Acquires Company
Anthropic, alongside Blackstone, Hellman & Friedman, and a consortium of major investment firms, announced that its newly formed AI-native enterprise services company has acquired AI implementation startup Fractional AI. The deal is designed to accelerate enterprise adoption of Anthropic's Claude models among mid-sized businesses. Fractional AI, founded in 2024 by Chris Taylor, Eddie Siegel, and Travis May, has built a reputation as an applied AI engineering and implementation firm helping enterprises integrate AI into operational workflows. Under the transaction, Fractional AI's engineering team and delivery capabilities will become the operational foundation of the new AI services venture. The new company aims to help businesses redesign systems and workflows around frontier AI models, particularly Anthropic's Claude platform. Fractional AI's engineers are expected to work closely with Anthropic's Applied AI organization from the outset to support enterprise AI transformation projects across industries. The broader venture is backed by several prominent investors and asset managers, including Goldman Sachs, General Atlantic, Leonard Green & Partners, Apollo Global Management, GIC, and Sequoia Capital. Financial terms of the Fractional AI acquisition were not disclosed. Anthropic executive Garvan Doyle said the partnership is intended to bridge the gap between advanced AI models and practical business deployment. Blackstone executives highlighted Fractional AI's engineering talent and prior work across Blackstone portfolio companies as key reasons for the acquisition. Hellman & Friedman also emphasized the growing importance of implementation expertise in unlocking the value of enterprise AI systems, noting that the acquisition positions the new venture to become a leading AI services platform. The announcement reflects the growing race among AI companies and private equity firms to build enterprise-focused AI infrastructure and consulting capabilities as adoption of generative AI accelerates globally. KEY QUOTES: "Bringing frontier AI into a business takes more than a great model. It takes the engineering judgment to rebuild real systems around what's now possible, and Fractional has assembled a team with exactly that capability. We're excited to be working alongside this team as they help enterprises put Claude to work." Garvan Doyle, Leader In Anthropic's Applied AI Organization "Rewiring the economy for AI is going to be one of the biggest value creators of the coming decades, but most businesses need help realizing this opportunity. Our team of AI engineers and former founders thrives on building transformative end-to-end solutions. We're excited to team up with Anthropic, Blackstone, and Hellman & Friedman to close the multi-trillion-dollar gap we see between where businesses operate today and where they can be." Chris Taylor, CEO, Fractional AI, And Eddie Siegel, CTO, Fractional AI "We have built a strong relationship with Fractional AI through their work across the Blackstone portfolio, and it's clear they are a magnet for elite, applied AI engineers. Blackstone has spent years studying where AI creates durable value, and we believe the answer hinges on execution capability, the caliber of the team, the depth of their technical judgment, and their ability to change how a business operates. The opportunity ahead is one of the largest we have seen, and we believe there is no better team to serve as our nucleus for growth than Fractional." Rodney Zemmel, Global Head Of The Operating Team At Blackstone "Anthropic's frontier models are genuinely unmatched in the enterprise. Unlocking their full potential takes expertise and judgment to redesign systems around what's newly possible. H&F has scaled some of the world's leading services businesses, and it was clear from Fractional AI's success in our portfolio that they are the right foundation for building a category-defining AI services firm."
The Most Valuable Asset in SpaceX IPO Is a Gift That Most Investors Will Ignore | Investing.com
The most valuable asset in the SpaceX IPO isn't likely to be the stock. It certainly won't be the valuation. In fact, the financial metrics Wall Street will obsess over in the first few weeks of trading are a distraction! We will look back on the SpaceX IPO as the "tipping point of visibility" for the space industry and recognize it as one of the most important investment events of the decade. Only Wall Street will care to remember its price to sales ratio, but that's what you're going to hear about right now. If it goes public at an expected valuation of $1.75 trillion its price to sales ratio will be a nerve-racking 93. For context, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 are currently trading at price-to-sales ratios of about 3 and 5, respectively. Here's where SPCX will fall relative to today's hot stocks, ordered by market cap... The size of the IPO measured in market cap is historic, but the valuation is not, and remember the company is almost 25 years old. In 1995 a long-forgotten company was formed and when public all in the span of less than a year. This company changed my life and it changed your life too. At the time of its IPO, this little known company had only $16 million in sales, it had losses of $4 million and yet the market rewarded investors with a valuation of $3 billion. At that valuation its price to sales was a staggering 187 - double what SPCX is expected to price at. This piece of history is analogous to what's about to happen with the SPCX IPO and it is a gift to investors to see what's coming before history repeats. Summary: Markets remain in a broadly bullish risk-on environment, with the DOW making new highs, volatility falling to its lowest levels since January, and leadership from semiconductors, retail, and growth stocks supporting continued upside momentum across both domestic and international equities. However, mixed internals, weak breadth divergences, rising rate volatility, and lagging crypto and communication sectors suggest underlying participation remains uneven and could lead to short-term consolidation despite the strong headline indexes. The market remains in a constructive risk-on environment, so the primary strategy is to stay net long while becoming more selective and tactical as momentum stretches on the weekly timeframe and internals remain mixed. Focus on buying pullbacks rather than chasing extended names, particularly in leading areas such as Semiconductors, Retail, Growth, and selective international exposure, while maintaining tighter risk controls given weakening breadth and elevated rates volatility. Raise trailing stops modestly tighter than normal due to:
Polymarket Targets Japan Approval by 2030
Polymarket is taking early steps to enter Japan after appointing Mike Eidlin to lead its local business. The prediction market platform is targeting Japanese government approval by 2030, which points to a long regulatory push rather than an imminent launch. Polymarket lets users trade on real-world outcomes across politics, sports, crypto, finance, geopolitics and culture. In Japan, however, prediction markets face a difficult legal path because gambling rules remain strict. The platform currently blocks betting functions for local users and says those limits are due to regulatory requirements. That makes any formal Japan rollout dependent on whether authorities treat event-based contracts as gambling, financial products or something else. Eidlin is expected to lead Polymarket's Japan effort as the company prepares regulatory outreach and local market development. Eidlin previously served as Japan head at the crypto project Jupiter, according to his LinkedIn profile. His role is expected to focus on building Polymarket's presence in the country, engaging with policymakers and helping the company find a legal path for prediction markets. The 2030 approval target shows Polymarket is not preparing for a quick launch. Japan remains a large potential market, but the company would likely need clear approval before offering local users full access to event-based trading. The move also comes as prediction markets face closer scrutiny in several jurisdictions. Regulators are still weighing how to classify platforms that let users trade contracts tied to elections, sports, macro events and other real-world outcomes. For now, the appointment signals intent rather than a confirmed operating launch. Polymarket wants a regulated path into Japan, but the timeline suggests the company expects years of legal and policy work before any full rollout.
SpaceX Sets June 12 IPO Date, Targeting $1.75 Trillion Valuation
Elon Musk, already the world's richest person with a net worth exceeding $800 billion, is set to become the first trillionaire, analysts said. A report from business intelligence firm Informa Connect projected that Musk could achieve this milestone by 2027, driven by the growth of SpaceX, Tesla, and other ventures. [4] The prospectus disclosed cumulative losses of £30.8 billion ($41 billion) to date, including £3.7 billion in losses for the latest fiscal year on revenue of £13.9 billion. In the first quarter of 2026, losses rose eightfold year-over-year to £3.2 billion, according to the document. [7] Despite the losses, investor demand is expected to be high due to Musk's track record with Tesla, the prospectus stated. The company's history includes near-bankruptcy in its early days after the first three rocket launches failed, leaving only enough money for one more attempt, according to a biography of Musk. [5] However, the fourth launch succeeded, and the company secured contracts that sustained its operations. SpaceX's Starlink division, with a network of 10,000 satellites serving 10 million users, generated £3.3 billion in operating income in 2025, doubling the prior year, the prospectus said. The space launch division reported a £490 million loss, while the AI unit (xAI, acquired by SpaceX) posted a £4.7 billion loss, according to the filing. [7] SpaceX holds contracts worth millions of dollars with the U.S. military and NASA, officials confirmed. The xAI business has also attracted significant outside investment, including a $20 billion funding round led by Nvidia. [2] Musk's approach to engineering, as described in a book on entrepreneurial skills, includes a willingness to abandon initial assumptions. He once said that the idea of licensing existing chassis and powertrain technology for the Tesla Roadster was "extremely dumb." [6] Musk will retain 85% of voting rights under the proposed shareholder structure, according to the prospectus. [7] Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said: "Investors interested in the IPO still need to tread carefully, with the risk that gravity could pull valuations back down to earth." [7] The company's long-term ambitions include building a self-sustaining city on the Moon within 10 years, according to a company statement. [3] However, much of that vision depends on unbuilt technology, the prospectus noted. The IPO is expected to raise about £56 billion, with Goldman Sachs serving as the lead underwriter among several New York investment banks, sources said. [7] Competitors OpenAI and Anthropic are also preparing public listings, with OpenAI reportedly aiming for a £740 billion valuation, according to reports this week. [8] SpaceX's IPO puts Musk ahead of rivals Sam Altman and Dario Amodei in the race to public markets, analysts said. [1]
KPMG and Anthropic to redefine client services with artificial intelligence tie-up
On May 20, KPMG and Anthropic announced the launch of the KPMG Digital Gateway powered by Claude, bringing Anthropic's frontier AI directly into KPMG's client delivery platform. The launch is part of a global alliance, with an initial focus on tax clients and private equity firms. By embedding Claude into Digital Gateway, KPMG's AI-enabled platform, clients can build agentic workflows in real time to help drive better outcomes. KPMG in the United States will also embed Claude into its private equity-focused product offerings, and the two organisations will co-develop new Claude-powered products for portfolio companies. The combination of KPMG's expertise and Anthropic's advanced and responsible AI technology delivers significant value, the firm said. This includes a unified platform, with the integration of Claude Co-Work and managed AI agents into KPMG's Digital Gateway bringing together tax expertise, proprietary tools, and client data into a single platform. Tasks that previously took weeks and required navigating multiple tools and interfaces can now be completed within minutes in one unified environment. There is also value creation for private equity clients. KPMG has been selected as the preferred consultant to deliver AI solutions for Anthropic's clients. This includes supporting portfolio companies in adopting AI-powered assistants to enhance productivity and develop new AI-driven products and services. All 276,000 KPMG professionals globally will have access to Anthropic's Claude AI solutions. Beyond adoption, KPMG and Anthropic will work with clients to transform operations and co-develop AI-powered applications that address complex business challenges in entirely new ways. KPMG will integrate cybersecurity, risk management, and AI assurance solutions into the design and operation of these systems. This ensures vulnerabilities are identified and mitigated while safeguarding critical enterprise systems. Aligned with the strategic vision of KPMG Global, Warrick Cleine, chairman and CEO of KPMG in Vietnam and Cambodia, noted that the strategic alliance is a catalyst for redefining how KPMG operates. "In Vietnam, we are ready to translate these advanced AI capabilities into practical, secure, and trusted solutions that deliver exceptional value to clients in the local market," he said. Daniela Amodei, co-founder and president of Anthropic, stated, "KPMG works in industries where accuracy, accountability, and trust aren't optional, and they're applying the same standard to AI. They're rolling Claude out to 276,000 people across the business and using it for client work in tax and private equity. They're also bringing it into cybersecurity, where it helps find and fix vulnerabilities. That's what a firm-wide commitment to AI looks like, and we're proud to be the partner they chose." KPMG is a global organisation of independent member firms providing audit, tax and legal, and advisory services. Operating across multiple countries and territories, KPMG is committed to delivering high-quality services and supporting its clients. Anthropic is an AI safety and research company focused on building reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. It is best known for Claude, a family of large language models designed to deliver high performance with strong safety and transparency.
Escape Velocity: SpaceX IPO Eclipses NVIDIA Earnings
Ask Samuel about stocks, your portfolio, or the market and get instant, personalized insights in seconds The Iran conflict continues to create uncertainty, with different parts of the capital markets interpreting developments differently. While bond investors appeared hopeful - sending 10-year Treasury yields lower - crude oil prices edged up on Friday, reflecting skepticism. Meanwhile, stock markets largely shrugged off the headlines, with focus shifting back to earnings, AI, and domestic economic signals. Last week's key positive catalyst was the Commerce Department's announcement of $2 billion in grants to nine quantum-computing companies. IBM (IBM) was the standout winner, receiving $1 billion alone as the established leader in the race to a commercially viable solution. The company is adding $1 billion of its own capital to launch America's first specialized quantum chip foundry. Shares of IBM soared 16% on the week, its best weekly result since 2002, significantly boosting the DJIA. Investors continued to pour into AI hardware and infrastructure stocks. Strong gains were seen across both AI-reformed legacy names like Cisco (CSCO), Dell (DELL), and Intel (INTC), and those that rose to fame in the past few years, like Marvell (MRVL) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). As technology advances rapidly, new bottlenecks are emerging faster than capex can address them. Memory stocks like Micron (MU) are flying high, while the CPU bottleneck is benefiting Intel and AMD, and high-speed networking names like Credo (CRDO) are seeing strong investor interest. Another major source of optimism was SpaceX's long-awaited IPO filing. The move generated such buzz that it overshadowed even NVIDIA's (NVDA) earnings. The chip leader saw negative post-earnings reaction for the fourth time in a row after it flew past expectations for the 14 straight quarter as part of a normal profit-taking trend. Still, NVIDIA and the broader AI trade helped cap one of the strongest earnings seasons in recent years. S&P 500 companies reported 28.4% year-over-year earnings growth in Q1 2026 - one of the best results in history outside of post-recession recoveries. This has confirmed that advanced tech is a highly profitable business, creating an extremely positive setup for SpaceX. Elon Musk is aiming to raise at least $75-80 billion at a valuation of $1.75-2 trillion, roughly three times the previous record set by Saudi Aramco. After merging with xAI, SpaceX is now both a dominant space company and a major AI player. SpaceX leads the launch business with over 70% market share, and controls Starlink - the fastest-growing satellite internet service globally. Meanwhile, xAI is the world's #3 AI lab that also owns the largest concentrated AI-training cluster globally, Colossus. No wonder investors are excited about gaining exposure to multiple high-growth megatrends in one IPO. The exuberance around SpaceX has also accelerated IPO plans for pure-play AI labs. OpenAI is expected to file confidentially very soon, targeting a potential listing in Q4 2026 at a valuation above $1 trillion. Anthropic is also speeding up plans for a late-2026 IPO, potentially at $800-900 billion. Wall Street is now discussing 2026 as the biggest IPO year ever, with the three companies possibly adding up to $4 trillion in combined market value. This setup is fueling a powerful sense of optimism, as investors appear eager to buy into what is seen as the biggest multi-decade growth story.
Cerebras Systems Inc.(NasdaqGS: CBRS) added to S&P Global BMI Index
Cerebras Systems Inc. is an artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure company that designs and manufactures an AI compute platform comprised of proprietary systems and software. The Company's products include inference Cloud, Training Cloud, CS-3 system, AI supercomputer, Wafer Scale Engine and model development. The Company's pioneering Wafer-Scale Engine (WSE), a chip encompassing an entire silicon wafer, was specifically designed to enable higher performance and speeds than GPUs for the computational demands of inference, Generative AI (GenAI), and other AI applications. It offers deployment services to assist customers with data preparation, model architecture design, training management, inference optimization, and, in select cases, ongoing system operations and management. It also offers a subscription service providing access to an ongoing stream of software updates and upgrades for purchasers of its hardware.
SpaceX's mega‑IPO is seen as not signalling an IPO‑market recovery
SpaceX's US$75 billion IPO is seen as posing a risk of draining liquidity from the US IPO market. NEW YORK - SpaceX's record-breaking initial public offering (IPO) is being viewed as Wall Street's biggest spectacle since the pandemic-era listing boom. As reported by Reuters on Thursday (21/05), the IPO is expected to attract strong retail investor interest through a combination of Mars exploration ambitions, artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, and space-based data centre projects. However, several analysts believe the SpaceX IPO should not be seen as a benchmark for a broader recovery in the IPO market because the company's business profile differs significantly from that of typical IPO candidates. "SpaceX is simply too large and has such an extraordinary valuation that it is not suitable as a normal benchmark for the IPO market," said IPOX analyst Lukas Muehlbauer. According to Reuters, citing Dealogic data, the SpaceX IPO is expected to raise more than IDR 1,215 trillion, with a valuation of around IDR 28,350 trillion, making it one of the largest stock market listings in US capital markets history. Analysts believe the scale of the transaction could absorb liquidity and investor attention away from other companies also planning to go public. A European capital markets banker said many institutional investors are expected to prioritise SpaceX because of the deal's size and the pressure on fund managers to participate. According to Muehlbauer, some companies have even accelerated their IPO plans in order to enter the market before SpaceX captures investor focus next month. This trend can already be seen in several IPOs that have entered the market in recent weeks, including AI chip company Cerebras and investment bank Lincoln International. Among retail investors, the SpaceX IPO is increasingly being viewed as a FOMO (fear of missing out) trade, supported by Elon Musk's popularity and the perceived scarcity of the company's shares. Unlike traditional IPOs, which usually rely on cash flow fundamentals and stable growth projections, SpaceX is being marketed more through narratives around its futuristic vision and industry dominance. The company's IPO filing shows that most of SpaceX's revenue last year came from its Starlink satellite internet business, with total revenue reaching IDR 302.45 trillion, while the company's AI unit was still loss-making. Reuters previously reported that Elon Musk is also considering allocating up to 30% of the IPO shares to retail investors, far above the average allocation in traditional IPOs. Cerity Partners partner Michael Ashley Schulman said retail investor enthusiasm for SpaceX is being driven by the strength of the market narrative. "SpaceX could become the biggest narrative event of a generation," he said. Although the SpaceX IPO is expected to be highly successful, analysts believe this alone will not be enough to revive the sluggish US IPO market following the 2021 listing boom. They argue that a broader IPO market recovery will still depend on geopolitical stability, stock market conditions, and easing investor concerns over AI disruption in legacy technology sectors. Annex Wealth Management Chief Economic Strategist Brian Jacobsen stressed that the SpaceX IPO is not representative of overall market conditions. "This is not a signal for the IPO market in general," he said. Georgetown University finance professor Reena Aggarwal added that SpaceX's unique business model does not guarantee other companies will achieve similar IPO results. "However, if this IPO fails for any reason, the impact could weigh on the IPO market as a whole," she said. (SF/LM)
SpaceX launches its biggest, most beefed-up Starship yet on a test flight
SpaceX launched its biggest, most powerful Starship yet on a test flight Friday, an upgraded version that NASA is counting on to land astronauts on the moon. The redesigned mega rocket made its debut two days after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced he's taking the company public. It blasted off from the southern tip of Texas, carrying 20 mock Starlink satellites that were released midway through the hourlong spaceflight that stretched halfway around the world. The spacecraft reached its final destination -- the Indian Ocean -- despite some engine trouble, before erupting in flames upon impact. That last part was not unexpected, according to SpaceX. Musk called it "an epic" launch and landing. "You scored a goal for humanity," he told his team via X. It's the 12th test flight of the rocket that Musk is building to get people to Mars one day. But first comes the moon and NASA's Artemis program. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman flew in for the launch, saying Starship is now one step closer to the moon. The last of the old space-skimming Starships lifted off in October. SpaceX's third-generation Starship -- a souped-up version dubbed V3 -- soared from a brand-new launch pad at Starbase, near the Mexican border. Last-minute pad issues thwarted Thursday evening's launch attempt. SpaceX was hoping to avoid the fireworks it experienced during back-to-back launches last year when midair explosions rained wreckage down on the Atlantic. Earlier flights also ended in flames. There was no fireball this time until the very end. The spacecraft plummeted upright into the Indian Ocean under seemingly full control, then toppled over and ignited. While the liftoff itself went well, not all of the engines fired as the booster attempted a controlled return. The spacecraft also had to make do with fewer engines, but kept heading eastward 120 miles up. A pair of modified, camera-equipped Starlinks ejected from Starship provided brief views of the spacecraft in flight -- a remarkable first. At 407 feet, the latest model eclipses the older Starship lines by several feet and packs more engine thrust. The revamped booster sports fewer but bigger and stronger grid fins for steering it back to Earth following liftoff, and a larger and more robust fuel transfer line to feed the 33 main engines. This fuel line is the size of SpaceX's Falcon 9 first-stage booster. The retro-looking, stainless steel spacecraft also has more of everything -- more cameras and more navigation and computer power -- as well as docking cones for future rendezvous and moon missions. Starship is meant to be fully reusable, with giant mechanical arms at the launch pads to catch the returning rocket stages. But on this latest trial run, nothing was being recovered. The Gulf of Mexico marked the end of the road for the redesigned first-stage booster, and the Indian Ocean for the spacecraft and its satellite demos. NASA is paying SpaceX billions of dollars -- and also Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin -- to provide the lunar landers that will be used to land Artemis astronauts on the moon. The two companies are scrambling to be first. While Starship has reached the fringes of space on multiple flights lasting an hour at most, Bezos' Blue Moon has yet to lift off, although a prototype is being readied for a moonshot later this year. NASA is following April's successful lunar flyaround by four astronauts with a docking trial run in orbit around Earth planned for next year. For that Artemis III mission, astronauts will practice docking their Orion capsule with Starship, Blue Moon or both. A moon landing by two astronauts -- Artemis IV -- could follow as soon as 2028 using either Starship or Blue Moon, whichever lander is safer and ready first. It will be NASA's first lunar landing with a crew since 1972's Apollo 17. The goal this time is a moon base near the lunar south pole, staffed by astronauts as well as robots. SpaceX is already taking reservations for private flights to the moon and Mars on Starship. The world's first space tourist, California businessman Dennis Tito, and his wife signed up 3½ years ago for a flight around the moon. The timing is uncertain. This week, another wealthy space tourist -- Chinese-born bitcoin investor Chun Wang -- announced he will fly to Mars on Starship's first interplanetary mission. Wang previously chartered a SpaceX polar flight in a Dragon capsule last year and, along with his hand-picked crew, became the first to orbit above the north and south poles. No price tag or date was revealed for his Mars cruise. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
SpaceX launches its biggest, most beefed-up Starship yet on a test flight
SpaceX launched its biggest, most powerful Starship yet on a test flight Friday, an upgraded version that NASA is counting on to land astronauts on the moon. The redesigned mega rocket made its debut two days after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced he's taking the company public. It blasted off from the southern tip of Texas, carrying 20 mock Starlink satellites that were released midway through the hourlong spaceflight that stretched halfway around the world. The spacecraft reached its final destination -- the Indian Ocean -- despite some engine trouble, before erupting in flames upon impact. That last part was not unexpected, according to SpaceX. Musk called it "an epic" launch and landing. "You scored a goal for humanity," he told his team via X. It's the 12th test flight of the rocket that Musk is building to get people to Mars one day. But first comes the moon and NASA's Artemis program. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman flew in for the launch, saying Starship is now one step closer to the moon. The last of the old space-skimming Starships lifted off in October. SpaceX's third-generation Starship -- a souped-up version dubbed V3 -- soared from a brand-new launch pad at Starbase, near the Mexican border. Last-minute pad issues thwarted Thursday evening's launch attempt. SpaceX was hoping to avoid the fireworks it experienced during back-to-back launches last year when midair explosions rained wreckage down on the Atlantic. Earlier flights also ended in flames. There was no fireball this time until the very end. The spacecraft plummeted upright into the Indian Ocean under seemingly full control, then toppled over and ignited. While the liftoff itself went well, not all of the engines fired as the booster attempted a controlled return. The spacecraft also had to make do with fewer engines, but kept heading eastward 120 miles up. A pair of modified, camera-equipped Starlinks ejected from Starship provided brief views of the spacecraft in flight -- a remarkable first. At 407 feet, the latest model eclipses the older Starship lines by several feet and packs more engine thrust. The revamped booster sports fewer but bigger and stronger grid fins for steering it back to Earth following liftoff, and a larger and more robust fuel transfer line to feed the 33 main engines. This fuel line is the size of SpaceX's Falcon 9 first-stage booster. The retro-looking, stainless steel spacecraft also has more of everything -- more cameras and more navigation and computer power -- as well as docking cones for future rendezvous and moon missions. Starship is meant to be fully reusable, with giant mechanical arms at the launch pads to catch the returning rocket stages. But on this latest trial run, nothing was being recovered. The Gulf of Mexico marked the end of the road for the redesigned first-stage booster, and the Indian Ocean for the spacecraft and its satellite demos. NASA is paying SpaceX billions of dollars -- and also Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin -- to provide the lunar landers that will be used to land Artemis astronauts on the moon. The two companies are scrambling to be first. While Starship has reached the fringes of space on multiple flights lasting an hour at most, Bezos' Blue Moon has yet to lift off, although a prototype is being readied for a moonshot later this year. NASA is following April's successful lunar flyaround by four astronauts with a docking trial run in orbit around Earth planned for next year. For that Artemis III mission, astronauts will practice docking their Orion capsule with Starship, Blue Moon or both. A moon landing by two astronauts -- Artemis IV -- could follow as soon as 2028 using either Starship or Blue Moon, whichever lander is safer and ready first. It will be NASA's first lunar landing with a crew since 1972's Apollo 17. The goal this time is a moon base near the lunar south pole, staffed by astronauts as well as robots. SpaceX is already taking reservations for private flights to the moon and Mars on Starship. The world's first space tourist, California businessman Dennis Tito, and his wife signed up 3½ years ago for a flight around the moon. The timing is uncertain. This week, another wealthy space tourist -- Chinese-born bitcoin investor Chun Wang -- announced he will fly to Mars on Starship's first interplanetary mission. Wang previously chartered a SpaceX polar flight in a Dragon capsule last year and, along with his hand-picked crew, became the first to orbit above the north and south poles. No price tag or date was revealed for his Mars cruise. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
SpaceX launches its biggest, most beefed-up Starship yet on a test flight
SpaceX launched its biggest, most powerful Starship yet on a test flight Friday, an upgraded version that NASA is counting on to land astronauts on the moon. The redesigned mega rocket made its debut two days after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced he's taking the company public. It blasted off from the southern tip of Texas, carrying 20 mock Starlink satellites that were released midway through the hourlong spaceflight that stretched halfway around the world. The spacecraft reached its final destination -- the Indian Ocean -- despite some engine trouble, before erupting in flames upon impact. That last part was not unexpected, according to SpaceX. Musk called it "an epic" launch and landing. "You scored a goal for humanity," he told his team via X. It's the 12th test flight of the rocket that Musk is building to get people to Mars one day. But first comes the moon and NASA's Artemis program. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman flew in for the launch, saying Starship is now one step closer to the moon. The last of the old space-skimming Starships lifted off in October. SpaceX's third-generation Starship -- a souped-up version dubbed V3 -- soared from a brand-new launch pad at Starbase, near the Mexican border. Last-minute pad issues thwarted Thursday evening's launch attempt. SpaceX was hoping to avoid the fireworks it experienced during back-to-back launches last year when midair explosions rained wreckage down on the Atlantic. Earlier flights also ended in flames. There was no fireball this time until the very end. The spacecraft plummeted upright into the Indian Ocean under seemingly full control, then toppled over and ignited. While the liftoff itself went well, not all of the engines fired as the booster attempted a controlled return. The spacecraft also had to make do with fewer engines, but kept heading eastward 120 miles up. A pair of modified, camera-equipped Starlinks ejected from Starship provided brief views of the spacecraft in flight -- a remarkable first. At 407 feet, the latest model eclipses the older Starship lines by several feet and packs more engine thrust. The revamped booster sports fewer but bigger and stronger grid fins for steering it back to Earth following liftoff, and a larger and more robust fuel transfer line to feed the 33 main engines. This fuel line is the size of SpaceX's Falcon 9 first-stage booster. The retro-looking, stainless steel spacecraft also has more of everything -- more cameras and more navigation and computer power -- as well as docking cones for future rendezvous and moon missions. Starship is meant to be fully reusable, with giant mechanical arms at the launch pads to catch the returning rocket stages. But on this latest trial run, nothing was being recovered. The Gulf of Mexico marked the end of the road for the redesigned first-stage booster, and the Indian Ocean for the spacecraft and its satellite demos. NASA is paying SpaceX billions of dollars -- and also Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin -- to provide the lunar landers that will be used to land Artemis astronauts on the moon. The two companies are scrambling to be first. While Starship has reached the fringes of space on multiple flights lasting an hour at most, Bezos' Blue Moon has yet to lift off, although a prototype is being readied for a moonshot later this year. NASA is following April's successful lunar flyaround by four astronauts with a docking trial run in orbit around Earth planned for next year. For that Artemis III mission, astronauts will practice docking their Orion capsule with Starship, Blue Moon or both. A moon landing by two astronauts -- Artemis IV -- could follow as soon as 2028 using either Starship or Blue Moon, whichever lander is safer and ready first. It will be NASA's first lunar landing with a crew since 1972's Apollo 17. The goal this time is a moon base near the lunar south pole, staffed by astronauts as well as robots. SpaceX is already taking reservations for private flights to the moon and Mars on Starship. The world's first space tourist, California businessman Dennis Tito, and his wife signed up 3½ years ago for a flight around the moon. The timing is uncertain. This week, another wealthy space tourist -- Chinese-born bitcoin investor Chun Wang -- announced he will fly to Mars on Starship's first interplanetary mission. Wang previously chartered a SpaceX polar flight in a Dragon capsule last year and, along with his hand-picked crew, became the first to orbit above the north and south poles. No price tag or date was revealed for his Mars cruise. ___ The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
