SpaceX IPO — Boon Or Boondoggle?
SpaceX plans to go public next month. Will new investors see substantial gains or covering Elon’s losses from his misadventures?
Space
Space Is Becoming Climate Infrastructure, And China Knows It
Betting against China in space has become one of those comfortable Western assumptions that deserves to be retired. It sits beside earlier assumptions that Chinese solar would remain second tier, Chinese EVs would remain cheap copies, and Chinese batteries would never define global cost curves. The pattern is familiar. Analysts … [continued]
A Starlink train passing through auroras over rural Saskatchewan in November 2025. (Samantha Lawler), CC BY-NC-ND.
A Million New SpaceX Satellites Will Destroy the Night Sky — For Everyone on Earth
More than 10,000 Starlink satellites currently orbit the Earth. We see them crawling across dark skies, no matter how remote our location, and streaking through images from research telescopes. SpaceX recently announced that it wants to launch one million more of these satellites as orbital data centres for AI computing power. A few years ago, we wrote a paper … [continued]
ChatGPT generated image of China’s proposed space-based solar array concept in geosynchronous orbit, beaming power down to Earth
Endless Sunlight, Endless Costs: The Economic Reality of Space Solar Power
Space-based solar power is having another moment in the sun. The idea has been circulating for more than half a century, rising and fading with each new wave of optimism about technology’s ability to overcome gravity. The renewed excitement today stems from one thing: China has joined the conversation. When … [continued]
Space Solar Race Heats Up, Now With Flying Data Centers
Space solar technology has created the conditions for launching data centers into orbit, taking advantage of ultra-low energy costs and opportunities for expansion.
The Largest Digital Camera Ever Built for Astronomy Makes Its Debut
On screensaver mode, smart TVs often rotate through photos of natural wonders, from waterfalls to canyons. Now imagine hundreds of those televisions, with one single image spread out among them. The photograph is a sweeping panorama of a huge section of the night sky, with stars and galaxies shining bright … [continued]
New Theory Explains Sand Ripples on Mars & on Earth
Common causes could upend previous understandings. Sand ripples are fascinating. They are symmetrical, yet wind, which causes them, is very much not. Furthermore, they can be found on Mars and on Earth. They would be even more fascinating if the same effect found on Mars could be found here on … [continued]
Japan’s Wooden Satellite Shows Us That We Should Give Wood A Fresh Look
That Time When Japanese Wood Construction Was Seen As A Weakness During World War II, the United States came up with an idea that was almost as awful as using atomic bombs: a bomb that slowly drifts down and then releases bats, which would then carry little napalm bombs to … [continued]
Self-Repairing Solar Panels Are Heading For Space
NASA is lending its financial muscle to help an Arizona startup send its self repairing solar panels into space and meet the demand for larger, more powerful arrays.
Last Gasp For Fossil Fuels: Space Solar Is Happening
Space solar once seemed like a faraway dream, but the economic case is taking shape and the basic technology is at hand.
