Tag: capitalism

Watching the 13th orbital test flight of SpaceX’s Starship/Superheavy

9:10 am

Starship/Superheavy at T-4:00 minutes on July 13th
Starship/Superheavy at T-4:00 minutes on July 16th.
Click for source.

UPDATE: Delayed 24 hours due to weather. Now scheduled for 5:45 pm (Central) on July 24th. More specifically, the weather above the Gulf was too cloudy for good observations of Starship’s heat shield during ascent. The company decided to delay until tomorrow, when conditions is expected to be “ideal.”

Originally posted July 19, 2026. Bumped to today, the launch date.

Original post:
————————–
Now that SpaceX has confirmed the launch date for the 13th orbital test flight of Starship/Superheavy for July 20, 2026 July 23, 2026 July 24, 2026, with a 90-minute launch window beginning at 5:45 pm (Central), it is time to provide my readers with the many ways they can watch the launch. I have embedded several live streams below. SpaceX’s live steam can be found here. I will embed it once it begins.

The flight plan remains the same as last week, a low orbit that will bring the ship down in the Indian Ocean. The main goals are to test the Raptor-3 engines, bring Superheavy back as planned, relight a Raptor-3 engine in orbit, and test the ship’ thermal tile system during re-entry. In addition, the company will attempt to deploy 20 actual Starlink satellites rather than dummies.
» Read more

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Locals officials in Louisiana hold meeting about possibility of SpaceX spaceport

9:04 am

Pecan Island SpaceX facility?
Pecan Island SpaceX facility?

A state senator and local realtor yesterday held a public meeting — attended by hundreds — to describe the ramifications to the community should SpaceX or some other big space company establish a spaceport in Vermilion Parish, where the unincorporated village of Pecan Island is located, as shown on the map to the right.

Hundreds of residents gathered at the Erath Community Center to hear from state Sen. Bob Hensgens of Abbeville and local realtor Jim Keaty about the possibility of aerospace development — potentially involving SpaceX — coming to Vermilion Parish, with both men acknowledging the rumors while stopping short of confirming any deal.

Hensgens, a Republican representing District 26, opened the meeting of the Abbeville Rotary Club by making clear the limits of what he knew. “I wanna thank y’all for coming and, and I wanna start off the statement by saying I know no details of any hyper deal economic development in Vermilion Parish right now,” he said. “But like the rest of my constituents, I’ve heard over the last six months the rumors,” he added.

Realtor Jim Keaty added some advice for businesses in the construction trade.

He said those working in construction-related trades in Acadiana may want to prepare now, noting that SpaceX already accepts applications from prospective vendors. “If I was into construction and I was in a trade, like electrical engineer or a contractor, I certainly would try to apply to become a vendor for SpaceX,” he added.

Keaty is the realtor who first revealed the rumors in May. At this moment however nothing is confirmed. SpaceX has not made any firm statement about Louisiana or the 200-plus squaire-mile plot owned by Exxon that is appears to be for sale. Nor has any state official, all of whom like Hensgens say they have no confirmed information about a deal.

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Starlink now available in the Seychelles Islands off the eastern coast of Africa

8:48 am

Starlink has now offering terminals to citizens of the Seychelles Islands, located about 800 miles east of Africa.

Starlink has launched commercial satellite internet services in Seychelles, expanding its footprint to 28 African countries. Unlike its previous African markets, Seychelles already has one of the continent’s highest internet penetration rates and affordable broadband.

The one tidbit of information from this story that struck me was its claim that 28 African nations have approved Starlink. I had not thought it was that high, considering the number of stories of African governments opposing the SpaceX company.

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Rocket Lab wins another War Department suborbital contract, worth $266 million

8:31 am

The War Department yesterday announced it has awarded Rocket Lab a second big contract, worth $266 million, for launching its HASTE suborbital version of its Electron rocket.

Rocket Lab USA Inc., Long Beach, California, has been awarded a $266,000,000 firm-fixed-price completion contract for suborbital launch. This contract provides for the launch of 12 suborbital launch vehicles, with six optional launches. Work will be performed at Pacific Spaceport Complex, Alaska, and is expected to be completed by Dec.31, 2028. [emphasis mine]

This deal is on top of a $190 million Pentagon contract Rocket Lab got in March 2026 to do 20 HASTE suborbital hypersonic launches.

Though the announcement does not specifically say the new contract adds 12 HASTE launches to the total, it is the only way Rocket Lab can do suborbital missions. The announcement also carries one very interesting additional detail, as indicated by the highlighted sentence. Rocket Lab presently has launchpads in New Zealand and Wallops Island, Virginia. To launch HASTE from Alaska would require a new pad entirely.

The location however would provide the military greater security and secrecy. Suborbital launches from Wallops are difficult if not impossible to hide. For example, Rocket Lab tried very hard to limit any information about a HASTE launch in April, but the public knew about as it happened. Suborbital launches from Alaska however could occur without anyone knowing. It also might provide the military a hypersonic launch site that could reach Russia and China.

Hat tip to BtB’s stringer Jay.

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Northrop Grumman writes off $91 million because of its solid-fueled booster nozzle failures

8:01 am

Unexpected debris falling from rocket at about T-1:00
Nozzle failure during February 12, 2026 Vulcan launch

In releasing its second-quarter earnings report, Northrop Grumman revealed it has taken a charge of $91 million as a result of the repeated nozzle failures on its GEM 63XL solid-fueled boosters, used by ULA on its Vulcan rocket.

This charge against earnings is on top of a write off of $71 million in the first quarter, for the same reasons.

ULA is itself losing many millions as well, as it can’t launch and earn revenue. Worse, some customers have begun switching to other launch providers, eliminating that revenue completely.

As for fixing the nozzle issue:

Neither Northrop nor ULA has disclosed details about the cause of the anomaly. In an earnings call, Kathy Warden, president and chief executive of Northrop Grumman, said the company had taken unspecified “corrective actions” that included new components for the motor. “We progressed on the root cause investigation on the GEM 63XL program, and we are implementing corrective actions to address the anomaly we experienced on a launch in the first quarter,” she said. “These include a component redesign, which has now been proven in a successful static-fire test.”

However, she indicated that the redesigned motors may not be delivered for several months. “We expect to begin delivering the redesigned motors by the end of the year,” she said.

This delay also impacts Amazon and its Leo constellation, which awarded ULA a 39-launch contract for launching its Leo satellites. Amazon only has 396 satellites in orbit, and has to get more than 2,660 launched by July 30, 2029 to meet its FCC license. Without those Vulcan launches the company will be hard-pressed to make that date.

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SpaceX launches Northrop Grumman’s MRV robotic servicing satellite

2:22 pm

In doing its second launch in less than eight hours, SpaceX today successfully placed Northrop Grumman’s Mission Robotic Vehicle-1 (MRV) into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral Space Force station in Florida.

The MRV carries three Mission Extension Pods (MEPs), each assigned to attach to a different geosynchronous satellite to provide them fuel and power and extend their life for up to eight years. Two pods will attach to two Intelsat satellites, and the third will attach to an Australian Optus communications satellite. Though Northrop has done this kind of extension mission before, this is the first time it is launching an MRV with multiple pods. Previous robots, dubbed Mission Extension Vehicles (MEV), attached to only one satellite per mission.

The rocket’s two fairings completed their 7th and 31st flights respectively. The first stage (B1069) completed its 32nd flight (81 days after its previous mission). Because of the fuel required to get the MRV to geosynchronous orbit where its target satellites are located, the first stage was not recovered. Instead it splashed down in the Atlantic. The flight however solidified the booster’s position in sixth place in the rankings for the most reused launch vehicle:

39 Discovery space shuttle (retired)
36 Falcon 9 booster B1067
35 Falcon 9 booster B1071
33 Atlantis space shuttle (retired)
33 Falcon 9 booster B1063
32 Falcon 9 booster B1069 (retired)
29 Falcon 9 booster B1077
29 Falcon 9 booster B1078

Sources here and here.

The leaders in the 2026 launch race:

88 SpaceX
45 China
10 Rocket Lab (plus two suborbital HASTE launches)
10 Russia

For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 88 to 80.

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Update on the launch status for three new rockets from Relativity, Rocket Lab, and PLD

11:32 am

Link here. The article describes in detail the present state of development for the three rockets, Relativity’s Terran-R, Rocket Lab’s Neutron, and PLD’s Miura-5.

In the case of Relativity and PLD, it appears both are still on schedule for their first launch before the end of the year.

In the case of Rocket Lab, the company is still targeting a launch before the end of the year, but that date is more questionable because “the program has experienced some hardware setbacks earlier in the year, including the loss of components originally intended for flight use.” In January 2026 the company lost a tank intended for flight during a pressure test. Though the company said it would provide an update in February, no such update has so far been issued.

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Australia’s leftist government issues a new policy statement on space

9:46 am

The leftist Labor party that is presently running Australia’s government today issued a new policy statement on the nation’s space industry, focused on trying to encourage its growth.

You can read the statement here [pdf]. Though it is mostly filled with meaningless bureaucratic and leftist jargon, including an an “acknowledgement” of the primary land rights of the aborginal population (or as it calls them, “the many nations of First Peoples”), the statement has one item at the very end that suggests this government recognizes its bureaucracy is slowing development.

After many pages of gobbly-gook that has little substance in reality, that last action item is the following:

Action: Advance regulation and international governance:

  • Evolve domestic regulatory frameworks to support current and emerging
    Australian space activities, ensuring safety, security and national interests
    while enabling entrepreneurship and innovation.
  • Shape international governance by contributing to global rules and norms
    for the safe and sustainable use of outer space.

It appears the Labor government recognizes the regulatory framework in Australia is slowing development, and is at least willing to say it wishes to fix the issue. At the same time, it also vows its continuing allegiance to international globalist regulations and the need to make space “safe and sustainable.”

These two goals are generally opposed to each other. How Labor will square this circle is quite unclear, but at least it appears it is aware of the regulatory issues. Its ability to fix them however will I think be hampered by that party’s very “woke” focus. For example, the statement opens by endorsing ancient aboriginal religious beliefs, but never once recognizes the very basic western values of private property and law that built the country that presently exists.

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SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites

9:15 am

SpaceX this morning successfully placed another 24 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The first stage (B1082) completed its 23rd flight (51 days after its previous mission), landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.

The leaders in the 2026 launch race:

87 SpaceX
45 China
10 Rocket Lab (plus two suborbital HASTE launches)
10 Russia

For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 87 to 80.

SpaceX plans a second launch later today, to place Northrop Grumman’s Mission Robotic Vehicle-1 (MRV) into orbit. The MRV-1 is the first of that company’s next generation of robotic servicing spacecraft. It carries three pods that the company has contracts to deploy to dock with three different geosynchronous satellites and extend their life.

A launch later today by a Chinese pseudo-company is also expected, though this schedule is not as certain.

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Another bad indicator relating to the UK’s space effort

2:30 pm

A space junk removal demo mission first proposed in 2024 by the United Kingdom’s space agency has apparently missed a deadline for issuing the final contract award to one of two startups to fly the mission.

The UK Space Agency has missed a deadline to award a £75.6 million contract for the country’s first mission to capture and remove dead satellites from low Earth orbit.

A call for Phase 3 of the mission’s development was published in July 2025, with the contract initially expected to be awarded by 30 March 2026. However, in its final annual report as an independent entity, published on 14 July, UKSA admitted that the contract award had been delayed. The agency is now targeting summer 2026 but has not explained the reason for the delay or provided a more precise timetable.

The two companies are Astroscale (based in Japan with a UK division) and Clearspace, which has been attempting to launch a junk removal mission for the European Space Agency now for almost a decade, with nothing getting off the ground.

This delay should not be a surprise. The Labor government that is presently in power has been in the process of shutting down the space agency, even as it has allocated a half billion dollars for space-related government projects. It has also done nothing to eliminate the red tape that is squelching its private space industry.

It thus makes great sense that this contract hasn’t been issued. For one, the bureaucracy involved is probably in chaos as the Labor government rearranges deck chairs. For another, there is probably little interest by the private sector to do any work in the UK, because the red tape there is stifling, and has already bankrupted two rocket startups and one spaceport. It is very possible both companies declined to bid. Or if they did, the confusion in the government made any decisions impossible.

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India’s government invests approximately $7 million in home-grown satellite company

9:21 am

In a complicated arrangement involving the Indian government and an Indian venture capital firm, the Indian satellite company Dhruva announced last week that it obtained approximately $7 million in private investment.

The money comes out of a government investment fund of just under $200 million — dubbed the Antariksh Venture Capital Fund — established by the agency IN-SPACe but administered by the venture capital company SIDBI Venture Capital Limited. Unlike India’s space agency ISRO — which has for decades run India’s entire space program — IN-SPACe is focused on encouraging a competitive and independent private space sector.

This was the first investment in that government investment fund, coming just before the first successful launch this past weekend by a private Indian rocket company, Skyroot. Besides building satellites, Dhruva appears to also act as a satellite aggregator, obtaining launch services from rocket companies for other satellite companies and then serving to integrate and deploy their satellites. With this investment the company now has $330 million in capital in hand.

It is a bit puzzling why this first investment went to a satellite company, rather than a rocket startup, of which India has several. For India’s space sector to really grow, it needs home-grown commercial rockets. Satellites can’t reach orbit without rockets.

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SpaceX: 13th Starship/Superheavy test orbital launch now set for July 23, 2026

9:09 am

UPDATE: Less than a few hours after I posted this announcement, SpaceX changed the launch date from July 20th to July 23rd. The post below now reflects that change.

SpaceX today issued an update confirming the company’s intention to launch Starship/Superheavy on its 13th test orbital launch July 23, 2026, one week after the rocket had a launch abort at T-0 seconds.

The 90-minute launch window opens at 5:45 pm (Central).

The update describes the mission, which remains unchanged from last week, but provides no details as to what the company has done to correct the issue that caused four Raptor-3 engines in Superheavy to misfire. Previously Musk had indicated they would replace two engines, but no further information has as yet been released.

Regardless, it is clear the company is pushing hard to complete this launch, as it wishes to go to full orbital test flights on the next mission.

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NASA cancels Draper/Ispace unmanned lunar lander contract

12:45 pm

Artist rendering of Ispace's Ultra lunar lander
Artist rendering of Ispace’s Ultra lunar lander

According to a press release from the Japanese lunar lander startup Ispace, NASA last week canceled its contract with Draper for a lunar lander mission in 2030, a mission that Ispace was the main subcontractor.

Ispace technologies U.S., (Ispace-U.S.) an American lunar exploration company and subsidiary of Ispace, inc. (ispace), and Draper, a non-profit research, development and manufacturing company, today announced that Draper has mutually agreed with NASA to end the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) task order CP-12.

Since July 2022, Ispace-U.S. served as a subcontractor to Draper to provide a lunar lander transportation service for NASA’s CLPS task order CP-12. Following the agreement with NASA on the primary contract, Draper and ispace-U.S. expects the mutual termination of the subcontract between the two companies.

For that 2030 mission Ispace was really the main contractor — having already built and launched two failred lunar landers — but as a Japanese company (even with a U.S. division), it needed an American company to act as lead in order to win the NASA contract. Draper fulfilled that purpose.

Draper however has little experience building lunar landers. Ispace was really doing the job. The problem was that Ispace discovered with its two failures that its original lander design was insufficient. The development of a new larger lander, dubbed Ultra, has caused significant delays.

It appears NASA and Draper decided this arrangement was not acceptable. Both were probably uncomfortable with its faux lead position. Ispace’s delays also were likely a factor.

It is certainly possible for Ispace alone to win later contracts. It has said it intends to bid. Moreover, as Japan is both a partner in the Artemis program and a signatory to the Artemis Accords, there really is little reason for NASA or Ispace to play these games. NASA can issue a contract directly to it. It simply has to make sure it issues contracts to American companies first.

Below is the present rough schedule of missions in NASA’s Artemis program, as revised under NASA administrator Jared Isaacman’s leadership, and adjusted to include this cancellation.

NASA’s Artemis mission schedule:
» Read more

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Indian’s private rocket startup Skyroot completes a perfect first launch

9:31 am

Vikram-1's perfect flight path
Click for source.

In a spectacular success, the Indian private rocket startup Skyroot today completed the first launch of its smallsat rocket Vikram-1, placing several payloads into orbit.

The graphic to the right shows the rocket’s flight path from the ground to orbit, overlaid over its nominal planned flight path. The match is precise. During the launch everything worked exactly as intended, an achievement on a first launch almost no rocket company has ever accomplished, including SpaceX.

During the broadcast there were several things I noticed that were of interest. First, Skyroot launched from India’s government spaceport at Sriharikota, operated by the country’s space agency ISRO. During normal ISRO launches the control room is filled with more than a hundred controllers, packed tightly in several rows. For this private launch, however, that control room appeared to have less than third of those numbers, many of which I suspect were ISRO employees tasked with monitoring the launch to protect the agency’s assets. Those controllers who appeared part of Skyroot’s team, in the front row, were few.

Second, in the viewing gallery at the back were several important ISRO managers, including the head of the agency. While everyone else around them cheered the success enthusiastically, they sat quiet, with some having very dour expressions. This could have simply been an effort at professionalism, but I suspect it also had an element of resentment and fear. Skyroot’s launch today of a smallsat private rocket is something ISRO has not been able to do for almost two years. The agency’s PSLV rocket has failed at launch twice in a row, and remains grounded.

In fact, right now Skyroot’s one launch is the only Indian launch of the year.

Moreover, Skyroot represents the future, and ISRO the past. The Modi government has been pushing hard to transition from the present government model, where ISRO owns, runs, and controls the entire Indian space program, to the capitalism model, where the private sector does it, and the government is merely the customer. ISRO has been somewhat resistant to this change, slow-walking many Modi directives.

This success signals the beginning of a new era in India, one in which private enterprise, competition, and freedom fuel innovation and success. It also signals an era where ISRO will become less powerful and important. Those ISRO managers know this, and some clearly didn’t like the prospect.

The leader board for the 2026 launch race remains unchanged.

86 SpaceX
45 China
10 Rocket Lab (plus two suborbital HASTE launches)
9 Russia

For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 86 to 79.

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DC government workforce slashed by almost 20% since Trump took office

12:34 pm

The drop in the DC federal workforce under Trump
Click for source.

According to recent data, the number of federal workers in the Washington, D.C. area has now reached a 30 year low, reduced by 60,000, from nearly 376,000 at the start of Trump’s second term to 312,500 in May.

The graph to the right shows how Trump’s arrival instigated the drop.

The Department of Education took the heaviest blow, with nearly 40 percent of its workforce slashed in 2025 as Trump made clear his goal: to dismantle the agency outright. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Treasury weren’t far behind, each shedding roughly a quarter of their staff, with the IRS bearing the brunt as the administration moved to gut tax enforcement.

Beyond those, USAID, Agriculture, HHS, the VA, and the Department of Labor all saw double-digit percentage losses in their workforce, with USAID and the USDA especially targeted.

What must also be noted is the lack of any significant consequences resulting from these reductions. It has had no impact on life in general. In fact, all economic indicators — which say the U.S. economy is generally doing well — suggest its only impact has been free up Americans and let them get on with their lives.

This however is only a start. A lot more non-workers in DC should get their walking papers. They contribute little or nothing, while squelching the freedom of the rest of us.

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Mauritius signs Artemis Accords

8:52 am

On the same day Serbia officially signed the Artemis Accords, the island nation of Mauritius (located in the Indian Ocean) also joined, becoming the 70th nation within this American space alliance.

Serbia’s decision to join had been announced earlier this week, with the official signing today.

As Mauritius lies about thousand miles east of Africa, we could say it is part of that continent, thus raising the number of nations in that continent to have signed the accords to seven. Angola, Botswana, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Senegal are the others. For a variety of reasons, not many African nations have signed on.

The full list of nations in this American space alliance is as follows:

Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Botswana, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, the Ukraine, the United States and Uruguay.

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Starship/Superheavy launch aborted at T-0; launch scrubbed

3:56 pm

Starship/Superheavy today, just after engine abort
Starship/Superheavy today, just after engine abort

While all looked perfect right up until engine ignition at T-0 second in today’s attempt to fly the 13th test orbital flight of SpaceX’s Starship/Superheavy, the rocket then shut down, aborting the launch.

At T-0 the engines did ignite for a second, after the water deluge system had activated as planned. The company almost immediately announced they were scrubbing for the day. As many have noted below in the comments, once that deluge system runs, they can’t launch again that day. It takes too long to refill the tanks.

Subsequently we have learned that 4 Raptor engines in the inner ring of Superheavy did not light. Musk has since said that at least two will be replaced. I suspect after they inspect the engines they might replace all four. They will likely then do another full static fire test before attempting a launch. Expect a delay of about a week.

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SpaceX completes 3rd of 10 launches for Space Force’s Tranche constellation

1:42 pm

SpaceX today successfully placed another 21 satellites into orbit, the 3rd of a 10-launch contract for the Space Force’s Tranche-1 communications constellation, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The 1st stage (B1103) completed its 4th flight (27 days after its last mission), landing on a drone ship in the Pacific. The rocket’s two fairing halves completed their 5th and 6th flights respectively. As of posting the satellites had not yet been deployed.

The leaders in the 2026 launch race:

86 SpaceX
45 China
10 Rocket Lab (plus two suborbital HASTE launches)
9 Russia

For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 86 to 78.

As my readers are well aware, SpaceX has another launch later today, the 13th orbital test flight of its gigantic Starship/Superheavy rocket, lifting off from Boca Chica in Texas. That 90-minute launch window opens at 6:45 pm (Eastern). You can watch that here.

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Watching today’s 13th orbital test flight of Starship/Superheavy

10:48 am

The thirteenth test flight of SpaceX’s Starship/Superheavy rocket is presently scheduled for 6:45 pm (Eastern) tonight, with a 90 minute launch window.

UPDATE: I have now embedded the SpaceX its live stream on X. Below I have embedded the live streams being provided from others.


» Read more

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