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Thousands of Austin’s tech workers will soon be back in the office – Austonia

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

Austin's big tech offices are starting to open upto varying degrees.

Over a year of remote work later, some companies found it to be the perfect fit, while others experienced less productive employees. Overheard on Conference Calls, a workplace reviews site, ranked Austin as the third best city for remote work last year based on a variety of factors, including cost of living, average WiFi speed, commute time savings and coffee shops per capita.

Nevertheless, most tech companies are adopting a hybrid model, allowing more remote options than they did pre-pandemic but reinstating in-office minimums at the same time. Here's how six Austin offices are handling the transition. (Oracle declined to comment.)

In addition to its corporate office at the Domain, Amazon is also planning to open fulfillment centers in Kyle, San Marcos and Pflugerville. (Amazon)

Office: The DomainApproximately 1,000 corporate employees

Amazon expects its U.S. office employees will return to the office through the summer, with most back in the office by early fall, according to companywide guidance issued March 30. At that time, about 10% of the company's corporate employees were working from the office full-time.

Office: Riata Vista CircleApproximately 7,000 employees

Apple CEO Tim Cook sent out an email last week informing employees that they will return to the office three days a week starting in early September, according to multiple reports. Employees will be able to work remotely for up to two weeks a year, so long as management approves their requests.

Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell believes remote working will be the new normal. (Stock photo)

Multiple officesApproximately 13,000 employees in Central Texas

Most Dell employees continue to work remotely, Senior Vice President Mark Pringe said in a statement to Austonia. Before the pandemic, 65% of the company's employees worked flexibly and 30% worked remotely on any given day. Last March, the company transitioned 90% of its team to remote work, and the majority are still remote today.

Moving forward, the company will continue to encourage flexibility and anticipates a hybrid model will emerge. "If employees can successfully do their job from home, they can work with their manager to make the choice to do so," Pringle said."

CEO and founder Michael Dell told the technology news site CRN in March that "remote working is absolutely here to stay," explaining that a company that offers flexibility will be more attractive to potential hires than one that doesn't.

Facebook's downtown office opened at Third + Shoal in September 2019. (Facebook)

Offices: The Domain, Parmer Innovation Center, West Sixth StreetApproximately 1,200 employees

Facebook's Austin employees have not yet returned to local offices, and the company is still developing its return-to-office plan, Head of Local Communications Tracy Clayton wrote in an email to Austonia.

The plan will likely include increased flexibility, with both in-office and remote options. "We believe people and teams will be increasingly distributed in the future, and we're committed to building an experience that helps everyone be successful, no matter where they're working," Clayton said.

(Shutterstock)

Offices: West Second Street, SaltilloApproximately 1,100 employees

Google declined to share Austin-specific return-to-office details through a spokesperson but referred to a recent blog post from CEO Sundar Pichai, which lays out a plan for all offices. It includes:

Pichai "fully expects" the share of employees working remotely to increase in the coming months, according to the post. He estimates 60% will fall into a hybrid schedule, 20% will switch offices and 20% will work remotely.

An internal survey conducted by Google last June found that engineers reported feeling less productive than they did pre-pandemic, according to reports.

(Brandywine Realty Trust)

Office: Burnet RoadApproximately 6,000 employees

Around 90% of IBM's Austin employees are still working remotely as the company moves toward a hybrid office model similar to its pre-pandemic norm, according to a spokesperson.

CEO Arvind Krishna told Bloomberg in March that he expects 80% of employees to work in a hybrid model post-pandemic, with the remainder staying entirely remote. But he raised concerns about the impact such a split would have on the company's culture. "When people are remote I worry about, 'What's their career trajectory going to be?'" he told the business news site.

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Wall Street Journal editor: Journalists, Big Tech suppressed lab-leak theory to ‘fit their priors’ – Fox News

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

Media top headlines June 8

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez refusing GoFundMe money for abuela, a judge ordering Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to clarify policy that only granted interviews to journalists of color, and MSNBCs Nicole Wallace agreeing that not passing Democratic voting bill would be like the fall of the Roman empire round out todays top media headlines

Wall Street Journal editor at large Gerard Baker wrote the media about-face on the COVID-19 lab leak theory has shone a spotlight on the "layers of rottenness" in U.S. institutions that may be just as "damning" as China's corruption in the pandemic.

"Chinas officials may well be culpable of a combination of incompetence, recklessness and deceit," Baker wrote Monday in his piece, "America's Covid Groupthink Functioned Like China's Repression." "But in an authoritarian regime, they might not have had much individual agency in the matter. In this country, scientists, bureaucrats, journalists and executives of Big Tech companies suppressed the story not out of fear of imprisonment or death, but of their own volition, out of ideological or even venal motives."

"Marching in ideological lockstep is less forgivable in a society where one has a choice in the matter," Baker argues.

TED CRUZ MOCKS WASHINGTON POST AS CLOWNS AFTER FACT CHECK DECLARES WUHAN LAB LEAK THEORY SUDDENLY CREDIBLE

Baker ripped Big Tech for "deliberately" extinguishing debate on the topic. Facebook, for instance, had banned talk of the lab leak theory on their platform up until last month.

"In light of ongoing investigations into the origin of COVID-19 and in consultation with public health experts, we will no longer remove the claim that COVID-19 is man-made from our apps," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.

Baker places the majority of the blame, however, on the media.

"Yet the largest responsibility for the failure to consider in a timely fashion the lab-leak theory lies with the media," he said. "Journalists were once marked by their curiosity. Now the only thing thats curious about many of them is their lack of curiosity when a story doesnt fit their priors."

TOM COTTON ON DISMISSAL OF LAB LEAK THEORY: MEDIA, HOLLYWOOD DEEPLY IN THE POCKET OF COMMUNIST CHINA

For months, mainstream media dismissed the idea that COVID-19 escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology as a "conspiracy theory," slapping down conservatives who promoted the theory like Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., in the process. But more prominent experts and journalists have begun to recognize its credibility, particularly after a report last month that three lab researchers were sickened with COVID-like symptoms in November 2019.

The 180 was not lost on observers, some of whom accused the media of suffering "amnesia" on the topic. New York Times writer David Leonhardt was among the analysts who suggested the media made a "mistake" by so quickly dismissing Cotton, former President Donald Trump, and others who considered the lab leak a possibility. The Washington Post's Josh Rogin was just as critical, ripping outlets for failing to "own up" to their errors.

"The obsession with debunking anythingDonald Trumpsaid and the fear of being accused of racism undoubtedly colored the judgment of many whose job is to consider only the empirical evidence," Baker wrote.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Baker acknowledged there were "independent-minded people" in each industry who sought the truth. But those rebels, he said, "were no match for the groupthink and coverup."

Wall Street Journal editor: Journalists, Big Tech suppressed lab-leak theory to 'fit their priors' - Fox News

Where Rich Americans Relocate: Texas Draws Hedge Funds, Big Tech in Wealth Boom – Bloomberg

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

Big Tech is flocking to Austin. Big Finance is expanding in Dallas. Houston, the epicenter of the U.S. energy industry, is diversifying away from Big Oil.

Florida may be the destination of choice for A-list money managers looking to flee Wall Street. But in the post-pandemic economy, Texas is rising, welcoming a rush of talented, wealthy people from California, New York and Illinois with the lure of lower taxes, luxury suburbs and opportunities to invest their cash -- even as state lawmakers cast a wary eye at their potential blue-state politics.

In the last year, Tesla Inc. broke ground on a pickup-truck factory in Austin, and Oracle Corp. said it would shift its headquarters to the Texas capital. Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. announced it was moving to the Houston area. Charles Schwab Corp. left San Francisco for the affluent Dallas suburb of Westlake, where Fidelity already has a campus. Vanguard plans to open an office in the area early next year.

And hedge funds are sprouting up or expanding all over Dallas. Izzy Englanders Millennium Management, which has had offices in Texas since 2016, is backing a new fund, Meridiem Capital Partners, thats expected to start trading in the second half of this year with $1.5 billion. Canyon Partners, which manages $24 billion, should have 55 employees in town by year end.

A change of scenery sometimes is a great way to energize an organization, and Texas is clearly a very, very business friendly state, Canyon co-CEO Josh Friedman said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. Dallas has a particularly good base, I think, of very sophisticated families and its a good community intellectually in which to run a business.

Cinctive Capital Management opened an office in Dallas this year with capacity for about 20 people. The fund, which manages about $1 billion, is expanding its Texas operation believing there are talented managers in the state that might be overlooked by other firms. Avidity Partners has more than doubled its footprint in the state since it began in 2019, and its assets have swelled to $4 billion. All of these moves are according to people familiar with each funds plans.

Teslas Gigafactory under construction in Austin.

Photographer: RoschetzkyIstockPhoto/iStock/Getty Images

A lack of income tax is only part of the draw. Housing is relatively affordable. The health care system in Houston and other cities feature some of the best hospitals in the country. In addition to a warmer climate, plentiful restaurants, activities for families and lots of space to roam, job creation in the state has served as a magnet.

Employment growth has typically been twice the national average over the years, said Pia Orrenius, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. And when you compare it with places like California and New York, the cost of living is still substantially lower, even though its starting to rise.

Texas has long used cash grants and local-tax incentives to coax companies to relocate. Now, a slew of growth-minded local businesses are attracting money to an economy that state leaders say would be the worlds ninth largest if Texas were an independent country.

Covid really just accelerated it, said Andrew Brock, the Austin-based head of J.P. Morgan Private Bank for Central Texas. People are coming here to invest. Theyre coming here because they believe there are opportunities to deploy capital.

Brock says Austin is benefiting from an influx of family offices and private equity firms looking to scale up growing businesses alongside established giants as Dell Technologies Inc. and more recent successes such as Yeti Holdings Inc.

Watch: Austin Mayor Hopes Elon Musk Can Help with Housing Problems

Texas was already in the midst of robust growth. In the past decade, Dallas and Houston added more people than any other metro areas, pushing the state population to about 29 million. Austin expanded at the fastest clip for urban areas of at least a million people.

Of the seven metropolitan areas with the greatest daily net inbound and outbound - 3 are in Texas

Source: Bloomberg analysis of U.S. Census data

The state picked up two seats in Congress over the last decade while California and New York each lost one. The Golden State lost population in 2020 for the first time. The most popular destination for people fleeing: Texas.

The dynamic of people leaving the coasts and coming to places like Texas is a durable trend, said Mark Okada, chief executive officer of Dallas-based Sycamore Tree Capital Partners, which he started last year with Jack Yang and Trey Parker to invest in alternative credit. He points out the state has an optimal tax rate, is a few hours flying distance from both coasts, and is only an hour behind New York.

Real estate agents are trying to keep up. Supply is limited in desirable neighborhoods, and its not unusual for houses to attract dozens of bidders -- many of them from California. In some cases, buyers are showing up without a job but with plenty of cash after selling their houses in more expensive locales.

WATCH: Austin, Texas Mayor Steve Adler discusses the large migration of technology industry workers to the city.

The median home price in Texas jumped 14% in March to a record $283,200, spurred by a 29% surge in Austin and double-digit gains in Dallas and Houston, according to Texas A&M Universitys Real Estate Research Center.

Its the reverse of the way people used to move to California, said Marie Bailey, who relocated in 2017 to Dallass northern suburbs from the Los Angeles area and became a real estate agent. She started a Facebook group three years ago for Californians moving to Texas and recently surpassed 33,500 members.

Data shows zipcode changes on LinkedIn user profiles from April to October

Source: LinkedIn, Council for Community and Economic Research

Booms -- and busts -- have a long history in Texas. The oil and savings-and-loan industries both flamed out in the 1980s, leaving years of economic wreckage in their wake. These days, the states big cities are less dependent on petroleum and natural gas. Houston still feels the pain when energy prices fall, but the city can also fall back on big industries in aerospace and medicine, plus growing clusters in biotech and clean energy.

The growth comes with headaches. Traffic is getting worse and public transportation is limited. The influx of people is driving up housing prices, forcing up the cost of living by boosting property taxes. Given high levies on real estate and the state sales tax, the fiscal burden on middle-class people is higher in Texas than in California, at least according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

Whats more, Texas can be its own worst enemy when it comes to economic development. The states independent power grid failed under the strain of unusually cold temperatures in February, stoking doubts about Texass views on electricity deregulation and aversion to federal oversight.

And then there are the recent headlines out of Austin, where the states Republican-dominated legislature has spent the past few months taking on a raft of controversial measures, including restricting voting and abortion rights, expanding the ability to carry a gun without a permit, and limiting trans-gender kids participation in sports. The debates have drawn the ire of the national media, pleasing far-right conservatives and worrying moderates who fear that states brand will continue to become a caricature.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott

Were basically doing things that flat offend highly educated workers we need to attract, said Ray Perryman, a former economist at Baylor University in Waco who has been tracking the Texas economy for 40 years.

Perryman said hes also worried the state isnt investing enough in health care or education. More than half of its school kids are Hispanic, but Hispanic families only control about 5% of the states wealth, he said. Black children make up more than 12% of students, and African-American families are similarly underrepresented in wealth accumulation.

I fear that were not looking beyond our noses, Perryman said.

For now, the rush is on. Alex Wilcox, CEO of a small upscale airline called JSX, moved the company to Dallas from California three years ago to tap a labor pool full of former employees of American Airlines Group Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. He went looking for a home in the swanky Park Cities area, but instead ended up building a house on an empty lot.

It sounds extravagant, but it was actually more economical than buying a place, he said. We spent half for a 5,000 square foot house of what we would have spent for half that size and 60 years old in Newport Beach.

With assistance by Katherine Burton, Katia Porzecanski, John Gittelsohn, Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou, and Erik Schatzker

(Updates with comment from Canyon co-CEO in fifth paragraph.)

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal.

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Where Rich Americans Relocate: Texas Draws Hedge Funds, Big Tech in Wealth Boom - Bloomberg

Republican AG Repeatedly Cites Justice Clarence Thomas Rebuke of Big Tech in Bid to Have Google Declared a Public Utility – Law & Crime

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on Tuesday asked a state court to declare that Google is a public utility that cannot manipulate search results to favor its own products and services over others. The Republican filed a 17-page lawsuit that relied heavily on Justice Clarence Thomass recent concurrence endorsing a view of internet companies and Big Tech that has steadily gained steam among conservatives in recent years.

The lawsuit, filed in Delaware County Common Pleas Court, asserts that Googles dominance as an internet search provider is so ubiquitous that the marketplace for competitors is virtually non-existent, rendering it a public utility or common carriersimilar to a gas, electric, or phone companies.

Ohio also has an interest in ensuring that as a common carrier Google Search does not unfairly discriminate against third party websites; that Google carries all responsive search results on an equal basis; and that it provides the public with ready access to organic search results that the Google Search algorithms produce, the lawsuit stated. Ohio also has an interest in ensuring that as a common carrier Google Search does not unfairly discriminate against third party websites; that Google carries all responsive search results on an equal basis; and that it provides the public with ready access to organic search results that the Google Search algorithms produce.

According to Yost, Google structures its search results to specifically disadvantage competitors in facets of its business that are not directly related to internet search results by directing users to Google-owned platforms like YouTube, Google Flights, Google Maps, Google News, Google Shopping, and Google Travel. Yost also alleges that Google presents its own integrated products in enhanced ways that are designed to capture more clicks than its competitors, regardless of where the competitors product would be ranked in an organic search, meaning results that appear strictly based on the relevance of the terms searched.

In bolstering his legal argument, Yost repeatedly cites to Justice Thomass concurrence in Biden v. Knight First Amendment Institute, which put an end to a lawsuit challenging then-PresidentDonald Trumpsthen-ability to block critics on his personal Twitter account. The justices unanimously vacated a lower courts decision which held that Trumps blocking of Twitter users violated the First Amendment and ordered the case dismissed as moot. But more significantly, Justice Thomas suggested that powerful internet companies should be stripped of their First Amendment rights because digital platforms that hold themselves out to the public resemble traditional common carriers.

Justice Thomas recently stated, [t]here is a fair argument that some digital platforms are sufficiently akin to common carriers or places of accommodation to be regulated, Yost wrote. Justice Thomas went on to explain, [t]he analogy to common carriers is even clearer for digital platforms that have dominant market share. Google searchat 90% of the market shareis valuable relative to other search engines because more people use it, creating data that Googles algorithm uses to refine and improve search results.

In a statement to Law&Crime, Google, calling Yosts lawsuit meritless, said its search is designed to provide users with the most relevant results.

Ohioans simply dont want the government to run Google like a gas or electric company, the company said. This lawsuit has no basis in fact or law and well defend ourselves against it in court.

Read the full lawsuit below.

[image of Yost via YouTube screengrab, Image of J. Thomas via Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images]

Have a tip we should know? [emailprotected]

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Republican AG Repeatedly Cites Justice Clarence Thomas Rebuke of Big Tech in Bid to Have Google Declared a Public Utility - Law & Crime

Ron DeSantis Is Celebrating Twitter’s Ban of Rebekah Jones. His Own Big Tech Law Could Force Them To Replatform Her. – Reason

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

Rebekah Jones, the former Florida Department of Health web employee who has garnered lots of media attention and whistleblower status for alleging a conspiracy to cover up COVID-19 deaths, has been booted off Twitter, at least temporarily.

Jones told the Miami Herald that the reason she was blocked from Twitter was that she got a bit overenthusiastic sharing a recent Herald story about her alleged whistleblowing and tripped Twitter's rules against spamming.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the chief target of Jones' criticism, strongly opposes deplatforming. He recently signed into law a bill that mandates social media companies explain to users why they've been banned. The new law also requires that platforms like Twitter and Facebook carry messages from candidates for office no matter what those messages say (unless it's obscene). Platforms face massive fines of $250,000 per day for statewide offices if they refuse to comply with the law.

Given his contempt for the ability of private companies to boot users they don't like, you might think DeSantis would express some sort of principled concern about Jones' ban or care whether it was justified, even though new evidence strongly suggests the coverup she alleges didn't actually happen.

You'd be wrong.

After his office discovered Jones had been deplatformed by Twitter, his office released the following statement:

This decision was long overdue. Rebekah Jones is the Typhoid Mary of COVID-19 disinformation and has harmed many hardworking DOOH employees with her defamatory conspiracy theories.

I hope someone will ask Ms. Jones why she thinks she got suspendedwill she allege that Governor DeSantis is somehow behind Twitter's decision? That would be deeply ironic if she tried to spin that falsehood into her conspiracy theory, given the Governor's stance on Big Tech.

The Jones ban is interesting for another reason: The bill DeSantis signed also forbids social media platforms from blocking the sharing of news stories from media outlets. This part of the bill was clearly intended to prevent social media platforms from claiming "disinformation" and stopping users from passing along, for example, a New York Post story about the contents of Hunter Biden's laptop in 2020. So it's a bit rich for DeSantis' office to support Twitter deplatforming Jones for "disinformation" after passing a law specifically prohibiting Twitter in other contexts from stopping the spread of what it considers "disinformation."

DeSantis' Press Secretary Christina Pushaw has responded to accusations of hypocrisy by insisting that Twitter isn't violating Jones' "First Amendment" rights (I used scare quotes because nobody has a First Amendment right to post on a private platform like Twitter) because she was blocked not for her speech, but for violating Twitter's "platform manipulation" rules. Pushaw believes Jones did a lot more than just spamming folks.

Whatever his office might claim, DeSantis' critics are absolutely right that his Big Tech deplatforming bill is not about protecting speech, it's about political control of what is and is not allowed on social media platforms. DeSantis can decide what is "misinformation," but Twitter cannot.

Jones believes that she'll be back on the platform soon. Based on the law DeSantis signed, Twitter might have to restore her platform. On Monday afternoon, I tweeted out this joke response:

On Monday evening, Jones announced that she's running for Congress in an attempt to unseat GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz. If she actually follows through and files papers as a candidate, then under DeSantis' law, Twitter will be obligated to host campaign messages from Jones. Because there's no exception in Florida's law for libel or defamation, Jones can then use this mandated platform to smear DeSantis as much as she wants.

Jones apparently even bragged about this in an Instagram post announcing the campaign, pointing out that Twitter will be fined daily under this law if they don't restore her account.

Jordan Kirkland at The Capitolist says Jones is misinterpreting the law because she's not a Florida resident. But Kirkland's wrong here. The part of the law that mandates that candidates be platformed does not require them to be Florida residents. The Constitution requires that Jones must live in Florida in order to represent the state in Congress, but that's it. All she needs to be covered by the antiplatform law is to be certified as a candidate. Read the bill for yourself here.

We knew all along that this bill was a complete mess, full of provisions that were bound to be used to try to force tech companies to serve as hosts for political bullying. If DeSantis ends up being its first victim, he'll have nobody to blame but himself.

As of Tuesday morning, though, it's not clear whether this face off between Jones and Gaetz is going to happen. Jones has posted a follow-up message on Instagram backing off on her announcement that she's going to run:

Pushaw has also emailed Reason some additional comments in response to this post. She writes in part:

Governor DeSantis supports every Floridian's right to free speech. Even conspiracy grifters like Rebekah Jones have First Amendment rights, and their rights must be protected. However, she was not censored for anything she said. Jones wasn't suspended for posting left-wing conspiracy theories, COVID disinformation, or targeted harassment and defamationalthough shedidall that. Jones was suspended for clear cut TOS violations like buying followers and using multiple accounts. (2 of her alt accounts, rebel_geo and taytaygreen5, have also been suspended in the last 24 hours).

She adds, "If you read the Florida legislation, you know there is nothing in it that says Big Tech platforms can't enforce any content moderation policies. On the contrary, the legislation merely requires social media platforms to communicate their policies clearly to their usersand to enforce those policies consistently, without regard to political or ideological leanings."

That's a true description of the part of the law that covers general users. But the law is explicitly different for candidates for office. The law is clear that candidates are exempt from a platform's own moderation policies.

This post has been updated to include a subsequent post from Jones and additional comments from Pushaw.

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Ron DeSantis Is Celebrating Twitter's Ban of Rebekah Jones. His Own Big Tech Law Could Force Them To Replatform Her. - Reason

Clarence Thomas Declares War on Big Tech – Reason

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

In 2003, Reason named Clarence Thomas one of the magazine's "35 Heroes of Freedom" because the Supreme Court justice had proven himself "a reliable defender of freedom of speech in such diverse contexts as advertising, broadcasting, and campaign contributions." Alas, Thomas' recent statements in support of greater government control over "digital platforms" such as Twitter and Facebook have somewhat tarnished his First Amendment bona fides.

In April, Thomas joined his fellow justices in ridding the Supreme Court of a lingering legal dispute over the propriety of thenPresident Donald Trump's decision to block various critics on Twitter. With Trump out of the Oval Office, the Court said inBiden v. Knight First Amendment Institute(formerlyTrump v. Knight First Amendment Institute), the case was now moot.

Thomas agreed but did not let the matter rest there. In a solo concurrence, he lamented what he called the "unprecedentedconcentrated control of so much speech in the hands of a few private parties." Yes, Trump prevented "several people from interacting with his messages," Thomas wrote. But Twitter "removed him from the entire platform, thus barringallTwitter users from interacting with his messages." For Thomas, the takeaway was as troubling as it was obvious. "As Twitter made clear," he wrote, "the right to cut off speech lies most powerfully in the hands of private digital platforms."

The justice then delivered what amounted to a regulatory call to arms against those platforms. "Part of the solution" to the "problem" of "private, concentrated control over online content and platforms available to the public," Thomas wrote, may be found in "two legal doctrines" that "limit the right of a private company to exclude."

The first doctrine, he explained, involved "common carriers," such as railroads and telegraphs, which have historically been required "to serve all comers." The second involved "places of public accommodation" or amusement, such as inns, restaurants, and theaters, which have generally been forbidden from denying service to certain categories of people. "The similarities between some digital platforms and common carriers or places of accommodation," Thomas wrote, "may give legislators strong arguments for similarly regulating digital platforms."

But these arguments may not be quite as strong as Thomas thinks. For one thing, today's social media enterprises neither look nor act much like traditional common carriers. Unlike a telegraph company, for instance, Twitter and Facebook not only move information from place to place but curate it and moderate it, resulting in all sorts of varied and even personalized user experiences. What is more, the platforms let users curate and moderate their own unique experiences, leading to a vast array of online associations and communities. All of which qualifies as expressive activity, which is shielded by the First Amendment.

Thomas' public accommodation theory also has its faults. To be sure, state and federal law do prohibit most businesses from refusing service based on a customer's race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or certain other legally protected categories. But it is not illegal (yet) to deny service based on a customer's comments about politics, which is what Thomas is ultimately objecting to here.

Like a number of other modern conservatives, Thomas seems to think that Twitter and other tech companies are effectively censoring right-of-center views. But Twitter is a private entity with First Amendment protections of its own and is thus under no obligation to share its soapbox. Thomas' approach, by contrast, would trespass the Constitution by forcing the company to play host to speech that it does not want to be associated with.

Thomas' arguments came about in a mooted case in which he wrote only for himself. Still, it would be a mistake to dismiss them as a fringe legal stance. The justice has a record of staking out lonely positions that later become entrenched in law. His critics underestimate him at their peril.

Take campaign finance. InMcConnell v. Federal Election Commission(2003), Thomas wrote alone to fault his colleagues in the majority for largely approving the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, which, among other things, banned corporate- and union-funded "electioneering communications" that mentioned a candidate by the name in the run-up to an election. Seven years later, inCitizens United v. Federal ElectionCommission(2010), the Court cited Thomas'McConnellopinion while striking down the same "electioneering communications" ban. He knows a thing or two about playing the legal long game.

Thomas also wields considerable influence in the broader conservative world, where interested parties are no doubt paying close attention to the present case. In other words, get ready for a host of new laws and lawsuits that cite Thomas' words in support of greater regulatory crackdowns on tech companies.

And do not be surprised when federal judges start citing him too. As Jeff Kosseff, author ofThe Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet(Cornell University Press), remarked on Twitter, "I do think that Thomas's statement increases the chances that at least two judges on a randomly chosen circuit court panel will rule in favor of must-carry rules for social media platforms." The legal conflict over government control of social media is just starting to heat up.

Thomas is surely correct about one thing. "We will soon have no choice," he wrote, "but to address how our legal doctrines apply to highly concentrated, privately owned information infrastructure such as digital platforms." One way or another, Big Tech will eventually collide with government regulators at the Supreme Court.

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Clarence Thomas Declares War on Big Tech - Reason

Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte: Big Tech needs us, we need them – Economic Times

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

Bengaluru: Ltd.s relationship with Big Tech companiesincluding Apple Inc., Google, Facebook Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc.has never been stronger than it is today, the Indian IT services firms chief executive Thierry Delaporte said on Thursday.

I think we have a lot more engagement with these companies now than we had 10 years ago. They need us, as much as we need them, Delaporte told Phil Fersht, founder of HFS Research, during a chat over a Zoom call.

Delaporte has been at the helm of Wipro for 11 months now. We are different worlds. They are developing products, but they need companies like us, creating an environment for them to continue to scale up and develop applications and solutions on these large platforms and environments, he said.

Countering the wisdom that suggests product and services companies are at loggerheads, he said the benefits that IT services companies have seen from cloud adoption is a great example of how both industries can grow together.

Wipro and its Indian peers are benefiting from the rapid adoption of cloud by their clients, helping them shift their applications to cloud service providers such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. It's very clear, every company needs to move (to the cloud) because if you're not driving your cloud transformation, you will never have the agility that will allow you to adapt to the evolution of technology, Delaporte said.

After taking charge as CEO, Delaporte has simplified the company structure, removed non-performing employees, hired new team members and won large orders from clients such as Germanys Metro AG, resulting in decade-high growth for the company.

He also led the company in its biggest acquisitionof UK-based Capco for $1.45 billion in March--and forecast 8-10% growth in the quarter to June.

The positive commentary from Wipro has also lifted the companys shares to a record high, with its market capitalisation touching over Rs 3 lakh crore on Thursday.

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Wipro CEO Thierry Delaporte: Big Tech needs us, we need them - Economic Times

G7 nations aim for global 15 per cent tax on big tech and bin digital services taxes – The Register

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

The G7 group of nations has proposed a minimum 15 per cent tax rate for multinational entities and the removal of digital services taxes.

The G7s members are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US, with the European Union participating as a guest. The Groups finance ministers and central bank governors met last week to discuss various matters, with their positions revealed in a post-meeting Communiqu with three items of note for the technology industry.

The first was a proposal to set a new globally minimum tax rate of 15 per cent, with that tax levied where revenue is made. The proposal is designed to end the financial contortions that see big tech companies make money from citizens of one nation but shift that revenue and any resulting profits to lower-taxing nations.

The results of these arrangements can be farcical, as shown by last weeks revelation that a Microsoft subsidiary in Ireland made profits of $314.73bn but paid no corporation tax because it is "resident" in Bermuda for tax purposes.

The second decision was abolition of digital services taxes, levies on digital services like video streaming that are notionally delivered from beyond a nations borders even though they are consumed -in-country. Digital services taxes were designed in part to ameliorate the effects of profit-shifting, so with the 15 per cent global tax in place they become less relevant.

The third item of interest was a re-statement of the G7s position that no global stablecoin project should begin operation until it adequately addresses relevant legal, regulatory, and oversight requirements through appropriate design and by adhering to applicable standards. The G7 nations want the Financial Stability Board, an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system, to set rules for digital currencies before any non-state entities have a crack at disrupting money with efforts like Facebook's Libra. The statement also signals the G7 has an eye on China's Digital Yuan, and wants it integrated into a global framework.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) endorsed the G7s stance.

Todays consensus among the G7 Finance Ministers, including on a minimum level of global taxation, is a landmark step toward the global consensus necessary to reform the international tax system, said secretary-general Matthias Cormann.

Thats important because while the G7 represents a big chunk of the global economy, their scheme wont be effective if other nations dont sign up. The G7s leaders will meet on June 11th and be joined by leaders of Australia, India, South Korea, and South Africa, with this new tax plan on the agenda. In July finance ministers of the G20 group will meet, and as theyve been working on similar tax measures its expected theyll consider and probably adopt the G7s proposal, which should mean that by years end most developed economies agree that big tech must be taxed more, in more places.

The G7s proposed 15 per cent tax rate is lower than company tax in many member nations, which has already lead to criticism it wont properly tackle profit-shifting.

Remember, too, that just last week the USA warned it believes that digital services taxes disproportionately affect its tech companies. Abolishing digital services taxes, which developing nations like Indonesia introduced with the explicit intent of broadening their tax base looks like a win for American companies at the expense of other nations.

The G7s proposal looks like a win for the USA, and maybe bad news for nations like Indonesia.

And then theres the fact that big tech companies have consistently defended their tax-shifting actions by stating theyre not illegal. The Register expects that tax havens that facilitated profit-shifting, and big techs lawyers and accountants, are already hard at work on new schemes that get around the G7 proposal.

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G7 nations aim for global 15 per cent tax on big tech and bin digital services taxes - The Register

The S&P 500 now is top-heavy in 5 big tech stocks but that alone won’t end this bull market – MSN Money

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

A top-heavy market may not be a warning sign, after all. Im referring to the outsized share of the U.S. market reflected in a handful of megacap stocks. The combined market valuation of just five stocks Apple Microsoft Amazon.com Alphabet (Google) and Facebook currently represent more than 20% of the total of all companies in the S&P 500 index

Many believe that such a lopsided market isnt healthy. They point out that, prior to the past couple of years, the peak of internet bubble held the record for when the five largest companies commanded the greatest share of the S&P 500s market cap. That was when their share hit 17%, according to data from Morgan Stanley Research.

Any parallel to the top of the internet bubble is certainly alarming. But what is overlooked when drawing this parallel is that the world has changed in fundamental ways over the past two decades. What previously was a danger sign may now be the new normal.

Thats because the markets are evolving along with whats known as a winner take all economy. Im referring to a prediction made in 2005 in the Journal of Economics & Management Strategy by Thomas Noe of Oxford University and Geoffrey Parker of Dartmouth College. The researchers predicted that, because of so-called network effects in an internet-based economy, industries will become increasingly dominated by their largest companies.

Their prediction has been remarkably prescient. As I pointed out in a late April column, the percentage of total corporate profits coming from the 100 biggest earners has skyrocketed over the past three decades. In 1975, the profit share of the top 100 was 48.5%, and in 1995 was 52.8%. But by 2015 it had jumped to 84.2%. (These percentages come from research conducted by Kathleen Kahle of the University of Arizona and Rene Stulz of Ohio State University.)

With the recent earnings season now behind us, I decided to see what the comparable percentage was in 2020. It was higher still, at 91.8% as you can see from the chart below. One third of the S&P 1500 companies lost money. The rest more or less were competing for the crumbs falling off the table from the profit feast of the top 100 companies.

In light of this, the lopsided U.S. market appears to be far less concrning. In fact, given how much the biggest companies are earning relative to the rest of the market, they deserve to have outsized market caps. According to FactSet data, for example, the five largest U.S. stocks as of June 7 represented 21.5% of the total market cap of the S&P 500, and their latest fiscal years net income represents 22.6% of the total net income of all 500 companies in that index.

Relative to earnings, in other words, the top five companies are slightly cheaper than the other 400 companies in the S&P 500. This is far different than the situation that prevailed at the top of the internet bubble, when some of the stocks with the biggest market caps were producing paltry earnings.

Dartmouths Parker said in an interview that its not particularly surprising that profits and market caps are currently correlated. It would be more surprising if they were not, as was the case at the top of the internet bubble. Absent such a disconnect, he said, the concentration of market cap in the largest companies is not a signal of a top-heavy market.

This doesnt mean that the stock market isnt vulnerable to a big decline, Parker added. The point instead is that, if indeed the market does decline, it will be for other reasons than the concentration of market cap among the largest companies.

Mark Hulbert is a regular contributor to MarketWatch. His Hulbert Ratings tracks investment newsletters that pay a flat fee to be audited. He can be reached at mark@hulbertratings.com

More: Dont get too optimistic about a stock market rally theyve been fizzling out

Also read: Never short a dull market? What stock traders need to know about a popular adage

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The S&P 500 now is top-heavy in 5 big tech stocks but that alone won't end this bull market - MSN Money

Relativity Space raises $650 million for 3D-printed SpaceX …

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

An artist's rendition of a Terran R rocket launching to orbit.

Relativity Space

3D-printing specialist Relativity Space raised $650 million to step up work on a fully reusable rocket that will attempt to challenge Elon Musk's SpaceX in less than three years, the company announced on Tuesday.

The money will be used "to accelerate some of the production ramp rate and get to a higher launch cadence as quickly as we can, because the demand is certainly there for it," Relativity Space CEO Tim Ellis told CNBC.

Relativity's new capital will be focused on its Terran R rocket, a launch vehicle that would be similar in size and power to SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.

Terran R will carry 20 times more to orbit than Relativity's Terran 1 rocket, the latter of which the company is on track to launch for the first time by the end of this year. Additionally, Ellis said Terran 1's backlog of customer orders makes it "the most pre-sold rocket in history before launch."

The raise, which Ellis described as "war chest doubled," was led by Fidelity and comes eight months after Relativity brought in $500 million in a round led by Tiger Global. The $650 million in equity added BlackRock, Centricus, Coatue and Soroban Capital as new Relativity investors, with a host of existing investors including Fidelity, Tiger, Baillie Gifford, K5 Global, Tribe Capital, XN, Brad Buss, Mark Cuban, Jared Leto and Spencer Rascoff building on prior stakes.

Relativity has now raised $1.34 billion in capital since its founding in 2015, with its valuation climbing to $4.2 billion from $2.3 billion in November. Its headcount has grown to 400 people, with Ellis saying the company plans to "add several more hundred this year."

"We've signed up to create a lot of value, certainly remaining the second most highly valued space company in the world," Ellis said, as SpaceX commands an industry-leading $74 billion valuation.

A timelapse from inside of a 3D-printing bay shows the manufacturing process for a Terran 1 second stage flight tank:

Relativity Space

Relativity is building the first iteration of its Terran 1 rocket and has manufactured 85% of the vehicle for the inaugural launch. It uses multiple 3D-printers, all developed in-house, to build Terran 1 and will do the same for Terran R.

The rockets are designed to be almost entirely 3D-printed, an approach which Relativity says makes it less complex, and faster to build or modify, than traditional rockets. Additionally, Relativity says its simpler process will eventually be capable of turning raw material into a rocket on the launchpad in under 60 days.

"We're just seeing in the market that there needs to be another quickly-moving, disruptive launch company that's actually skating to where the puck is going," Ellis said.

He added that Relativity "never seriously considered the SPAC path," believing his company doesn't yet need to go public and can tap "almost limitless capital" in the private markets. A SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company, is a blank-check company that raises funding from investors to finance a merger with a private company to take it public.

Ellis noted that Relativity received higher fundraising offers than the one it accepted from Fidelity, but went with the firm as the lead due to its prestige and reputation.

Relativity Spaceranked No. 23on this year'sCNBC Disruptor 50list.

The row of two-story tall 3D printer bays at the company's headquarters.

Relativity Space

Relativity's Terran 1 rocket is designed to carry 1,250 kilograms to low Earth orbit. That puts Terran 1 in the middle of the U.S. launch market, in the "medium-lift" section betweenRocket Lab's ElectronandSpaceX's Falcon 9in capability.

But Terran R would go head-to-head with Falcon 9: Targeting a capability of more than 20,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit, almost as tall at 216 feet in length, slightly wider with a 16-foot diameter, and a similarly sized nosecone to carry satellites to space.

SpaceX's rocket features nine Merlin engines in the booster, each capable of about 190,000 pounds of thrust, while Relativity's Terran R booster will feature seven Aeon R engines that it says will be capable of 302,000 pounds of thrust each. Earlier this year Relativity completed a full duration test firing of a pathfinder engine, using liquid oxygen and liquid methane as its fuel.

Musk's company ships its Falcon 9 boosters via highways from its headquarters in California, and Ellis said Relativity will similarly send its Terran R boosters over land to the coast of Texas, before putting them on a barge to its engine testing facility in Mississippi and then on another barge to Florida.

Relativity is aiming to launch the first Terran R mission in 2024 from Cape Canaveral's LC-16 launchpad, where its first Terran 1 missions will also launch. While Relativity is "nearly out of physical space" in the headquarters it moved into last summer, Ellis said the company has the core infrastructure in place needed to manufacturing Terran R. It has five large scale 3D-printers and five smaller "development" printers, and plans to add two more development bays in the near future. But Ellis noted that the company completed work on a new 3D-printer head, which more than doubles its print speed.

"It's not just adding more printer hardware. We're also continuously using the data and learning of printing to actually speed up the process and also make changes to the printer design themselves," Ellis said.

Ellis emphasized that Terran R has been a part of the plan since Relativity's early days, as the company has seen strong "market interest and demand for creating this vehicle." Although he declined to disclose the name of the customer, Relativity has a "prominent" initial buyer for Terran R launches.

"We've actually been developing [Terran R] this the whole time, so in many ways I feel like this is a weight off my shoulders, a big reveal," Ellis said. "We just needed to get enough traction and resources to be in the spot where now we're going big."

An illustration of a Terran 1 rocket, left, next to a Terran R rocket and a silhouette of a person.

Relativity Space

Ellis said he is a "huge fan" of SpaceX's next-generation Starship rocket, which Musk's company is developing to be fully reusable hoping to make space travel more akin to air travel.

"We need a vehicle that's going to take people to Mars," Ellis said. "[Starship] is huge and I think that capability is necessary."

As Terran R aims to be fully reusable, Ellis described it as "more a miniature Starship than a Falcon 9 rocket." While SpaceX reuses the boosters of its Falcon 9 rockets, it has not been able to reuse the upper stages that carry satellites on to orbit. Relativity wants Terran R to be a "fresh look at what is the best possible" rocket by designing it to be fully reusable from the beginning.

Terran R's booster, or first stage, will use its engines to land standing upright and has features "that would be nearly impossible to produce without 3D-printing." Ellis said Relativity's long-term goal is to "get to hundreds to thousands of reuses" per rocket. Reusing the second stage will be the next challenge, with Relativity building it "out of a more exotic 3D-printed metal" to make it lighter and able to endure the intense temperatures of reentering the Earth's atmosphere.

"First stage reuse or even second stage may not work perfectly on the very first try, but every single launch attempt that we're bringing in revenue we're able to continue to develop reusability further," Ellis said.

A fully reusable rocket would also be able to deliver cargo quickly from one point on the Earth to another, a use the U.S. military has shown great interest in already with SpaceX's Starship.

"I think point-to-point space transportation is an interesting market that we're looking at" with Terran R, Ellis said.

More broadly, Ellis remains focused on helping to "build an industrial base on Mars" and believes both 3D-printing and fully reusable rockets are key to making that happen.

"No one else is doing full reusability and I think that that's a bit depressing there needs to be more companies actually trying to make the future happen in a big way," Ellis said. "What we're doing is extremely hard ,but we also have the best and most experienced team in the industry."

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SpaceXs Starlink is in talks with several airlines for in-flight Wi-Fi – The Verge

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

The team behind SpaceXs growing satellite internet network Starlink is in talks with several airlines to beam internet to their airplanes, the projects vice president said during a conference panel on Wednesday. Expanding Starlink from rural homes and onto airlines is an expected move for Elon Musks space company as it races to open the broadband network commercially later this year.

Were in talks with several of the airlines, Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceXs VP of Starlink and commercial sales, told a panel at the Connected Aviation Intelligence Summit on Wednesday. We have our own aviation product in development weve already done some demonstrations to date, and looking to get that product finalized to be put on aircraft in the very near future.

Since 2018, SpaceX has launched nearly 1,800 Starlink satellites out of the roughly 4,400 it needs to provide global coverage of broadband internet, primarily for rural homes where fiber connections arent available. The company is in the midst of a Starlink beta phase that promises up to 100Mbps download and 20Mbps upload speeds, with tens of thousands of users so far. Most are paying $99 per month for internet under that beta, using a $499 bundle of a self-aligning Starlink dish and Wi-Fi router.

Last year, SpaceX filed plans to test Starlink on five Gulfstream jets. And in March, SpaceX sought FCC approval to use Starlink with so-called Earth Stations in Motion industry jargon to refer to basically any vehicle that would receive a signal, including cars, trucks, maritime vessels, and aircraft. Musk clarified on Twitter at the time: Not connecting Tesla cars to Starlink, as our terminal is much too big. This is for aircraft, ships, large trucks & RVs. Another FCC filing from last Friday requested approval for testing across five US states of an updated receiver with a square-shaped antenna, a basic design commonly associated with aircraft antennae.

Hofeller said the design for SpaceXs airline antennas will be very similar to the technology inside its consumer terminals, but with obvious enhancements for aviation connectivity. Like those consumer antennas, the aviation hardware will be designed and built by SpaceX, he said. The airborne antennas could link with ground stations to communicate with Starlink satellites.

For Starlink to provide connectivity to airplanes flying over remote parts of the ocean, far from ground stations, will require inter-satellite links a capability in which satellites talk to each other using laser links without first bouncing signals off ground stations. The next generation of our constellation, which is in work, will have this inter-satellite connectivity, Hofeller said.

Competition is fierce between Musks Starlink network and the growing industry of low-orbit satellite internet providers. New competitors include so-called mega-constellations from Jeff Bezos Amazon, which has yet to launch any of its planned 3,000 satellites, and the UKs OneWeb, which has launched 182 satellites of roughly 640 planned. All of those satellites will be in low-Earth orbit, a domain below the more distant geostationary orbits of larger internet satellites that currently provide internet services to commercial aircraft.

Established US competitors for in-flight internet are Intelsat and ViaSat, which operate networks of satellites in geostationary orbit. ViaSat recently announced plans to use its next-generation satellite network on Deltas mainline fleet. The California-based company is planning a 300-satellite low-orbit network of its own as well as a new geostationary trio that will start launching early next year. It is already a diehard competitor to SpaceX. ViaSat has threatened to sue the Federal Communications Commission for not doing an environmental review on a recent Starlink modification.

SpaceX appears confident that it can outlast the more established competition. All in all, passengers and customers want a great experience that [geostationary] systems simply cannot provide, Hofeller said on the panel. So its going to be up to the individual airline whether they want to be responsive to that, or if theyre okay with having a system that is not as responsive to their customers demand.

OneWeb, which was pulled out of bankruptcy last year by the UK government and Indian telecom giant Bharti Global, is also targeting in-flight internet services with its constellation and has been far more public with its plans than SpaceX. Asked by the panel moderator when customers can expect to use in-flight internet with any of the competing satellite networks currently expanding in low-Earth orbit, OneWebs VP of mobility services Ben Griffin estimated the middle part of next year maybe sooner. Airlines want to see developed hardware and services that work first, he added.

We have been talking to airlines for quite some time, so theres no lack of interest, Griffin said during the same panel. SpaceXs Hofeller was cagey when the question turned to him What Ben said is correct. People want to see the hardware, they wanna see the constellation, and so were driving that hard as fast as we can. When the announcement will be? To be determined. Dont know. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

SpaceXs Starlink is in talks with several airlines for in-flight Wi-Fi - The Verge

SpaceX Dragon docks at space station to deliver new solar …

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station today (June 5) to deliver new solar arrays along with tons of fresh research experiments and NASA supplies as part of the company's 22nd cargo resupply mission.

The uncrewed Dragon autonomously linked up with the orbiting laboratory at 5:09 a.m. EDT (0909 GMT), parking at the zenith, or space-facing, side of the station's Harmony module. Docking occurred approximately 40 hours after the Dragon's launch on a Falcon 9 rocket Thursday (June 3) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. At the time of docking, both spacecraft were sailing about 258 miles (415 kilometers) over the South Pacific Ocean.

"It was a great approach and was awesome watching it come on in, and we're glad it's here," NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough told flight controllers after docking. "Looking forward to all the science and other goodies that it brought up along with our EVA solar arrays. It's going to be a great few weeks as we get into Dragon and get things out."

Video: See SpaceX's 1st automated uncrewed docking at space stationRelated: SpaceX launches upgraded Cargo Dragon to space station for NASA

SpaceX's Dragon CRS-22 mission is the second upgraded supply ship to dock with the International Space Station (ISS) without the help of astronauts, who typically use the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to grapple incoming cargo vessels and manually attach them to the station. However, two Expedition 65 crewmembers Kimbrough and fellow NASA astronaut Megan McArthur did monitor the docking from inside the station's Cupola observatory.

The arrival of this upgraded Dragon CRS-22 cargo spacecraft will bring the total number of SpaceX vehicles to two. A different Crew Dragon spacecraft, which brought four astronauts to the space station in April on the Crew-2 mission, is also currently docked at the Harmony module.

"Hard capture is complete and it's a great day seeing another Dragon on ISS [International Space Station]," spacecraft communicator Leslie Ringo radioed the station crew after docking from NASA's Mission Control in Houston.

Related: SpaceX's Crew Dragon space capsule explained (infographic)

This Cargo Dragon is SpaceX's second supply-toting vehicle to autonomously dock itself with the space station. That is a new feature thanks to some redesigns that SpaceX has made to its workhorse Dragon cargo spacecraft. The upgrades allow the vehicle to not only dock with the station (its predecessor was grappled by the station's robotic arm and berthed to the station with the help of astronauts on board) but also increased the craft's cargo capacity by about 20%, enabling more science.

This Dragon will be the second to splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean following a month-long stay attached to the ISS. This change allows researchers to receive their precious cargo shipments much faster than before.

On board the Dragon CRS-22 spacecraft is 7,300 lbs. (3,311 kilograms) of supplies and science investigations, including two brand new roll-out solar arrays that will help boost the space station's power supply. Built by RedWire and Boeing, the arrays are the first two in a set of six that will be installed on the station in the coming months.

Dubbed iROSA (ISS Roll-Out Solar Array), the first set of flexible solar panels will be installed this month as part of a series of spacewalks performed by Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet, on June 16 and 20. The design was first tested as part of a technology demonstration on a previous resupply mission.

In addition to the ISS, the solar arrays will be used on future missions, such as the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (or DART), which is set to launch on a SpaceX rocket later this year. It will also be used on NASA's planned Lunar Gateway, a part of the agency's Artemis moon program.

Also on board the Dragon CRS-21 spacecraft is more than 2,000-lbs. (907 kilograms) of scientific experiments, including some interesting organisms like tardigrades (also known as "water bears") and Bobtail squid.

The Dragon CRS-22 mission marks the second cargo mission the company has flown under its second Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA, called CRS-2.

SpaceX signed its first such contract with NASA in 2008, originally agreeing to launch 12 cargo missions to the space station between 2012 and 2016. NASA extended that contract to include a total of 20 Dragon cargo flights, for a total cost of about $700 million in 2015. (Northrop Grumman, formerly known as Orbital ATK, also received a contract to fly NASA cargo on its Cygnus cargo spacecraft.)

According to Montalbano, the cargo Dragon will remain docked with the space station until July. Once Cargo Dragon departs, the Crew Dragon currently docked with the station will switch parking spots, opening up a port on the ISS for an uncrewed Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch on its OFT-2 test flight to the station on July 30.

Follow Amy Thompson on Twitter @astrogingersnap. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.

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SpaceX Dragon docks at space station to deliver new solar ...

SpaceX Tests Experimental Starlink Terminal That Uses 2 …

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

(Credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX is testing a new version of Starlink that operates via two satellite dishes instead of one.

The company revealed the experimental dish in an FCC filing last week, which was spotted by Wccftech. The document indicates the dish separates the transmitting and receiving antennas into two squares thatll communicate with SpaceXs satellite internet network. Each square measures 12.2 inches by 12.2 inches.

The design is notably different from the circular satellite dish design on a standard Starlink terminal, which the company has been distributing to thousands of eager customers. That dish, which measures 23 inches in diameter, contains both the transmitting and receiving antennas.

SpaceXs application to the FCC doesnt reveal much about the experimental dish or its purpose. The document merely says the company is seeking a six-month license to test the dish starting on July 10 in five states: California, Colorado, Utah, Texas, and Washington.

The tests requested here are designed to demonstrate the ability to transmit to and receive information from a fixed location on the ground, the application adds. SpaceX will test antenna equipment functionality and analyze data link performance of the user terminal.

The application was filed as SpaceX is rolling out Starlink across the globe to potentially millions of users in need of high-speed internet. To reach the goal, the company is trying to reduce the $499 upfront cost of each Starlink terminal, which includes the dish and a Wi-Fi modem.

The experimental dish could also represent SpaceXs attempt to upgrade speeds on the Starlink network. At the same time, the company is working to offer Starlink on moving vehicles, including boats and cars.

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SpaceX Converts Oil Rig Into a Launch Pad for Starship in …

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

SpaceX is building an offshore launch pad for its Starship rocket in Mississippi, The Sun Herald first reported on Thursday.

Elon Musk's space company bought two oil rigs off the coast of Texas earlier this year with the intention of converting them into ocean spaceports. One of the rigs, Phobos, is now located in Pascagoula, a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, according to The Sun Herald.

It's unclear where the other launch pad, Deimos, will be situated. The ocean platforms, where Starship will blast off from, have been named after Mars' moons.

Shipbuilding and repair company ST Engineering Halter Marine & Offshore Inc. is working on a six-month project to remove drilling equipment from the Phobus oil rig.

"SpaceX is here in Pascagoula," Jeffrey Gehrmann, ST Engineering's senior vice president of operations, told The Sun Herald.

Gehrmann said the oil rig was towed in from Galveston, Texas, after SpaceX called ST Engineering to ask how much the company would charge to remove the drilling equipment from the oil rig.

"Apparently, our number was better than our competitors', and they brought it to us," he said.

Gehrmann couldn't go into further details about the project due to a nondisclosure agreement with SpaceX, The Sun Herald reported.

"This has the potential of being huge," Gehrmann said.

Musk said on May 30 that that Deimos is under construction and could begin launch operations next year.

Both Deimos and Phobus will serve as alaunch and landing platform for SpaceX's Starship, a spacecraft that Musk wants to send to Mars. This will be the first time that Starship takes off from an ocean launch pad.

These Starship offshore spaceports follow the success of SpaceX's ocean droneships, including "Just Read the Instructions" and "Of Course I Still Love You," which allow the recovery of Falcon 9 first stages in the Atlantic Ocean.

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Relativity Space raises $650 million from Fidelity and others to build 3D-printed SpaceX competitor – CNBC

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

An artist's rendition of a Terran R rocket launching to orbit.

Relativity Space

Relativity's new capital will be focused on its Terran R rocket, a launch vehicle that would be similar in size and power to SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.

"We've signed up to create a lot of value, certainly remaining the second most highly valued space company in the world," Ellis said, as SpaceX commands an industry-leading $74 billion valuation.

A timelapse from inside of a 3D-printing bay shows the manufacturing process for a Terran 1 second stage flight tank:

Relativity Space

"We're just seeing in the market that there needs to be another quickly-moving, disruptive launch company that's actually skating to where the puck is going," Ellis said.

Ellis noted that Relativity received higher fundraising offers than the one it accepted from Fidelity, but went with the firm as the lead due to its prestige and reputation.

Relativity Spaceranked No. 23on this year'sCNBC Disruptor 50list.

The row of two-story tall 3D printer bays at the company's headquarters.

Relativity Space

An illustration of a Terran 1 rocket, left, next to a Terran R rocket and a silhouette of a person.

Relativity Space

Ellis said he is a "huge fan" of SpaceX's next-generation Starship rocket, which Musk's company is developing to be fully reusable hoping to make space travel more akin to air travel.

"We need a vehicle that's going to take people to Mars," Ellis said. "[Starship] is huge and I think that capability is necessary."

A fully reusable rocket would also be able to deliver cargo quickly from one point on the Earth to another, a use the U.S. military has shown great interest in already with SpaceX's Starship.

"I think point-to-point space transportation is an interesting market that we're looking at" with Terran R, Ellis said.

More broadly, Ellis remains focused on helping to "build an industrial base on Mars" and believes both 3D-printing and fully reusable rockets are key to making that happen.

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Relativity Space raises $650 million from Fidelity and others to build 3D-printed SpaceX competitor - CNBC

Marc Benioff reveals investment in SpaceX, but says he’d need ‘a couple of Ativans’ to leave Earth – CNBC

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with a Dragon 2 spacecraft carrying supplies to the International Space Station lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. This is the 22nd resupply mission for NASA by SpaceX.

Paul Hennessy | LightRocket | Getty Images

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said Monday that he's bullish on space, noting that he's an investor in Elon Musk's SpaceX along with start-ups Astra, Swarm Technologies and Planet Labs.

But don't expect Benioff to join Jeff Bezos on a space trip anytime soon. Bezos, who is stepping aside as Amazon CEO in July, said Monday that he'll fly on the first passenger flight of his space company Blue Origin, which is expected to launch on July 20.

In an interview that aired on CNBC's "Closing Bell," Benioff commended Bezos on the announcement.

"I think it's very exciting that he's willing to basically say, 'If you want to use my product, I will use it first,'" Benioff said. "And I think that that's 100% the right move."

But he's not sure he's personally interested in taking a similar trip.

"I think I might have to take a couple of Ativans before I climb in there," Benioff said. (Ativan is an anti-anxiety medication.)

One of Benioff's space investments, Astra, came out of stealth early last year. Astra said in February that it's going public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) that values the business at $2.1 billion. On Monday, the company announced the acquisition of electric propulsion maker Apollo Fusion.

While Benioff's investment in Astra has been reported, his involvements in the other three companies he named have not been disclosed, and none are included among his 122 deals listed by PitchBook.

Most notable is SpaceX, the private space company that was valued by investors earlier this year at $74 billion. Benioff has commended SpaceX in the past, including a retweet of Musk in May 2020, in which Benioff said "visionary leadership." That was just as SpaceX was preparing to launch astronauts into space.

Benioff also said he's an investor Planet Labs, whose satellite technology takes images from space, and Swarm, which aims to provide internet connectivity from satellites.

"I actually think that space is a huge category that we should invest in," Benioff said, noting that it's an area where Time Ventures, his VC arm, is active. "I think those companies are amazing in the work they're doing. and the entrepreneurs."

CNBC's Michael Sheetz contributed to this report.

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Marc Benioff reveals investment in SpaceX, but says he'd need 'a couple of Ativans' to leave Earth - CNBC

SpaceX sends cargo to the space station, with the company on a record launch pace for 2021 – CNBC

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

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SpaceX sent the latest cargo mission for NASA to the space station on Thursday, with Elon Musk's company completing its 17th launch this year.

The company's Falcon 9 rocket took off at 1:29 p.m. EDT from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission, called CRS-22, has SpaceX's Cargo Dragon spacecraft carrying more than 7,300 pounds of research and supplies to the International Space Station.

A few minutes after the launch, SpaceX landed the Falcon 9 booster the largest, bottom portion of the rocket on an autonomous ship in the Atlantic Ocean. The Cargo Dragon capsule separated from the rocket about 12 minutes after liftoff, with the spacecraft expected to dock with the ISS on Saturday.

During a pre-launch press conference, SpaceX director of Dragon mission management Sarah Walker noted that CRS-22 is the fifth Dragon capsule the company has sent to the International Space Station in the past 12 months. The company has launched multiple crew and cargo missions in the past year, with a full slate in the year ahead as well.

Additionally, CRS-22 is SpaceX's 17th mission of 2021. The company is on a blistering launch pace, as missions are going up an average of every nine days since 2021 began.

SpaceX's current pace puts it on track to conduct about 40 launches this year, which would easily top its annual record of 26 launches set last year. It has launched 119 of its Falcon 9 rockets to date, landed 79 of the Falcon 9's boosters, and reused boosters for 61 missions.

The company's Cargo Dragon spacecraft rolls out to the launchpad in Florida atop a Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceX

Walker also pointed out that CRS-22 is the first mission of this year to launch on a new Falcon 9 rocket booster, as the company has been reusing boosters for all its recent missions.

"We're actually surprised when we get to a mission [in which we're] flying a new booster," Walker said.

CRS-22 carries dozens of research investigations for the astronauts on the ISS, including experiments about the survival of tardigrades in space, a portable ultrasound device, robotic operations demonstrations and more. Cargo Dragon is also bringing the first two of six new solar arrays called iROSA, built through Boeing and space infrastructure conglomerate Redwire Space. The new solar arrays are expected to improve the ISS' power generation by 20% to 30%.

This Cargo Dragon spacecraft is expected to return to Earth in July, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida with 5,300 pounds of experiments and cargo.

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SpaceX sends cargo to the space station, with the company on a record launch pace for 2021 - CNBC

The Pentagon wants to use private rockets like SpaceX’s Starship to deliver cargo around the world – CNBC

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

Starship prototype SN10 fires its three Raptor engines as it comes in for the landing.

SpaceX

The U.S. Air Force said Friday is expanding a small development program that wants to leverage reusable rockets, like those SpaceX is building, to deliver cargo quickly to anywhere in the world.

Called Rocket Cargo, the experimental military program will be led by the U.S. Space Force, the Pentagon said. The program will research and help develop capabilities such as landing "a rocket on a wide range of non-traditional materials and surfaces," engineering "a rocket cargo bay and logistics for rapid loading and unloading" and air-dropping "cargo from the rocket after re-entry in order to service locations where a rocket or aircraft cannot possibly land."

The Air Force's 2022 budget proposal requested almost $50 million for Rocket Cargo to continue the study concept work it began last year with small contracts to SpaceX and Exploration Architecture Corporation (XArc).

Rocket Cargo effectively describes the Starship rockets that SpaceX is developing, as the military program will look at fully reusable private rockets that can launch between 30 and 100 tons. Currently, Starship is the only rocket in development that plans to both be reused and can both launch that much mass.

Point-to-point space travel is a form of transportation, in which a rocket would launch into space and then return at another location, making it hypothetically capable of bringing supplies or possibly people from one side of the Earth to the other in under an hour.

SpaceX has been testing prototypes of Starship at its facility in Texas, most recently landing and recovering prototype SN15 after a high-altitude flight test. While SpaceX is aiming to accomplish a feat no previous rocket has achieved reusing rockets quickly to make spaceflight more akin to air travel, instead of the traditional approach of discarding the rocket after launch the last high-altitude flight test was the first that ended without the prototype exploding. The company has yet to reach orbit with the rocket.

Dr. Greg Spanjers, the Air Force Research Laboratory's leader on the Rocket Cargo program, gave NASA's Human Landing Systems program competition as an example of companies working on "viable" options of the Rocket Cargo capability. That NASA program, which is focused on building lunar landers that carry crew to the moon's surface, featured three teams led by Elon Musk's SpaceX, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and Leidos' subsidiary Dynetics. But Spanjers said the Air Force has "talked to many more companies than that" about the Rocket Cargo program.

"We talked to a number of providers that we see potentially coming to the table to compete for these contracts," Spanjers said Friday. "SpaceX is certainly the most visible, no question about it [but] what you're trying to do is go into an orbital or a suborbital trajectory, bring the payload back down, and land it on the planet Earth. There are multiple companies that have that technological capability today, not just SpaceX."

The Air Force declined to specify which companies it has talked to about the Rocket Cargo program, with Spanjers saying it is not "appropriate" before the Pentagon begins the contracting process. The contract solicitation is planned to begin very soon, although the Air Force declined to provide a date.

Additionally, the Air Force is willing to consider companies for Rocket Cargo which are not yet developing a point-to-point fully reusable capability.

"Today we are going to build the interfaces and the inroads to encourage more and more companies to enter into that realm. Hopefully they perceive a return on investment, in a business case that's approved by the [Department of Defense] expressing interest in buying the service down the road," Spanjers said.

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The Pentagon wants to use private rockets like SpaceX's Starship to deliver cargo around the world - CNBC

Everything You Need to Know About the Rise of SpaceX – Analytics Insight

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

SpaceX that is trending on Twitter and Youtube, is an innovative and ambitious private aerospace manufacturer. Founded by Elon Musk, the aerospace manufacturer came into existence in 2002. SpaceX aerospace rose to fame and prominence in 2017 when it became amongst the first aerospace startup to have accomplished 18 successful launches.

Elon Musk, besides his wealth possessions, is also known and praised for his eccentric and innovative ideas. According to Musk, space travel is unnecessarily expensive whereas it can be cut down. Curtailing the space travel costs stands as the primary objective of SpaceX. Musks idea of curtailing costs involves the concept of sustainability. He highlights and emphasizes the sustainability cycle of reusing parts of rockets instead of investing in new ones. This will help in reducing the costs.

SpaceX holds the record of delivering 48 satellites into orbit and around 202,700 supplies to the international space station. In the present times, the aerospace manufacturer holds over 60% of global share contracts.

SpaceX is amongst the first aerospace manufacturers to preach and practice the reuse of rocket parts for future use. A pertinent example is the Falcon 9 rocket, which can be used over 100 times without the need for replacement. In the year 2019, the rocket was launched and landed on Mars for the fourth time. This encouraged the team to recycle the rocket parts more that can reduce costs to great degrees.

Speculatively, Elon Musk is making rapid and significant progress in his mission to colonize Mars and save humanity from the possible chances of extinction. Elon Musk decided the trajectory of his intergalactic inhabitation after enhancing his knowledge and wealth through Tesla and PayPal.

SpaceX is aiming for a swift timeframe within which there will be a human footstep on Mars. SpaceX aims to start human habitation on Mars by ten launches. To accomplish this mission, the company is also building a factory at the Port of Los Angeles where engineers are working on a nearly 20,000 square foot tent to establish a prototype spaceship. This prototype is built with carbon fiber materials. Additionally, SpaceX is also affiliating with NASA to conduct Mars mission workshops.

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Everything You Need to Know About the Rise of SpaceX - Analytics Insight

See the citizen astronauts of Inspiration4 learn how to fly a SpaceX Dragon (photos) – Space.com

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

The citizen astronauts flying to space with Inspiration4 this September are hard at work training for their mission at SpaceX HQ.

This September, four private astronauts will zoom around Earth aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft on the three-day Inspiration4 mission, which was booked by tech billionaire (and crew commander) Jared Isaacman.

The crew also includes childhood bone cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux, a physician's assistant at St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital; data engineer Chris Sembroski; and geoscientist, science communicator and artist Sian Proctor. All four folks have been hard at work training for the flight. Most recently, Isaacman and Proctor have been "learning to fly a Dragon."

Related: Meet the contest-winning crew of Inspiration4

Isaacman and Proctor, who will serve as pilot for the mission, have been training at SpaceX's headquarters in Hawthorne, California. The pair have been getting acquainted with the Crew Dragon because, while it does fly autonomously, they have to know the craft inside and out and be prepared for any possible scenario.

"Crew training continues for #Inspiration4 commander @rookisaacman and pilot @DrSianProctor, with more time spent in @SpaceX simulators to familiarize the team with various aspects of flying Dragon!" team members said via Inspiration4's Twitter account about the training progress that they are making with Crew Dragon.

The post included photos of Isaacman and Proctor in SpaceX spacesuits and training in simulations to prepare to fly a Crew Dragon capsule. The pair look focused on the task at hand as they work hard for their flight.

Inspiration4 is set to be the first-ever crewed space mission that will launch without any "professional astronauts" on board, so the foursome will have to be extra prepared for their orbital journey. Additionally, the mission is designed to raise money and support for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Each crew member represents a different "pillar" leadership, hope, generosity and prosperity.

Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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See the citizen astronauts of Inspiration4 learn how to fly a SpaceX Dragon (photos) - Space.com

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