Monthly Archives: September 2022

An exterior of the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California May 29, 2014. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni

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WASHINGTON, Sept 9 (Reuters) - SpaceX on Friday challenged the U.S. Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) decision to deny the space company's satellite internet unit $885.5 million in rural broadband subsidies, calling the move "flawed" and "grossly unfair," in a regulatory filing.

The FCC last month turned down applications from billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX and LTD Broadband for funds that had been tentatively awarded in 2020 under the commission's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, a multibillion dollar program in which SpaceX was poised to receive $885.5 million to beam satellite internet to U.S. regions with little to no internet connections.

"The decision appears to have been rendered in service to a clear bias towards fiber, rather than a merits-based decision to actually connect unserved Americans," SpaceX's senior director of satellite policy, David Goldman, wrote in a scathing appeal filed Friday evening.

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The FCC declined to comment.

SpaceX's Starlink, a fast-growing network of more than 3,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit, has tens of thousands of users in the U.S. so far, with consumers paying at least $599 for a user terminal and $110 a month for service.

Announcing the rejection in August, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said Starlink's technology "has real promise" but that it could not meet the program's requirements, citing data that showed a steady decline in speeds over the past year and casting the service's price as too steep for consumers.

SpaceX under the program had sought to provide 100/20 Mbps service to 642,925 locations in 35 states. The company in its appeal said the FCC erroneously evaluated Starlink's performance.

FCC commissioner Brendan Carr in a statement last month opposed the FCC's decision and slammed the agency for rejecting the funds without a full commission vote.

"To be clear, this is a decision that tells families in states across the country that they should just keep waiting on the wrong side of the digital divide even though we have the technology to improve their lives now," Carr said.

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Reporting by Joey Roulette; Additional reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler and Aurora Ellis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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SpaceX appeals U.S. FCC rejection of rural broadband subsidies - Reuters

US Vice President Kamala Harris announced on Friday the US is creating a coalition of major space firms in order to broaden the country's aerospace sector, according to a White House statement.

Reuters first reported the news.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman are set to anchor the coalition, the statement said, per Reuters.

Other companies including Elon Musk's SpaceX, Bezos' Amazon, and Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit will partner in the coalition, the White House said in the statement, per Reuters.

The aim of the coalition is to widen the pool of job opportunities in the space industry for people who come from underrepresented backgrounds, per the statement, cited by Reuters. The White House is expected to launch the coalition in October and have three pilot programs, Reuters reported.

The White House and the companies mentioned in this report didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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SpaceX, Blue Origin part of space firm coalition announced by Harris - Business Insider

Abel Avalon, president and CEO of AST Spacemobile, said in a statement. This revolutionary technology supports our mission to bridge the connectivity gap faced by todays more than 5 billion mobile customers and bring mobile broadband to nearly half of the worlds population that remains unconnected. We want to bridge the gap between rich and poor.

The Bluewalker 3 Falcon 9 payload sits in the canopy. The top of the Falcon 9 will fire two engines before launching the approximately 3,300-pound (1.5 metric-ton) Bluewalker 3 satellite to an altitude of about 318 miles (513 mi). kilometer). Bluewalker 3 is about to disconnect about 50 minutes after takeoff.

Two more engines in the upper tier of the Falcon 9 will launch the rocket into a slightly lower orbit so that the 34 Starlink satellites can be deployed in approximately T+ plus 2 hours and 4 minutes. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said Saturday nights launch will be one of our most complex missions.

Bluewalker 3 will be the largest commercial communications suite ever built in low-Earth orbit, said Scott Wisniewski, chief strategy officer for AST Spacemobile. It measures 693 square feet and is designed to test live mobile broadband engineering.

We are a company founded on the desire to build mobile broadband straight from space, Wisniewski said. Weve been doing this since 2017. These satellites are designed to communicate directly with mobile phones, regular cell phones and unmodified phones on the ground and well be testing them in the coming months.

In the first few months after launch, assuming Bluewalker 3 is operating well, ground controllers will send commands to the spacecraft to launch its antenna array. According to Wisniewski, the antenna consists of 148 separate sections, each with its own antenna element, connected by mechanical hinges.

The identification process itself is very simple, Wisniewski said in an interview with Spaceflight Now. Essentially, we compress the satellite into a cube and make it appear in two dimensions using the energy stored in the hinges holding it together. Whats exposed is a bunch of antenna elements descending to Earth, And the solar elements ascend to the Sun.

The key to any implementation is to make it as simple and foolproof as possible, Wisniewski says. What the James Webb Telescope has done is truly extraordinary. But that level of complexity, in our opinion, creates the potential for error. And if you can avoid it, you will. Over the years, weve had many There are more complicated designs and there will be many great ways to do it in the future.But in the end, a simple mechanical hinge is the best way to eliminate the risk.

For us, the disclosure will be an important milestone, Wisniewski said. And then well do the calibration, and then well start making phone calls.

AST Spacemobile is backed by venture capital funds and investments from Vodafone, mobile tower operator American Tower and Japanese mobile operator Rakuten. The company has entered into agreements with Samsung, Nokia and mobile operators such as Vodafone, AT&T and Orange to test the compatibility of satellite cellular networks with existing mobile phones.

Bluewalker 3 will showcase SpaceMobiles AST technology with more than 10 mobile network operators on six continents. Our goal is to calibrate their network so that we can communicate with them, Wisniewski said.

If all goes well, the company plans to launch its first five operational satellites by the end of 2023, possibly on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. AST Spacemobile plans to eventually deploy 168 satellites.

This is part of our plan to build 168 satellites globally, Wisniewski said.

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SpaceX Launches One Of Its Most Complex Missions Ever - Spaceflight Now - Nation World News

The concept vehicle provides an answer to the question of what would happen if Elon Musk's idea of rocket boosters were actually implemented, using the knowledge and brand recognition of SpaceX to produce an extravagant rocket-supported electric car with distinctive features and abilities.

The Model R produces 2,600 horsepower in total and reaches a top speed of 290 mph (467 kph) under short burst loads (2,950 horsepower and 326 mph (526 kph) for the more severe racing variant, respectively). It is propelled by ecologically friendly liquid hydrogen propellant.

The automobile has a high degree of changeable downforce due to its unique boosters above each axis that separately press down each wheel, allowing it to turn at up to 4G.

The street and race versions reach 62 mph in 1.9 seconds (100 kph).

Due to the car's extremely advanced packaging, its total weight, when filled with fluids, is approximately 4,784 pounds (2,170 kg). This is due to the interaction between the batteries, thrusters, and rocket propellant. The Model R's projected range is 317 miles with a maximum capacity of 115 kWh (510 kilometers). However, it is just a tenth of that distance in rocket mode.

Schneider, who has worked at Design Studios from Audi, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Mitsubishi, and Hiphi, answered our questions.

Interesting Engineering: You are a professional car designer. How did you decide to bring Tesla and SpaceX together for a hypercar?

I thought that it was a logical connection. Elon Musk owns both companies, and Im sure there are technological synergies. Also, it is common for many car brands to have performance subbrands, and I thought it would be a lovely metamorphosis to add SpaceX's influence into the mix. It definitely helps that Im a huge space fan and am always watching the live streams of the falcon rockets going up and down again.

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Watch the 'Tesla SpaceX Hypercar' with SpaceX boosters - it will blow your mind - Interesting Engineering

Royal Caribbean Group is adding SpaceXs Starlink Maritime to all of its cruise ships starting next year a major win for the nascent internet service.

The challenge: While most cruise passengers arent likely to be glued to their screens while at sea, having reliable internet access is still important passengers might need to check in with work or be reachable by the babysitter in places without cell service.

While internet access is available on all major cruise ships, its usually delivered via satellites. This service can be slow, and if the cruise ship doesnt have a direct line of sight to a satellite, the internet might not be available at all.

Starlink Maritime: SpaceXs Starlink is a relative newcomer to the satellite internet industry, but its already outperforming competitors, and the addition of more satellites to its mega constellation in 2023 is expected to expand its coverage to the entire globe.

[Starlink Maritime terminals are] ruggedized for relentless salt spray & extreme winds & storms in deep ocean.

In June 2022, the FCC approved SpaceXs request to provide its Starlink internet to moving vehicles, such as trucks, airplanes, and ships. Within days, the company announced Starlink Maritime, a low-latency, high-speed internet service for vessels at sea.

The service costs $5,000 a month, plus a one-time fee of $10,000 for the installation of two high performance Starlink Maritime terminals that CEO Elon Musk tweeted are ruggedized for relentless salt spray & extreme winds & storms in deep ocean.

Currently, the service is only available near coastlines mostly of North American, European, and Australian nations but SpaceX plans to expand its Starlink Maritime coverage into the mid-ocean later in 2022 and in early 2023.

Whats new? Soon after the FCC ruling, Royal Caribbean Group launched a trial of Starlink Maritime on its Freedom of the Seas cruise ship.

Based on the tremendous amount of positive feedback from guests and crew, it is now adding the service to its entire fleet of 64 ships installation of terminals has already begun and is expected to wrap before the second quarter of 2023.

This technology will provide game-changing internet connectivity onboard our ships, enhancing the cruise experience for guests and crew alike, said Jason Liberty, Royal Caribbean Groups president and CEO.

Why it matters: Royal Caribbean Group is one of the biggest cruise line operators in the world in just the second quarter of 2022, its fleet carried 1.3 million passengers, and those numbers are still slightly below pre-pandemic levels.

The availability of Starlink Maritime on its ships is going to change what a lot of cruise passengers expect of satellite internet at sea potentially spurring other major cruise line operators to switch from their current providers to Starlink.

Wed love to hear from you! If you have a comment about this article or if you have a tip for a future Freethink story, please email us at [emailprotected].

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SpaceX's high-speed internet service is heading to sea - Freethink

They all graduated from Tsinghua and went on to the University of Southern California or similar well-known universities, Li says. Besides that, they all worked at a certain company in Shanghai. Obviously, I suspect these are fake, generated data.

(SpaceX did not reply to a request from MIT Technology Review to confirm the number of Tsinghua graduates working at the company.)

This wasnt the first time Li had noticed what he thought were fake LinkedIn accounts. Starting in late 2021, he says, he started seeing profiles with less than a few dozen connectionsrare for real LinkedIn usersand with profile photos that were always good-looking men and women, likely stolen from other websites. Most appeared to be of Chinese ethnicity and to live in the United States or Canada.

Around the same time, the phenomenon caught the attention of Grace Yuen, the spokesperson for the Global Anti-Scam Org (GASO), a volunteer group that tracks pig-butchering scams. Scammers involved in this practice, which started as early as 2017 in China, create fake profiles on social media sites or dating sites, connect with victims, build virtual and often romantic relationships, and eventually persuade the victims to transfer over their assets. The scammers themselves came up with the name pig butchering, comparing the intensive and long-term process of gaining victims trust to raising a pig for slaughter.

In recent years, as China has cracked down on fraudulent online activities, these operations have pivoted to targeting people outside China who are of Chinese descent or speak Mandarin. GASO was established in July 2021 by one such victim, and the organization now has nearly 70 volunteers on several continents.

While these fake accounts are relatively new to LinkedIn, they have permeated other platforms for a long time. Scammers started moving to LinkedIn maybe after dating sites tried to crack down on them, [like] Coffee Meets Bagel, Tinder, Yuen says.

In certain ways, LinkedIn is a great way for fraudsters to expand their reach. You might be already married and you are not on the dating sites, but you probably have a LinkedIn account that you check occasionally, says Yuen.

A scammer on LinkedIn may try to connect with someone through common work experience, a shared hometown, or the feeling of living in a foreign country. Over 60% of the victims who have reached out to GASO are Chinese immigrants or have Chinese ancestry, which these actors lean on to evoke nostalgia or a desire for companionship. The fake claims to have graduated from Chinas top universities, which are notoriously difficult to get into, also help scammers earn respect.

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The 1,000 Chinese SpaceX engineers who never existed - MIT Technology Review

OK, this is pretty badass. Crushed

For a company whose whole job is badass rocketry, SpaceX sure does flex as new footage of one of its ground-based monstrosities, known as the "Can Crusher," demonstrates yet again.

In a video posted to Twitter, NASASpaceFlight managing editor Chris Bergin showed SpaceX's "Can Crusher" testing apparatus, a brutally colossal gadget designed to test rockets by squeezing them with incredible force.

The Can Crusher in this video was seen rolling down the Boca Chica, TX base as it heads to test components for Starship B7.1, which SpaceX is currently working on assembling.

Bergin's video is the latest glimpse we've gotten of this arachnid-esque Can Crusher, but it's not the first time we've seen it either at SpaceX or elsewhere.

As the name suggests, the spaceflight industry's can crushers are giant compactors that, in essence, do the same thing that aluminum can compactors do to empty soda cans except these operate on a much larger, and much more dangerous, level.

"Place a soda can on the floor in an upright position and then stand on it -- gradually applying weight -- until the can ripples and collapses," a NASA post from 2011, when the agency undertook the world's largest can crusher test at the time, reads. "It's similar to what a team of NASA engineers will do to an immense aluminum-lithium rocket fuel tank in late March; their hope is to use data from the test to generate new 'shell-buckling design factors' that will enable light-weight, safe and sturdy 'skins' for future launch vehicles."

In essence, can crushers like those used by NASA and SpaceX are meant to simulate the force of takeoff and test to make sure rocket components are ready for the stress of the entire ordeal.

While NASA's original can crushers look a lot like their smaller, consumer-grade counterparts, the one employed by SpaceX is as next-generation as the company's rockets. Those "tentacle"-looking things are actually spread out like bungees during testing to secure whichever part is being stress-tested, as previous renders show.

Though can crushers have been a big part of pre-launch rocket testing for more than a decade, we don't often get to see that part of the action which is why this video of the deflated equipment being rolled around on the launchpad looks all the weirder.

More on SpaceX: SpaceX Tested Starship's Engines and Accidentally Caused a Large Fire

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This "Can Crusher" Might Be the Weirdest SpaceX Flex We've Ever Seen - Futurism