Is next year finally the year when Starship reaches an inflection point and takes off? arstechnica.com/space/2026/1…

SpaceX just secured another major contract for Starship, and this time it's about delivering payloads directly to the surface of the MOON Gwynne Shotwell revealed an incredible expansion of SpaceX's launch business during Q3: • 18 new National Security Space Launch missions • 3 additional human spaceflight missions on Dragon, running through 2028 • A new contract to deliver a payload to the lunar surface using Starship • 3 new Starfall missions on Starship SpaceX is continuing to expand its leadership in national security and human spaceflight while building Starship into a transportation system capable of delivering cargo to other worlds The foundation of an entirely new lunar economy is taking shape

SpaceX said it expects Q4 2026 Capex spend to be between $35 billion–$40 billion, which would be equal to Tesla’s total Capex spend over the past 4 years combined. Massive buildout of compute capacity underway, and the payback period is <12 months! SpaceX will nearly double their compute capacity in Q4 alone to upwards of 3 GW.

A quick size comparison between the @SpaceX expansion at the Kennedy Space Center, and what currently exists at Starbase, Texas. Images are the same scale. 🗺️ @GoogleMaps

Here it comes. SpaceX has submitted a proposal to NASA to expand its KSC campus, with roughly 400 acres of new development to support manufacturing, refurbishment and testing for Starship and Falcon operations. That’s about 2.4 times the size of its existing campus. More factory space, refurbishment facilities, payload processing, and structures up to 122 meters tall. Plus a new four-lane road to get people and hardware in and out. Classic SpaceX. Build the infrastructure first so it’s ready to support a higher launch rate.

The thing with satellite internet constellations is that they require scale, and they work better if you can sell coverage around the globe. You can’t make a competitive product that only serves Canada. It’s global scale or nothing.

As crazy as this sounds, $1T in SpaceX revenue in 2028 is no longer impossible

SpaceX has released a new Starship tower catch animation for the upcoming Flight 15!

According to Korean media, Elon Musk's Terafab is now talking to almost EVERY Korean chip supplier it can find. Until now, the only known Korean suppliers were HPSP and Hanmi Semiconductor. Now TheElec reports that Tesla and SpaceX are in talks across nearly every category Korean companies can supply, from basic piping parts to process materials to test components. At SEMICON West in San Francisco last week, Terafab staff walked straight to around 10 Korean booths on the morning of day one, including ENF Technology, Dongjin Semichem, Hanmi Semiconductor, Unisem and MiCo. Several companies have already signed NDAs. One got an NDA by email the same evening Terafab visited its booth. Hanmi Semiconductor is discussing TC bonders for Terafab, and HPSP has agreed to supply one high pressure hydrogen annealing tool to the R&D line. MiCo's cleaning unit Komico signed a three way NDA with Tesla and SpaceX about a month ago, and ISC is already swapping samples for rubber test sockets. Tesla and SpaceX do not buy from Chinese suppliers. One Korean supplier put it simply, without China there are only a few options, and Japan is expensive. They also want prices that are CHEAPER than China. $LRCX and $AMAT have reportedly built dedicated Terafab teams, and Fujifilm is meeting Terafab buyers regularly on slurries, photoresist and etchants. The goal is a fab with 1 million wafer starts per month within 10 years, with $16.8 billion of initial investment and more than 3,000 jobs. SpaceX broke ground in Grimes County, Texas this month, and the first 100,000 wafer per month phase is expected before 2030. Logic is being done with $INTC, talks with $TSM are ongoing, and memory will be built separately. One supplier said that if they email Terafab in the middle of the night in the United States, they get an answer in 30 minutes to an hour. $TSLA and $SPCX are building a chip supply chain at Elon speed.

📸Comparisons of the condition of the Starship’s heat shield after reentry and during splashdown in the last five flights❗️

And SI revenue grew +830% YoY 🤑

Elon Musk on a possible SpaceX–Tesla merger: "Do I think it would be a good idea? Yes" Both SpaceX and Tesla have formed special committees of independent directors to discuss the idea, at the request of shareholders Because he's a conflicted party, Elon can't take part in those discussions "Some people out there assume that a SpaceX and Tesla merger is a certainty, and I think that would be overstating it" "The special committees have not reached agreement on the terms of any transaction. And obviously there's no guarantee that they will" On the Tesla side, it would need a 50% vote of all shares, not just those who vote. That's a high hurdle So why does Elon support it? "I do think there's a lot of merit to combining the companies as we are pretty much in the super intelligence singularity" "There's a lot to be gained from cooperating on developing super intelligence software, chip design, the Terafab, obviously robotics, mass to orbit with the Starmind constellation. Connectivity" Next, the special committees of both companies have to agree on terms, and then it goes to a shareholder vote

Wait… does he think rocket engines plush against the surrounding air? Could it be that this person, whose entire existence seems to revolve around criticizing rockets built by SpaceX, doesn’t know how rockets work?

BREAKING: SpaceX more than tripled its US defense contracting footprint in the first three quarters of fiscal 2026 for space-based missile defense capabilities. Reported defense obligations now total $5.9 billion so far in fiscal 2026, up from $1.8 billion in all of fiscal 2025.

BREAKING: Tesla shared this image of Optimus in its latest letter to shareholders, with this message from Elon Musk: “The most likely outcome is an age of Amazing Abundance, where anyone can have anything they can think of... This is a message of optimism and excitement about the future.”

Lmfao a guy on the r/rocketry Discord server just posted a gif made by a Blue Origin insider that not just contains a new leaked angle of the NG-4 RUD, but also an internal dev name of a project called “Northstar”

Europe's biggest mobile operators are teaming up to bid on EU satellite spectrum to compete with Starlink D2C. But here is the best part: they say they won't invest in a constellation and will use "a satellite partner still to be selected." Wait until they get to picking a launch partner.