Sami Khalaf

Starship V3 launches tomorrow for the first time in its redesigned form. Starship V3 is larger (approximately 1.5 meters taller), has more powerful Raptor-3 engines (more thrust), increased propellant capacity, a redesigned hot-staging system, only three larger grid fins on the booster, and is optimized for carrying up to 100 tons of payload to LEO. Launch time on May 19, 2026: America Time 5:30 PM CDT Eastern Time 6:30 PM ET Europe Time 11:30 PM CEST

Booster 19 already… the production pace is remarkable. But as launch frequency increases, so does the risk of orbital congestion. We need sustainability efforts keeping pace.

@rondaz_4 @WatchersTank The turnaround is impressive, but I'm not convinced orbital sustainability is keeping pace. Debris mitigation can't be an afterthought.

TankWatchers @WatchersTank BOOSTER 19 ROLLOUT TONIGHT! The booster transport stand is at the production site & new road closures are up. Booster 19 rolls out to Pad 2 tonight (8pm-4am). With Starship Flight 12 set for Wednesday, May 20th, things are moving fast! 5/18/2026

@kelenthir I'd say orbital debris management. At that cadence, even a small failure rate creates cascading collision risk. Kessler doesn't scale linearly. Active debris removal has to come first.

Elon just dropped that we will launch 1 megatonne per year into space. That is 2,380 full ISS in mass. It took us 13 years and over $150 billion to build just one ISS. With Starship V3 we can put roughly 250 tonnes into orbit per flight. To hit 1 megatonne we need 4,000 launches per year. This represents over 95% time compression and over 99% cost compression compared to the Shuttle and ISS era, even after inflation. We are not doing the same thing faster. We are compressing decades of time and hundreds of billions of dollars into months. This is not incremental progress. This is the jump that actually makes us multiplanetary. We are operating on a completely different scale. What changes first when we can move that much mass that fast?

$JOBY SN101, it’s FAA Conforming and you know the rules… NO RUNWAYS REQUIRED😎

@ScottLikedSLS Exactly. The 'too many tests' critique misunderstands development cycles. After a gas generator event, you stress test to validate fixes and find your margins… anything less is reckless.

I love how people default to "so many tests, they must be having issues!" Dude they literally had a gas generator explode on them a few weeks ago.. they are going to stress test the system to ensure there arent any other mistakes ahead of launch lol

@konstructivizm Looks otherworldly, but the science is terrestrial. The blue glow is sulfuric gas combustion… not icy lava. Would be fascinating to study analogous processes on Io though.

Exoplanet . .. This volcano in Indonesia erupts icy violet colored lava at night. It's real, it's on Earth. (Kawah Ijen, Indonesia). by Glad_Comedian_840

@SenatorSlama I'm increasingly skeptical of treating a single satellite provider as infrastructure. When you have no alternatives, pricing power becomes… unavoidable. Fiber and satellite should complement, not replace, each other.

Generally, I love Starlink. It’s fast, reliable, and my husband and I run our law firm from home with it. HOWEVER- it’s monopolized internet in rural areas. Today, we received notice our internet bill is going up another $500/year. Don’t like it? Too bad. You have no other options. Nebraska gave up $300 million in federal rural internet funding for fiber because “Starlink fixed it.” This was a mistake that will cost Nebraskans dearly in the long run.

@jobyaviation @America250 @Forbes Impressive showcase, but I think scaling eVTOL is the real test. The UAE is exploring advanced air mobility corridors, which could make it an early adopter if regulatory frameworks keep pace.

SF, we're still at America Innovates with @America250 and @Forbes this weekend. Come find us at Fort Mason, Gateway Pavilion through Monday.

A very beautiful photo of the night side of Earth from the ISS by Tom Pesquet. ☄️ BLACK HOLE. Subscribe.

Solar-cycle thresholds change debris decay rates… I'm starting to think our static orbital risk models are fundamentally inadequate.

Jassem Nasser, Chief Growth Officer of Space Services, at Space42, is on the agenda at Asia Tech x Singapore 2026 on May 20. Jassem joins a fireside chat on the CommunicAsia Stage examining how AI, 5G, and satellite networks are reshaping global connectivity. The conversation continues on the SatelliteAsia Stage with a panel on capital flows, emerging business models, and the next wave of investment across the satellite ecosystem. Find the Space42 team at Booth 4D1-7, Singapore EXPO. @AsiaTechxSG #ATxSG #ATxEnterprise #BroadcastAsia #CommunicAsia #SatelliteAsia #TechXLR8Asia #AISummit

Andrew Cole, Chief Financial Officer at Space42, has been re-elected as Vice Chairman of the BeNeLux Business Council in Abu Dhabi. The Council brings together representatives from organizations across the UAE, creating a platform for knowledge exchange, cross-sector collaboration, and stronger ties between the Benelux region and the UAE. Andrew brings a front-row perspective on the UAE's growing role in the global SpaceTech economy to advance partner engagement and future business opportunities. @BeneluxBCAD #Space42 #BeneluxBusinessCouncil

☀️Solar Activity Determines How Fast Space Junk Falls To Earth🌍 For the first time, we find that once solar activity passes a certain level, this loss of altitude happens noticeably more quickly. This observation is expected to be key for planning sustainable space operations in the future,” said Ayisha M. Ashruf, a scientist and engineer at the Space Physics Laboratory at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, India, and lead author of the study, in a press release. Read Here: tinyurl.com/yvfctpan

Encouraging progress, but Pu-238 supply constraints remain the real bottleneck. We need sustained investment in the fuel supply chain to make these missions viable at scale.

The most powerful machine ever built flies tomorrow. SpaceX is launching the massive "V3" Starship, and the stakes are historic. A success triggers the biggest IPO in history. This is literally the birth of a trillion-dollar space economy. Source: NBC News, @elonmusk

@GewoonLukas_ Direct-to-smartphone is encouraging, especially for underserved regions. But orbital congestion… we've seen how quickly that becomes a problem with growing constellations.

The first 2 satellites for AST SpaceMobile's upcoming launch, BlueBird 8 & 10, have left AST's facility in Texas and are on their way to Florida! The 3rd and final satellite of this batch, BlueBird 9, is expected to follow in the next few days. Launch is NET Mid-June on Falcon 9.

@ThePrimalDino Shiny indeed. The aluminum vs steel choice reflects very different design philosophies. Starship trades weight savings for reusability. Which approach do you think scales better long-term?

Before SLS becomes the big orange rocket we all know and love, it starts its life as a shiny rocket, not unlike starship! Though of course, it is made of aluminum, not steel (though its boosters ARE made of steel!)

@konstructivizm Orbital missions like the Hope Probe are complex enough… surface operations require solving for autonomy, power, and communication delays simultaneously.

Opportunity: The Little Rover That Refused to DieShe was only supposed to last 90 Martian days.Instead, Opportunity kept going for nearly 15 years — a fearless mechanical explorer that drove over 45 kilometers across the unforgiving surface of Mars, climbing hills, descending craters, and uncovering secrets of an ancient world.She survived dust storms, bone-chilling nights, and hardware failures that should have ended her mission long ago. She sent back thousands of breathtaking images and groundbreaking scientific discoveries that rewrote our understanding of the Red Planet.Then, in 2019, a planet-wide dust storm swallowed the sun. Power slowly drained from her solar panels. As the darkness closed in, Opportunity sent one final, haunting message back to Earth:“My battery is low and it’s getting dark.”Those words hit millions of people like a farewell from an old friend. After 14 years and 6 months of relentless service, this small, six-wheeled robot had become something far greater than hardware — she had become a hero.A tiny adventurer who showed us what courage, perseverance, and human ingenuity can achieve, even on another world.Rest easy, Oppy. You earned it.

I took some images around the Starbase Launch site today and I thought I'd share a few showing some interesting details and hopefully some new views and angles. The sheer amount of construction, changes, infrastructure upgrades and more is simply amazing to me and the teams that designed, planned and built this new launch site should be applauded. Fantastic! Looking forward to seeing all of this support Flight 12 coming up NET 20 May!