Lux Ascent

“Astronomy compels the soul to look upwards and leads us from this world to another.” - Plato, The Republic The world is entering an era where this journey may finally be possible. Lux Ascent is where I turn my long fascination with space into a structured investment thesis.

The FAA advisory looks very interesting for SpaceX ahead of Flight 12

@pronounced_kyle This is the most confusing emoji I’ve ever seen 🤨

@yatharthmann I need to know the story behind this

SpaceX before they made rockets:

@AJamesMcCarthy @astro_reid That’s a real discovery! Thank you for sharing!

@lux_ascent @astro_reid Yeah, small patches of iron near mare Orientale that I haven’t seen in any public geological maps of the area. I thought it was an artifact until I validated it with other shots.

Incredible. Awesome. Glorious. Hard to put into words how I felt while I was first going through theses shots brought back by Artemis II’s @astro_reid Since the images were so high fidelity, I was able to push the color to reveal details of the far side I’ve never seen before

@space_stations Yeah, most corn comes from less sunny states anyway I hope more people switch to solar where it actually makes sense

@lux_ascent Lots of ugly desert and grazing land available. Farmers are starting to do it and it generates more income than stupid crops like corn for ethanol (which has a net power generation of zero)

During the TERAFAB presentation, Elon said: “A millionth of the Sun’s energy would be a million times bigger than Earth’s economy.” This line intrigued me - I haven't thought about economy scaling with energy before. If energy abundance is the real foundation of progress, and space makes scaling it easier and cheaper - how should we think about the long-term impact of the space economy? Curious to hear your thoughts.

@space_stations Let’s hope that doesn’t happen 😳 I’ve seen them covering huge surfaces with solar - I wonder why the US can’t do this in some parts of California or Arizona. When you fly over, you see some scattered solar farms and lots of free space.

@lux_ascent Well, they're mainly copiers. And generally not good at it, but getting better. But they are going all in on solar power and robotics in mass quantity. Americans might need to buy armor piercing bullets if they send their machines to invade us.

@INiallAnderson I love the idea that if this schedule holds, they will have 3 launches from 3 sites on the same day. The ultimate flex.

"iTS phYSiCalLY IMpOSSIBLE foR them to hiT THesE DAtES" or whatever these non spacex employees keep crying about

@NASASpaceflight @J_A_Rees_94 Looking at this advisory, I’m not sure if I’m more excited about the proximity of Flight 12 or 3 (!) SpaceX launches on May 12 with all launch sites involved.

Starship Flight 12 now has a NET of May 12 via the latest FAA advisory as well. Remember, SpaceX has a lot of testing to conduct before a launch date becomes real, but it's certainly looking hopeful for sometime in May.

Meta’s Ambition in Orbit Meta has reserved up to 1 GW of space-based solar power, planning to beam energy down to Earth to help power their AI data centers. While I appreciate any serious interest in orbital infrastructure, this feels like another Metaverse-style moment - bold vision with significant practical challenges. Key constraints include: - Extremely high costs compared to terrestrial alternatives, with most serious studies showing space-based solar power only becoming potentially competitive in the 2040s or later. - The need for large ground receiving stations: they still require massive terrestrial solar farms and data centers - the very infrastructure currently facing grid, land and regulatory pressure. - Technical uncertainties around efficient power beaming, maintenance and long-term reliability in orbit. Instead of fighting atmospheric losses and building yet more on the ground, Meta could consider a more practical path - using that abundant orbital energy in space for large-scale data centers or compute clusters. This would bypass many of Earth’s constraints entirely. What do you think? Do you see Meta’s approach as visionary or overly optimistic?

@Geopoliticmess @Teslaconomics People had similar criticism back when he announced reusable rockets, yet they exist and launch the vast majority of global payload to orbit. The timelines frequently slip - sure - but technology eventually works.

@lux_ascent @Teslaconomics Nah,people are just not listening to Elons lies anymore Nothing Musk claims comes true, he just says wild shit to pump stock and people are starting to wake up to it. SpaceX is a money pit, not a trillion dollar investment, and just saying “dAtA cEnTEr” doesn’t change that.

Anyone that thinks SpaceX is overvalued at $2T does not know what he or she is talking about

@AleSh09758566 @MrGoldBro That’s neat! Sounds like a flexible structure.

@lux_ascent @MrGoldBro I assume Vast will have connecting modules each having an IDA Gate. Then we connect modules together and each module will connect to a Starship.

Starship’s will be the best space stations. Can easily connect to each other and form a Mega-Ship.

@Adams_Tech_AI If the space economy added so much at $1,500-3,000 per kg to orbit, imagine how much can be done at low hundreds.

Starship will profoundly affect the destiny of humanity.

@space_stations What do you think were the best ideas they came up with so far?

@lux_ascent Energy and human labor are the biggest obstacles to progress. That's why China is spending all its focus on these two issues.

@INiallAnderson @megagoose11 I would totally watch that podcast

@megagoose11 I would LOVEEEEEE for a flat earther to waste ALL their time trying to debunk every single one of these photos 🥰

The Artemis II photos

@EzekielOverstr1 Ad Astra - congratulations!

Thank you everyone for helping me reach 5,000 followers!!! Can't wait to capture more content for everyone to enjoy! Ad Astra Per Aspera 🚀

@NASAAdmin @matthewwmullin It felt surreal to see the Moon look like a perfect ball in empty space. It somehow felt smaller than I imagined.

@matthewwmullin Bottom right is incredible.

NASA HAS RELEASED OVER 12,000 IMAGES OF THE ARTEMIS II MISSION. Unbelievable perspectives captured by the Crew! The aurora on the eclipse is incredible.