satellite

No one had ever launched a commercial nuclear satellite. SpaceX and City Labs just did it with Transporter-17

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SpaceX has launched the first commercial nuclear satellite in history. This is BOHR, a CubeSat developed by the City Labs company, and has been completely successfully placed into orbit as part of the Transporter-17 mission, from Elon Musk’s space company. This is intended to demonstrate that the use of nuclear energy to power vehicles, satellites and space probes is not just a matter for large public agencies. Tritium to make history in space. Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability (BOHR) is a CubeSat in which a nuclear reaction similar to the one that has been used for decades takes place. to propel the Voyager probes through space. Although there is a difference. While these obtain energy from the heat generated by the disintegration of plutonium, in this case the beta particles released by the disintegration of tritium are used. Afterwards, these They are transformed into electricity through a semiconductor. The use of tritium is an advantage, as it emits much less radiation, making its pre-launch handling safer. Speaking of the launch. This nuclear satellite was one of the 81 payloads that were part of the Transporter-17 mission on July 7. A Falcon 9 rocket of SpaceX propelled all of them into space after launching from said company’s platform, located at the Vandenberg base. Just 50 minutes after launch, each of the payloads, including BOHR, were placed into their respective orbits. Two possible uses. The use of nuclear energy in space is something that has been studied a lot for two reasons. Firstly, because it can be useful for ships that are going to travel very far, so that they cannot carry enough fuel on board. It is precisely the reason why this energy source was used with Voyager probes. On the other hand, nuclear energy is useful when solar energy is not an option. The Voyager probes traveled a long way from the Sun, but you don’t have to go that far either. The lunar south pole It is constantly in shadow, so in the future, when the Artemis bases are built there, nuclear power could be very necessary. A project with many supports. The development of BOHR was funded under a contract from the United States Department of Defense. In addition, it is the first nuclear mission that has received nuclear launch approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, specifically under the Presidential National Security Memorandum 20 of Donald Trump. Therefore, despite being a private project, it has received all the public support necessary for its implementation. That, along with its inclusion within a SpaceX mission, shows that there are many powerful eyes on this project. It’s just a test. In fact, BOHR has been used to prove that this way of obtaining nuclear energy is viable in space and that it can be used commercially. Currently, the satellite is in orbit, ready to launch the test reaction. However, the CubeSat uses solar panels to obtain energy for its own operation. The next step could be a satellite that exclusively uses tritium decay. For now, this first proof of concept has marked what may be the future of many commercial space missions. Image | SpaceX In Xataka | NASA’s lunar base begins here and now: an investment of hundreds of millions and a date on the horizon

NASA has managed to make a satellite “understand” what it sees, without sending a single photo to Earth

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The role of satellites is simple. They take data, send it to Earth and, once here, it is analyzed. So far, that is being viable. However, the process is getting complicated. There are more and more satellites (Hello, Elon Musk), which means more information flowing to Earth. There are not enough people, energy or time to analyze so much information. For this reason, NASA and the startup LoftOrbital have developed NAVI-Orbital, software for satellite observation that is capable of describing what it sees and even searching for what it is ordered to do. A model of vision and language. NAVI-Orbital works with Gemma 3a series of vision and language models belonging to Google DeepMind. As their name suggests, they are capable of processing both images and text, so that, with proper training, they can describe images and respond to simple text commands. Before, a multitude of complex computer commands had to be used for a satellite to follow orders and even then the results had to be analyzed by humans. Now, all you have to do is ask him to obey and analyze the results. Find what you ask for. A clear example of what NAVI-Orbital can do is search for objects, buildings or geographical features. If you know what a river is, you can search and display all the rivers in a given area. You can also locate all bridges or roads. But, in turn, it can identify anomalies in those places. For example, you may find rivers about to overflow or roads where there has been an accident. much faster. Most artificial intelligence algorithms send information to data centerswhere the result is processed and returned. In this case, however, what is known as edge AI is used. That is to say, the entire model runs directly on the same device that captures the data. The satellite in this case. Civil or military applications. In April, the first tests were carried out with the YAM-9 satellite, which already has the new software incorporated, with very good results. It was the first time that a satellite managed to describe what it “sees.” That’s why NASA and LoftOrbital are already excited about their applications. They consider that satellite constellations with NAVI-Orbital could be used to monitor the planet for civil or defense applications. They can search for oil spills, for example, but also study possible military attacks. The difference with what we have so far with any of these purposes is that nothing has to be analyzed. That is, you don’t put a satellite to take photos of the sea and then here on Earth a team of people or a computer algorithm analyzes them for oil spills. It is the satellite itself that saves sending thousands of photos without spills and directly analyzes what it sees. The result is much faster, cheaper and more efficient. It may even be the future of satellite observation, although it is still too early. We will have to see how these models that have already begun to undergo the first tests evolve. Image | LoftOrbital In Xataka | Ukraine’s military has a problem almost as important as Russia: Starlink belongs to Elon Musk

Satellite images revealed that Russia covered a building with an anti-drone cage. Ukraine turned it into an action movie set

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In World War II, the United Kingdom became camouflage entire factories with nets, fake structures and even fictitious neighborhoods built on rooftops to fool German bombers. The idea it was simple– If you can’t stop the attack, make the target disappear from the air. Eight decades later, that logic has returned. Only now the enemy is no longer looking from a bomber, but from a drone. The giant cage. Satellite images made it clear: Russia had done something that until recently seemed unthinkable, wrapping an entire building in a gigantic anti-drone structure. We are not talking about a tank or an armored vehicle, where “cope cages” are already common, but rather about a strategic factory more than 900 kilometers from the front. The facility, part of the VNIIR Progress plant in Cheboksary, had been protected with that kind of metal skeleton for at least a year. Was the test of the extent to which Moscow assumes that Ukraine can strike very deep inside Russia. But it was also a silent admission: the drone threat has already changed even the industrial architecture of warfare. Shield the rear. VNIIR Progress is not just any factory. Produces essential navigation components for a good part of the Russian arsenal: Shahed-136 type drones, Kalibr cruise missiles, Iskander ballistic missiles and gliding bombs. It is, in essence, a critical piece of the Russian military gear. Protecting it with a cage of that size reveals something important: it is no longer enough to move factories away from the front. Russian strategic depth has been eroded and the war has meant that once safe places now need permanent physical defenses. Ukraine changed the rules (again). The problem for Russia is that Ukraine no longer only strikes with drones. In the most recent attack, kyiv used its new cruise missiles FP-5 Flamingoa nationally manufactured weapon with more than 2,800 kilometers of range and an explosive warhead weighing more than one ton. That detail completely changes the equation. The anti-drone cage could make sense against small kamikaze drones or light munitions. But faced with a missile of that size, the structure becomes practically in decoration. Ukraine, in essence, demonstrated that the Russian solution was designed for yesterday’s war. What the defense gives away. The most interesting thing is not only the damage caused, but what it means the very existence of that cage. Every new anti-drone net, mesh or cover that appears over Russian refineries, air bases or factories is a sign of vulnerability. For decades, the industrial rearguard was a sanctuary. Now Russia is spending resources to fortify even its production centers. In other words, what you see is a clear symptom that the Ukrainian deep strike campaign is working at least on a psychological and operational level, forcing Moscow to redistribute protection and assume additional costs. The invisible climb. The episode also reflects a broader evolution: the industrial war is becoming a war constant adaptation. Ukraine began using long-range drones to overwhelm defenses and hit critical infrastructure. Russia, like we have been countingresponded with networks, interference and physical structures. Now kyiv goes up a notch with missiles heavier and more precise. Each defensive layer generates a higher offensive layer. And that turns the conflict into a technological race where no solution lasts too long. The lesson of the attack. The image is very powerful because summarizes all the logic of modern warfare: an entire building wrapped in steel to protect electronic parts that then guide precision weapons… and still reached. The conclusion is inevitably uncomfortable for Moscow. If a facility hundreds of miles from the front needs a giant cage and not even that guarantees your safetythen the real frontier of war is no longer in the trenches. It is anywhere on the map where the military industry continues to function. Image | Ventor In Xataka | Ukraine has found Russia’s weak point in Crimea. And now there is a line of Russian trucks that cannot move forward In Xataka | The drone war has left a clear lesson for Ukraine: you can’t leave home without a 100-year-old machine gun

This is what ICARUS can do now that it has its own satellite

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The ICARUS project, devised by the Max Planck Institute to monitor animals around the world from space, is not new. However, after a break that began with the ukrainian warlast year it began to be reactivated and this month it took its biggest step forward: placing its own satellite into orbit. Thanks to this, it will be possible to do a much more exhaustive monitoring of the animal world, reaching conclusions that may even be useful for studying the progress of climate change or zoonotic diseases. RAVEN goes into action. RAVEN is the first satellite of the Icarus program. Until 2022, it had only one receiver located in the Russian module of the International Space Station (ISS). that year relations of the Max Planck Institute were broken with Russia, so Icarus operations on the International Space Station were paused. However, those responsible for the project did not give up. They partnered with the New Space company TALOS to miniaturize the system and turn it into a payload that could travel to space on a CubeSat satellite. This was already achieved in November 2025, when the receiver was placed on a German satellite sent into space for other purposes. However, this May they have gone further by placing their own satellite into orbit. This not only allows the fauna to be studied more widely and, above all, with greater independence. It also consumes a tenth of the energy consumed by the ISS device. A long history of wildlife observation. Wildlife observation has gone through many phases. Initially, only the animals could be monitored directly. Scientists hid to observe them on site, in their habitat, trying to disturb them as little as possible. Then camera traps were devised. These are still used today, but logically they have certain limitations, since there are many blind spots that are not captured by them. Later transmitters were developed that can be placed directly on the bodies of animals. However, to capture the signals they emitted it was necessary to use antennas that could not be very far from the place where they were located. Faced with all these problems, it occurred to a group of scientists from the Max Planck Institute that the key could be to observe animals from space, since this allows much more data to be collected throughout the planet, simultaneously and continuously. An upgradeable transmitter. The International Cooperation for Research on Animals Using Space (ICARUS) is a wildlife observation program that is mainly based on two devices: the transmitters that are placed on the bodies of the animals and the receiver that is directed into space. The transmitters used today They are labels measuring 4 grams in mass and more or less the size of a euro cent coin in the smallest cases. They run on solar energy, resist sudden changes in temperature and are comfortable, so that animals can carry out their lives normally. In addition, they must go unnoticed so as not to become easy prey for their predators. Still, for smaller animals, such as insects, this size is still a limitation. Icarus scientists are working to create one that weighs less than a gram and is much smaller. The transmitters can still be improved A receiver that has improved a lot. The first ICARUS receiver was installed on the ISS in 2018, during a spacewalk by cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev and Sergey Prokopyev. It had little to do with the RAVEN satellite that is already operating in low Earth orbit. Without a doubt, the receiver has evolved a lot in a short time. Many applications. Monitoring animals from space is useful for many reasons. Broadly speaking, it seems that it only serves to know where they are at all times and, therefore, control their migrations. But that may have other implicit applications. For example, if migrations occur earlier or later than usual, or to places that are not typical for that species, it may be due to changes in temperatures associated with climate change. It’s a way to continue the advance of this phenomenon. You can also see how the animals that are reservoirs of zoonotic diseases are distributed and, thus, establish risk areas. ICARUS is even starting to be used to track poachers. If the animals flee in fright and it is not related to the presence of predators, the predator may be human. In some countriesthis is still the order of the day and it is important to look for ways to locate them in order to stop them before they act. ICARUS scientists hope train an algorithm that helps them detect possible poachers taking into account these escapes along with other factors. In summary… There are many applications, and all this thanks to a silent guardian that is already watching in space without the need for space stations to support it. Image | Magnific/Ororatech (X) | Max Planck Institute In Xataka | These are the invasive animals that are eating endangered animals

Satellite images reveal how much Russia fears Ukraine’s drones. 7,000 km away they are covering their nuclear missiles

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The British Navy discovered something truly absurd during naval tests in 1945: a single flock of birds could appear on the radar with a signature similar to that of enemy aircraft. Eight decades later, some of the most sophisticated military systems on the planet clash again to the same problem: Tiny, cheap threats that are difficult to distinguish before it is too late. The drone war against the Russian nuclear arsenal. They counted this week in Naval News that satellite images taken over the Russian submarine base of Rybachiy, on the Kamchatka Peninsula, reveal the extent to which drone warfare in Ukraine is altering Russian military logic even thousands of kilometers from the front. to some 7,400 kilometers of Ukrainetwo strategic nuclear submarines of the Borei class They have appeared completely covered with anti-drone nets while they remain docked in port. The scene is shocking because these submarines are part of the core of Russian nuclear deterrent: each one carries 16 Bulava ballistic missiles capable of launching intercontinental nuclear attacks. However, even that geographical distance no longer seems sufficient for Moscow to feel completely safe from possible surprise Ukrainian operations. From the Black Sea to the Pacific nuclear fleet. The evolution reflects how drones have ceased to be an exclusively tactical problem and have become a strategic threat. Russia had been installing for some time cages, nets and metal structures improvised on ships and patrol boats in the Black Sea to try to stop Ukrainian FPV attacks. Now that same logic has reached some of the most sensitive platforms in its entire military arsenal. The fear does not seem to focus so much on drones launched directly from Ukraine, something practically impossible at such a distance, but on covert operations similar to those that have already hit Russian targets very far from the front. The idea of ​​small cheap drones reaching multi-million dollar strategic assets It has even begun to modify the protection of nuclear submarines. A small threat capable of altering the strategic balance. The nets observed on the Borei do not hide the submarines from satellites nor do they serve as conventional camouflage. Its function It’s purely defensive.: prevent light drones from approaching, landing on the deck or launching explosive charges at vulnerable points, especially on hatches and exposed systems while the submarines are on the surface. Russia had already installed similar protections on some Baltic and Arctic submarines, but on Rybachiy the coverage is much more extensive and envelops practically the entire vessel. There is no doubt, the image conveys a certainly powerful conclusion: the Kremlin already considers it plausible that cheap, improvised and difficult to detect attacks could threaten even part of its nuclear triad. The great psychological change of the war in Ukraine. Beyond the real effectiveness of these networks, the important detail is rather psychological and strategic. Ukraine has managed to get Russia to dedicate resources, time and defensive concern to bases located on the other end of the continent Eurasian. For decades, the logic of nuclear deterrence assumed that submarines hidden in remote bases were virtually untouchable except in an all-out war between great powers. And this is where drones have begun to erode that sense of immunity. The war in Ukraine is showing that a country with limited resources can force a nuclear superpower to cover with mesh improvised some of their most important systems for fear of unexpected attacks. When “nuclear” fears the cheapest. In short, the image of nuclear submarines protected with networks recalls the extent to which the Ukrainian conflict is transforming modern military rules. Platforms designed to survive atomic wars, operate under the ocean for months, and launch intercontinental missiles now also have to worry about cheap quadcopters, commercial explosives, and improvised attacks. Of course, Russia still maintains a huge nuclear and naval advantagebut the proliferation of drones is altering something much more difficult to measure than weapons: the feeling of (in)security. And when even the most remote nuclear bases begin to be armored against small drones, it means that the war in Ukraine has already changed the global perception of military vulnerability. Image | Vantor In Xataka | Once again, Ukraine has opened a missile launched by Russia. Once again, surprising manufacturers have been found In Xataka | Russia has been advancing at a snail’s pace in Ukraine for months. That’s about to change because of one season: summer.

China wants to do a “CAT scan” of the Earth, and to do so it has launched a hyperspectral satellite to see what the eye cannot see

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A Kuaizhou-11 rocket put into orbit On March 16, Xiguang-1 06, the most advanced commercial hyperspectral satellite that China has sent into space. The satellite is capable of analyzing the chemical composition of the Earth’s surface with great precision, opening up a whole range of possibilities. What a hyperspectral satellite allows. A conventional satellite captures images of the planet in a similar way to how a camera does. A hyperspectral satellite, on the other hand, is able to distinguish the unique spectral signature of plants, tissues and other objects on Earth, which allows, among other things, to prevent crop losses, locate mineral deposits or monitor the state of the environment. While a normal satellite can identify a forest from space, one equipped with hyperspectral technology can differentiate between different types of trees and even determine the health status of each of them. The key is that these sensors capture dozens or hundreds of bands of the electromagnetic spectrum simultaneously, something that provides spectral information so detailed that it often produces results impossible to obtain with multispectral satellites or other types of observation systems. The satellite. The Xiguang-1 06 was developed by Xi’an Zhongke Xiguang Aerospace Technology Group and launched aboard the Kuaizhou-11 Y7 rocket from the Jiuquan launch center in Gansu province. It is the first commercial hyperspectral satellite in orbit with full spectral coverage in the 400 to 2,500 nanometer band (from visible to shortwave infrared) and operates with 26 independent spectral bands. In practical terms, that means it can “see” far beyond the human eye, detecting mineral compositions, differentiating healthy crops from diseased ones, and tracking changes in ecosystems that would be invisible to any other system. According to Kou Yiminchief engineer at Zhongke What is it for in practice? In the provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan the satellite monitors crop growth high value such as tea and traditional Chinese medicinal plants; in the mining areas of the northwest of the country, it issues early warnings about geological risks such as landslides. But the potential reach goes much further. Hyperspectral technology can analyze phytoplankton levels in the oceans, detect fuel spills from ships, measure methane leaks in energy facilities or monitor polluting materials from mining ponds before they reach nearby soil and vegetation. It can also locate mineral deposits such as gold under the surface, identifying the presence of chemical elements in its composition such as copper. one of many. Xiguang-1 06 is one more piece of “Xiguang-1”, a constellation that contemplates a total of 158 satellites: 108 general purpose hyperspectral remote sensing, 40 specialized in carbon emissions monitoring and 10 specific function. The goal is to complete the in-orbit network by 2030, forming a “full spectrum in 100 bands” observing system with more than one hundred operational satellites. To understand its scale, Xiguang-1 06 was one of eight satellites that traveled aboard the same Kuaizhou-11 rocket at the March 16 launch. What’s behind. Until a few years ago, hyperspectral remote sensing from space had been a field almost exclusive of government missions. In recent years, however, commercial companies have begun to emerge launching their own constellations of hyperspectral satellites. China, with Zhongke Xiguang at the helm, is one of the actors that has risen the fastest in this sector. The company also has the “CAS Xiguang Remote Sensing Cloud” data platform, considered the first hyperspectral data platform from China. The stated goal is to become the world’s largest hyperspectral constellation, with applications already covering agriculture, forestry management, oceanography, carbon monitoring and mining. Cover image | China Daily and Richard Gatley In Xataka | The origin of the “blue moon” is actually a translation error: how a “betrayal” ended up giving the satellite its name

how a “betrayal” ended up giving its name to the satellite

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Despite the immense amount of information that exists denying it, they continue to sneak it in from time to time with the topic of colored moons. Just look at what happened last April with the famous pink moon. Many people looked at the sky again, hoping that our satellite would turn strawberry colored. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Now, we read everywhere that we will have a blue moon in May. This is a real term. The blue moon exists. But no, it’s not the color you’re imagining. When? The blue moon of May will be seen next day 31. Without a doubt, it will be a beautiful moment to look at the sky, but simply because a full moon is always a great spectacle. Not because it’s visibly special. Two in a month or four in a season. Actually, the term “blue moon” is used to talk about an extra moon. The Moon goes around the Earth in 29.5 days, so we normally have 12 full moons in a year. One every month. However, since it does not coincide exactly with the 30 or 31 days of the month (or less if it is February), it may happen that from time to time two full moons fall in the same month. That extra moon is what is known as a blue moon. On the other hand, the same thing happens with the seasons. There are usually three at each station. However, since the solar and lunar calendars do not coincide exactly, sometimes there can be four in the same season. The third of these moons is what is also known as the blue moon. It’s not blue. Curiously, the term “blue moon” comes from a poor translation from Old English. When speaking of stationary blue moons, the third full moon of a four-year season It was known as the “traitor moon.”. This is a deceptive moon, since it seems that the season is already ending, but no. There is still another full moon. In Old English the term “belewe” was used as “traitor”. However, this became “blue” as it spread from word to mouth and it began to be called a blue moon. It has nothing to do with its color. To the eye, a blue moon looks exactly like any other. When it is blue. The moon, full or not, can be seen in different colors depending on the presence of certain particles in the atmosphere. There are some that are capable of dispersing the redder lengths of the electromagnetic spectrum, thus filtering the blue light and causing the sky to be tinted with this tone. With others, just the opposite happens and the sky turns red. Generally, particles emitted by volcanoes erupt They are of the first type. That is why in 1883, during a Krakatoa eruptionmany witnesses began to say that the moon had turned blue. There, the term took on a new nuance. However, it is simply an exception. More common than it seems. Blue moons are actually quite common. It is estimated that between 1550 and 2650 there will be 408 seasonal blue moons and 456 monthly blue moons. Next year, without going any further, we will have another one, also in May, although this time it will be seasonal and will happen on the 20th. In short, don’t let them fool you with the color, but take advantage of the fact that this month you have two full moons and look up. There is no better way to decorate the sky than with a good full moon. Image | Contri from Yonezawa, Yamagata, Japan In Xataka | Light pollution is a growing problem. So researchers have put it on a map

The most buoyant market right now is selling streaming and satellite images of US movements to Iran.

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In recent years, the number of active satellites in orbit has exceeded 7,500many of them dedicated to observing the Earth with a precision that allows us to distinguish objects just a few meters away. At the same time, millions of position signals from aircraft and ships were broadcast every minute openly throughout the planet. Never before has there been so much accessible information about what is happening, in almost real time, anywhere on the planet. A new war market in real time. The war in Iran has opened a unexpected showcaseor where each military movement becomes almost immediate content, packaged and disseminated as if it were a live event by an international artist. Chinese technology companies have detected that opportunity and have begun to offer detailed analysis on US bases, deployments and operations using open data combined with artificial intelligence. What previously required state intelligence resources is now presented as an accessible, visual and viral product, capable of circulating both on social networks and specialized platforms. The result is a kind military streaming where the movements of a superpower are transformed into information merchandise. Fusion between open data and AI. I counted this week the Washington Post that the core of this phenomenon is in the combination of public sources (such as satellite images, flight trackers or maritime data) with algorithms capable of processing them on a large scale. Here are companies that we had already talked about before like MizarVisionwhich use these resources to reconstruct entire deployments, identify aircraft types or follow naval group routes in near real time. Although much of the data already existed, the difference now is in speedautomation and the ability to cross-reference information on a massive scale, turning simple scattered signals into coherent military narratives. This drastically reduces the distance between the public and the strategic. Intelligence as a commercial product. The real turn is not only in technology, but in the business model that surrounds her. These companies do not operate like traditional intelligence agencies, but rather as suppliers that sell visibility on military operations, promoting their capabilities with real examples of active conflicts. Signatures as Jing’an Technology They have even gone so far as to publish alleged records of communications or mission reconstructionsreinforcing the idea that they can “see everything.” Thus, war ceases to be just a geopolitical scenario and becomes a source of income based on the exploitation of raw information transformed into digestible intelligence. Money flows in only one direction. Behind this apparent democratization of intelligence there is a very specific economic flow that mainly benefits the Chinese technological ecosystem. They remembered in the post that many of these companies have grown under the umbrella of the integration strategy Beijing civil-militaryreceiving funding and indirect support to develop dual capabilities. Every report sold, every analysis disseminated and every platform used rstrengthens that industrial fabricfeeding a circuit where data (often generated by Western infrastructures) ends up generating value within China. In practice, monitoring the movements of the United States not only exposes its operations, but also helps finance the technological development of a strategic competitor. A diffuse but growing threat. Although US authorities doubt that these companies can penetrate truly sensitive systems, the problem lies not so much in absolute precision as in the trend that they can represent. The ability to map movements, detect patterns and anticipate deployments is already a advantage in scenarios crisis, even if the data is not perfect. Furthermore, this model offers China an additional advantage: it can benefit from the information without officially getting involvedusing private companies as intermediaries. The consequence is something of a new type of battlefield, one where open, processed and commercialized information becomes a strategic weapon in itself. Image | MizarVision In Xataka | The US is redrawing the map of its bases in Europe. And none of the countries that have said “no to war” appear In Xataka | Of all the paradoxes of the war in the Middle East, few imagined this ending: with a “half-way” deal between the US and Iran

SpaceX is about to go public promising to bring AI to space. What really sells is satellite Internet

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SpaceX has confidentially registered with the SECthe US regulator, its application to go public, in what could become the largest public offering in history. Why is it important. The valuation of Musk’s company exceeds one and a half billion dollars, and the objective is to raise between 50,000 and 75,000 million euros before the end of June. To put it in perspective: the IPO of the Arab oil company Saudi Aramco in 2019until now the largest in history, raised just over 25,000 million. Furthermore, this news has been presented as a milestone in space exploration, but if you read between the lines, the real story is different. Between the lines. The story that SpaceX is going to sell to Wall Street mixes rockets, Mars and AI. It is the perfect cocktail to attract capital in 2026, but analysts who have looked at the numbers and quote Reuters are a little cruder: the $1.5 trillion valuation is only supported by starlinkthe satellite Internet service that already has nine million subscribers and generated $8 billion in revenue in 2024 alone. SpaceX billed between 15,000 and 16,000 million dollars in 2025, with about 8,000 million in profit. Starlink accounts for the clear majority of that revenue and almost all of the margins. The orbital data centersthe great promise of the IPO, are still an unproven concept. As said market strategist Shay Boloor: “Starlink is the only reason this assessment is defensible.” The contrast. SpaceX was born in 2002 with a mission: to make humanity multiplanetary. Mars as a destination and reusable rockets as a means. That narrative has had to give some ground. And Wall Street, which has been buying anything with the word AI for years, hears that and opens its wallet. The money trail. This year, SpaceX absorbed xAI, Musk’s AI startup and now also the parent company of X. Musk paid $44 billion for Twitter in 2022 and since then, X and xAI are projects that consume a lot of cash, especially the latter. SpaceX’s IPO, according to The New York Timesis proposed among other things to pay the debt that Twitter incurred when Musk bought it and to finance xAI’s data centers. In other words: the jewel in the crown finances loss-making companies. The big question. Can SpaceX trade at $1.5 trillion with markets shaken by war? The Nasdaq just suffered its worst week in almost a yearwith the war between the United States and Iran in the background and oil skyrocketing. Some bankers have pushed SpaceX to keep between 15,000 and 20,000 million in cash before exiting. For what may happen. The moment of debut can be decisive for the worse even if the fundamentals are great. What is certain is that if the operation goes ahead, Musk, who owns about 42-44% of SpaceX, will almost certainly cross the threshold of a trillion dollars of personal wealth. He would be the first billionaire in history. In Xataka | Seven of the ten largest fortunes in the world in 2026 are due to AI: this illustrative graph makes it very clear Featured image | SpaceX

Satellite images have revealed the location of Russia’s largest warship, and that means Ukraine can see it too

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During the Second World War there was a announcement to sailors of future conflicts: some of the largest ships ever built were destroyed without having barely entered combat, becoming symbols of how vulnerable even the most advanced weaponry can be. Decades later, with the advent of commercial satellites and precision weapons, that exposure is even greater. Few doubts from space. The latest images satellites show a reality that is difficult to ignore: Russia is about to complete his largest warship in the Black Sea. The superstructure is practically complete, the flight deck is now fully identifiable and the work is advancing towards its final phase with key elements almost ready. However, this same monitoring from space also reveals the another side of the projectsince the ship remains motionless in a shipyard located within the reach of the ukrainian attack systemsmaking each advancement a race against time where finishing it is only half the challenge. Global ambition. He Ivan Rogov represents much more than a new ship for the Russian fleet, since it is conceived as a projection platform of force capable of operating far from its coasts and sustaining complex operations. With the capacity to transport hundreds of marines, military vehicles and an air wing of attack and transport helicopters, the ship fits into the category of large amphibious ships used by Western powers. Its size, greater than 200 meters, would make it in the greatest asset of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, which reinforces its not only military, but also symbolic value within Moscow’s strategy. Born from failure. The existence by Ivan Rogov is directly linked to an earlier strategic setback, when Russia attempted to acquire Mistral-class amphibious ships from France and the deal was canceled after the annexation of Crimea in 2014. From then on, Moscow was forced to develop your own designgiving rise to project 23900which combines its own technology with knowledge partially acquired during that failed contract. This context explains why the ship has a special weight within Russian military planning, since it symbolizes both the need for industrial autonomy and the ability to move forward despite sanctions and technological limitations. Protected, but not untouchable. The ship is being built in the Zaliv shipyardin Crimea, a facility that Russia has reinforced with multiple layers of protection to reduce the risk of attacks. Physical barriers, networks against naval drones and security measures have been deployed at the access to the dam, in addition to indirectly benefiting from the air defense that protects nearby strategic infrastructures such as the Kerch bridge. However, these measures do not guarantee invulnerability, since Ukraine has shown repeatedly its ability to attack targets in depth and degrade defensive systems, keeping the shipyard within a risk zone constant. Investment under threat. Russia has maintained the project despite economic difficulties, sanctions and pressure derived from the war, which implies a huge investment of around of 1,200 million of dollars and a sustained commitment of industrial resources. This effort reflects the strategic importance that Moscow attributes to the ship, but also increases the associated risk, since the loss of the Ivan Rogov would mean not only a military setback, but also a economic and reputational blow significant. In other words, the project has become a high-risk bet for Russia where success or failure will have an impact that goes beyond the ship itself. The real change. Beyond of the specific destination of the warship, what the case reveals is a deeper change in the nature of modern warfare, one where the military industry ceases to be a safe space in the rear and becomes on a direct target. In that sense, Ukraine does not need to confront an entire fleet to weaken Russia, but can instead focus at critical points such as shipyards, energy infrastructure or supply chains, affecting production capacity before systems even enter combat. In short, the displacement of the conflict towards the industrial base alters traditional rules and demonstrates that, in the current context, a weapon can be destroyed long before it has the opportunity to be used. Image | x In Xataka | With the arrival of good weather in Ukraine, Russia thought it was a good idea to bring out its hidden tanks. It wasn’t at all In Xataka | An exoskeleton worthy of ‘Alien’ or ‘Death Stranding’: the war in Ukraine is bringing the future sooner than expected

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