The piece examines a looming gap in U.S. medium-lift launch capacity and profiles the new domestic rockets racing to fill it. It argues that with the last new U.S. medium-lift vehicle introduced 13 years ago and SpaceX withdrawing Falcon 9 from the commercial market by 2028, satellite operators face real uncertainty for 2027-2030 launches. Larger rockets like Vulcan and New Glenn are expensive and already booked, so multiple startups are betting on mid‑sized vehicles and following SpaceX’s lesson of building engines and critical hardware in‑house to control cost and schedules.
Four contenders are profiled with specific technical progress and launch predictions. Stoke Space’s Nova targets full reusability (3 t reusable, 7 t expendable), full‑flow staged‑combustion engines, and an orbital reentry heat‑shielded upper stage; its second stage has shipped and a July 2027 debut is predicted. Relativity’s Terran R (advertised 33.5 t expendable, roughly 20 t reusable) has completed Aeon R engine acceptance and a second‑stage hot fire, with a September 2027 prediction. Rocket Lab’s Neutron (8.5-15 t) faces Archimedes engine and large carbon‑composite dome challenges, with a January 2028 target. The Firefly/Northrop Grumman Eclipse relies on Miranda engines but shows uncertain stage development and partnership friction, listed NET 2029.
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Hedra is a 3D open world game created from scratch by a high school student, with a codebase exceeding 100,000 lines. It is available on Steam and involves game development tools like Bullet physics, OpenGL, and GLSL. (github.com)
Mark Zuckerberg considered leaving California due to a wealth tax. Meta's board offered him a deal to stay in the state. (wsj.com)
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby advocates for a national wealth tax and near 100% inheritance tax on the ultra-wealthy to address economic inequality. He also defends airline charges for premium services, emphasizing personalized customer experiences. (firstformoney.com)
AI enables the enclosure of the scientific information commons, transforming shared knowledge into private assets. This shift risks undermining the social and collaborative foundations of scientific progress, similar to historical enclosures of common lands. (arxiv.org)
A retired decorator from Woking sold a collection of Pokémon cards for £1.56 million at auction, making it possibly the most valuable trading cards auction in the UK and Europe. The cards, stored in an attic for 15 years and in mint condition, included a rare Charizard card that sold for £100,000. (bbc.co.uk)
Elon Musk invested approximately $1 billion in Skydance, a company formed after Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The investment aims to support Skydance's efforts to cut costs and merge major film studios and streaming platforms. (cnbc.com)
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