Hello and welcome back to Max Q, your very favorite space news digest. A ton happened this week — launches, financing deals, contract awards, etc., etc. — so let’s dive in. Send thoughts, tips, feedback to aria.techcrunch@gmail.com. Don’t forget to sign up to get the free newsletter version of Max Q delivered to your inbox. […]
SpaceX aims to conduct first orbital flight of Starship in January, Musk says
SpaceX has been advancing the development of Starship, the largest ultra-super-heavy reusable launch system ever designed in history, at a jaw-dropping pace — and CEO Elon Musk is “comfortable” it will reach orbit sometime next year. Musk made the comments — which often veered into the philosophical — at the National Academies’ first virtual joint […]
Watchdog investigates tube adverts for Floki Inu cryptocurrency
Advertising Standards Authority receives complaints about ads for meme coin named after Elon Musk’s dogThe UK advertising watchdog has launched an investigation into a London bus and underground ad campaign for Floki Inu, a meme coin named after a dog …
Elon Musk’s Tesla stock sale hits $5B mark
Elon Musk has sold about $5 billion worth of Tesla stock, according to a slew of regulatory filings that posted late Wednesday. Initial filings showed Musk had sold 934,091 shares for about $1.1 billion out of more than 2.1 million options he received as part of a compensation package. Musk disclosed in a regulatory filing […]
Tesla shares fall after Elon Musk’s Twitter poll backs sell-off plan
Majority of billionaire’s 62.5 million followers vote that he should sell 10% of his stock in electric car firmTesla’s Frankfurt-listed shares fell about 9% in early trading on Monday as investors prepared for the chief executive Elon Musk’s proposed s…
Fortnite Boss Slams Billionaire Tax He Doesn’t Seem To Fully Understand
Surprise, surprise, Epic Games founder, Tim Sweeney, is not a fan of the new billionaire tax being proposed in Congress at the moment. The CEO of the company, which prints money thanks to Fortnite, said the tax would possibly “end founder control” of E…
Tesla surpasses $1 trillion market value
Tesla’s market valuation hit and then surpassed the $1 trillion mark Monday, a milestone reached by the company 11 years after it became a publicly traded company. It also puts Tesla in select company with Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google, all of which have market caps above $1 trillion. Tesla met the $1 trillion market […]
NTSB chair calls on Elon Musk to change design of Tesla Autopilot
National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy has called on Tesla to change the design of its advanced driver assistance system to ensure it cannot be misused by drivers, according to a letter sent to the company’s CEO Elon Musk. The letter, which TechCrunch has viewed, expressed concern that Tesla has yet to implement two […]
Elon Musk rolls back newest ‘Full Self-Driving’ beta due to software issues
Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the company has temporarily pulled back the latest version of the company’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) beta software less than a day after its release. “Seeing some issues with 10.3, so rolling back to 10.2 temporarily,” Musk tweeted on Sunday. “Please note, this is to be expected with beta software. It […]
Elon Musk’s Boring Company gets initial OK to expand Loop under Las Vegas Strip
Elon Musk’s Boring Company received Wednesday the initial approval required to build a transportation system that would shuttle passengers in Tesla vehicles via a network of tunnels under Las Vegas. The approval by Clark County officials of a special use permit and franchise agreement would allow the Boring Company to expand its Vegas Loop system […]