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Artemis II breaks record for distance from Earth
The four astronauts aboard NASA’s Artemis II test flight made history by surpassing the record for the farthest distance from Earth. The astronauts set the record at 9:07 am AEST when they were around 406,778km from Earth. “At NASA, we dare to reach higher, explore farther, and achieve the impossible. That’s embodied perfectly by our Artemis II astronauts – Reid, Victor, Christina, and Jeremy. They are charting new frontiers for all humanity,” Dr. Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said. This came after Artemis II lost contact with Earth for around 40 minutes. This mission is also the first time in over half a decade that a human crew has gone to the moon. While the astronauts won’t land on the moon, they will do a loop around it and take never-before-seen photos of the Earth and the moon. This will also inform future Artemis missions as NASA attempts to build its first-ever moon base. The mission comes as the United States ramps up efforts to reassert space leadership amid growing competition from China, which is making progress towards its own moon landing in 2030. NASA aims to have humans set foot on the moon
Space
SpaceX files for IPO ahead of analyst day - sources
SpaceX has reportedly taken another step toward the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history by confidentially filing draft registration documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The IPO could value the private American aerospace manufacturer and space transportation company founded in 2002 by Elon Musk at more than US$1.5 trillion (A$2.2 trillion), according to media reports. The company is looking to raise up to $75 billion, which would be more than three times the size of the biggest United States IPO to date, CNBC reported in this story. The filing puts the company on track for a June listing, Bloomberg wrote in this article. SpaceX and Musk, the world’s wealthiest person with a net worth of almost $840 billion, have not formally confirmed the reports, which are based on anonymous sources. The company, established to develop and operate reusable rockets, ‌will host an analyst day on 21 April, including a visit to its "Macrohard" xAI data centre in Memphis, Tennessee, two days later, according to this Reuters story. SpaceX will have to release a public filing at least 15 days before its IPO road show. A confidential filing allows companies to submit their financial statements
Space
NASA to send first crew to the moon in over 50yrs
NASA is preparing to launch its first crew to the Moon in 53 years on its second Artemis mission. The mission will consist of three United States and one Canadian astronaut, who are due to liftoff aboard NASA’s Orion capsule and Space Launch System early Thursday morning for a 10-day test mission swinging around the moon. The journey will also take them further into space than humans have ever gone. This will act as a key test flight in humanity’s border goals as the U.S. races to reassert leadership in space amid growing competition from China, which is making progress toward its own moon landing in 2030. The mission will be the first crewed test flight in the NASA Artemis program and is estimated to have cost at least US$93 billion since 2012. Humans have not set foot on the moon’s surface since 1972, and NASA aims to complete this once again in 2028. So far, the U.S. is the only country in the world to put humans on another celestial body with its six lunar landings of the Apollo program, driven by competition with the former Soviet Union. This also comes as NASA is hoping to stimulate the commercial lunar market in the future. A PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report from January predicted $127 in revenues
Space
SpaceX may file for IPO this week; space stocks soar
Space stocks surged after reports that Elon Musk’s SpaceX could file for an initial public offering as soon as this week. The IPO could raise more than US$75 billion and would value the company at $1.75 trillion, The Information reported. Shares in Firefly Aerospace and Rocket Lab closed 16% and 10.3% higher respectively. SpaceX was valued at $1.25 trillion in February after it acquired artificial intelligence business xAI, another company run by Musk. “SpaceX has acquired xAI to form the most ambitious, vertically-integrated innovation engine on (and off) Earth,” Musk wrote at the time. SpaceX has been interviewing banks for leading roles in the IPO, Reuters reported earlier in March, including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley. The company is reportedly targeting a June listing. It generated almost $16 billion in revenue and $7.5 billion in EBITDA last year, per Morningstar estimates. This was largely due to major subscriber growth at its satellite internet segment Starlink. Satellite designer AST SpaceMobile’s shares closed 10.4% higher today, while York Space Systems was up 5.1%. Lunar exploration company Intuitive Machines rose 14.7%, having also been lifted by a $180.4 milli
Space
NASA cancels lunar orbit to build US$20bn moon base
NASA has cancelled plans to deploy a space station in lunar orbit and will instead use its components to construct a US$20 billion base on the moon’s surface over the next seven years. NASA chief Jared Isaacman made the announcement at the opening of a daylong event at NASA’s Washington headquarters, at which he outlined changes he is making to the agency’s flagship moon programme, Artemis. “It should not really surprise anyone that we are pausing Gateway in its current form and focusing on infrastructure that supports sustained operations on the lunar surface,” Isaacman told delegates at the event. The Lunar Gateway station was largely already built, with contractors Northrop Grumman and Vantor, formerly Maxar, which was intended to be a space station parked in a lunar orbit. Isaacman said the repurposing of the craft for a lunar surface base is not simple. "Despite some of the very real hardware and schedule challenges, we can repurpose equipment and international partner commitments to support surface and other program objectives," Isaacman said. Lunar ⁠Gateway was designed to serve as both a research platform and a transfer station that astronauts would use to board the moon landers before descending to

Space
Dual-class plan to cement Elon Musk's control
SpaceX is reportedly weighing a share market debut that could redraw the power map of corporate America. The mechanism would issue two types of shares: One carrying standard voting rights, the other carrying “super votes”, typically 10 or 20 votes per share. The effect is simple. Founders can sell economic ownership while retaining control of decisions. CEO Elon Musk has argued publicly that meaningful influence requires around 25% of voting power - not necessarily ownership, but votes. At Tesla, where he holds about 11% of shares, he has floated the idea of a similar structure to safeguard his long-term strategy in artificial intelligence and robotics. The SpaceX proposal mirrors models used by Meta Platforms and Alphabet Inc. Supporters of this model suggest such frameworks protect long-term innovation from short-term market pressure. However, critics counter that unequal voting rights weaken accountability because public investors can own most of the stock yet hold limited say. SpaceX is understood to be targeting a listing that could value the business north of US$1.5 trillion and raise as much as $50 billion. If achieved, that would eclipse the 2019 float of Saudi Aramco, which raised $29 billion an
Space
xAI exodus sparks Musk’s SpaceX shake-up
Elon Musk has tightened his grip on his artificial intelligence venture xAI by cutting staff, reshaping management and folding the business into SpaceX in a transaction that redraws the boundaries of his empire. The immediate trigger was a leadership exodus with co-founders Jimmy Ba and Tony Wu this week confirming their departures, bringing the tally of founding exits to six out of 12. Earlier exits included senior technical architects behind the company’s core AI models. Their reasons have not been fully detailed; however, industry reports point to internal pressure to accelerate performance and close the gap with rivals such as OpenAI and Anthropic. Within days of the resignations, Musk announced a reorganisation. In a post on X, he said the restructure was designed to improve “speed of execution”, which is corporate lingo for making decisions faster and reducing internal friction. The overhaul “required parting ways with some people,” he wrote, while adding that hiring would continue. Under the new structure, xAI is split into four functional pillars: Grok (its chatbot and voice assistant), Coding, Imagine (video generation) and Macrohard - an internal automation unit using digital agents, aka software p
Space
SpaceX absorbs xAI; Musk eyes blockbuster IPO
Elon Musk is once again rearranging the deck chairs of his own corporate ship, this time by folding artificial intelligence start-up xAI into SpaceX as the rocket maker edges closer to what could be the biggest initial public offering (IPO) in modern markets. The deal, confirmed in regulatory filings in the state of Nevada, makes SpaceX the managing member of a new holding company that pulls together rockets, satellites, data, artificial intelligence (AI) and the X social media platform. There’s no mistaking the sort of consolidation Musk is looking for: one balance sheet, one story, and a valuation that could stretch to around US$1.25 trillion (A$1.799 trillion) if and when shares are offered to the public. Musk is betting that investors will buy into a tightly controlled, vertically integrated machine where launch vehicles feed satellites, satellites feed data, and data feeds AI models that can be sold to governments, defence agencies and corporations with deep pockets. As the financial anchor behind this manoeuvre, SpaceX - founded in 2002 - dominates commercial rocket launches and has become a key contractor to NASA, the U.S. space agency. It also owns Starlink, its satellite broadband network, with more than 9
Space
Bezos takes on Musk with new TeraWave satellite grid
Blue Origin has announced the launch of ‘TeraWave’, a proprietary satellite communications network designed to rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The system targets high-speed connectivity for enterprise and government clients, placing Jeff Bezos’ space company in direct competition with the market leader.Network SpecificationsFilings with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) indicate the TeraWave system comprises 5,408 satellites, with the units operating in a combination of low Earth orbit (LEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO). Unlike consumer-focused broadband services, this network targets government contracts, military operations, and orbital data centres. Blue Origin states that TeraWave utilises optical laser links for data backhaul - an architecture that supports symmetrical speeds reaching 6 terabits per second. CEO Dave Limp stated the network is designed specifically for enterprise customers requiring throughput levels that existing providers cannot currently guarantee.Market PositionThe announcement introduces a direct challenger to SpaceX’s Starlink and Starshield divisions. Starlink currently holds a significant share of the LEO market. Analysts note that TeraWave focuses on distinct high-value sectors