Jupiter seen by the James Webb Telescope🛰️ pic.twitter.com/ywOO7aZUrh

— The Astronomy Guy (@astrooalert) September 15, 2026

Saw this vessel called Frote transporting one of @elonmusk Starships off our coast yesterday!

It was contracted by SpaceX to recover and transport the intact 52-meter-long Starship upper stage.

Was truly a magnificent thing to see 🚀🚀🚀🚀🫡😎 pic.twitter.com/vdtAZEThHy

— Capt Mylo (@CaptMylo) September 15, 2026

Starship Flight 14:

-Morning launch (75 min. window opens at 7:15am CT)

-Will be the first Starship launch to go orbital!

-No booster or ship catch.

-Ship will orbit the Earth about 6 times over the course of nearly 10 hours!

-Ship will splashdown off coast of Chile in the… pic.twitter.com/LKlhOGTzqZ

— Ellie in Space 🚀💫 (@esherifftv) September 15, 2026

No more stock issuance for infrastructure is a big deal for those of us who own a stake. A lot of insider selling pressure the past week or so.

Key takeaways from $SPCX SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell at All-In:

• No more stock issuance to fund infrastructure.

• Ground data centers and future orbital compute will be powered by Starlink cash flow + balance sheet + debt markets.

• Compute rental is already a massive,… pic.twitter.com/nBYP1R6TcK

— vincent (@SPCX100T) September 15, 2026

Yes, this is classic Shotwell. But the news is, when asked directly about NASA and others relying on Dragon in the near future, she says "We're not retiring it today." It's wild that Dragon, all of six years old and by far the best crew spacecraft in the world, may soon be gone. https://t.co/7kJ8qOOeWD

— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) September 16, 2026

She's hilarious. Notably, Boeing was paid over $4.2 billion for Starliner, which has unsafely delivered crew to the ISS I believe one time. Hopefully, they enable F9 to hit 1,000 flights before retiring the system (my personal hope).

Sometimes your eyes need a minute to focus when you wake up. Roman's Wide Field Instrument just woke up for the first time EVER, and scientists have started adjusting its "eyes" so they can focus on the bigger picture.

Check out its first test image below https://t.co/lkv3LFMyMR pic.twitter.com/AnI6XU1MAm

— Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (@NASARoman) September 15, 2026

Starship will initially be on a suborbital trajectory with an orbital insertion burn being performed 19 minutes after SECO if everything looks good.

It will then have multiple checks throughout the flight where it can deorbit and land early if necessary. https://t.co/nv6XQccoc6 pic.twitter.com/0jLBKQ2UdR

— Booster 10 (@booster_10) September 15, 2026

Who?mikejones! said:

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Space rangers

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No, Space Marines, get it right.

nortex97 said:

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No more stock issuance for infrastructure is a big deal for those of us who own a stake. A lot of insider selling pressure the past week or so.

Key takeaways from $SPCX SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell at All-In:

• No more stock issuance to fund infrastructure.

• Ground data centers and future orbital compute will be powered by Starlink cash flow + balance sheet + debt markets.

• Compute rental is already a massive,… pic.twitter.com/nBYP1R6TcK

— vincent (@SPCX100T) September 15, 2026

Yes, this is classic Shotwell. But the news is, when asked directly about NASA and others relying on Dragon in the near future, she says "We're not retiring it today." It's wild that Dragon, all of six years old and by far the best crew spacecraft in the world, may soon be gone. https://t.co/7kJ8qOOeWD

— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) September 16, 2026

She's hilarious. Notably, Boeing was paid over $4.2 billion for Starliner, which has unsafely delivered crew to the ISS I believe one time. Hopefully, they enable F9 to hit 1,000 flights before retiring the system (my personal hope).

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Once ISS is retired, the demand for Dragon will be gone. There should be others capable of the lifting capacity that F9 serves.

I could see SpaceX spinning F9 off to an independent or possibly a wholly owned subsidiary. By that point, even a full sale, they may not have any defendable IP in Falcon and Merlin

Eh...maybe. Keep in mind you still have some "private" space stations in the works (i.e. Axiom) that will still need reliable means of transportation to get to and from. And right now, that list starts and ends with Dragon...I mean, you could include Soyuz, but I seriously doubt anyone outside of Russia would look at it. The only other options are Starliner (good luck finding anyone willing to ride that monstrosity) or Dreamchaser, which I'm beginning to doubt ever flies at all. I suppose Starship could service Axiom's station, but I'm not sure if that would necessarily be an economical equivalent.

A similar shot I took in November 2023. pic.twitter.com/J1Wx7olsHy

— Alan Murta 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@DrAlanMurta) September 16, 2026

Kenneth_2003 said:

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I could see SpaceX spinning F9 off to an independent or possibly a wholly owned subsidiary. By that point, even a full sale, they may not have any defendable IP in Falcon and Merlin

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FWIW, they functionally don't use patents on the rockets. Elon has dismissed them as unnecessary.
Grok;

Quote:

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Elon Musk has long downplayed patents. In a 2012 interview he said SpaceX had "essentially no patents" because publishing them would give competitors (especially in China) a "recipe book." He has repeated versions of that view since, including that patents are mainly used to block trolls and that others are free to copy SpaceX. Core rocket, engine, and reuse know-how is treated as trade secrets rather than published inventions.

The public record still shows a real, if modest, portfolio. Analyses from 20242026 typically put it in the range of roughly 80200 patent families and a few hundred individual filings or grants worldwide, depending on whether applications, grants, acquisitions, and design patents are counted. The large majority cluster around Starlink user hardwarephased-array antennas, terminals, RF filters, radomes, and related communications gearbecause those products ship to customers and can be reverse-engineered. Rocket engines, Falcon/Starship vehicles, and most launch-process details appear only rarely.
SpaceX has also picked up some patents through acquisitions (for example RF-filter technology).

Enforcement appears limited; the strategy is closer to "patent the commodity layer that customers can take apart, keep the factory-floor launch edge secret." That dual approach is why the portfolio looks thin next to legacy aerospace firms or even some newer space companies.

---

(He commented on this in the past month but that was easier for me to quickly respond with.). But that also makes me think there may be 'trade secrets' in the metallurgy/software etc. in the F9/Merlin series they don't want to just sell off.

Here's a link to the article referenced above. The CEO quoted, Ranzo, compared the Falcon 9 to a "Tata" car a decade ago citing reliability issues. His Vega rocket then went on to have multiple failures while Falcon 9 launched 150+ times a year.https://t.co/bKbJnqrehw

— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) September 16, 2026

More LOL's.

The Moon’s got a big new crater! 🕳️

Spotted by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the McGetchin crater formed when a rock as big as a six-story building crashed into the Moon. It’s 141 feet deep and wider than the length of two football fields.🪨💥🌕https://t.co/I2fX7bPts1 pic.twitter.com/Zft4mKUv1Z

— NASA Solar System (@NASASolarSystem) September 16, 2026

will25u said:

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A similar shot I took in November 2023. pic.twitter.com/J1Wx7olsHy

— Alan Murta 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@DrAlanMurta) September 16, 2026

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Cue 2001: A Space Odyssey music

will25u said:

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The Moon’s got a big new crater! 🕳️

Spotted by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the McGetchin crater formed when a rock as big as a six-story building crashed into the Moon. It’s 141 feet deep and wider than the length of two football fields.🪨💥🌕https://t.co/I2fX7bPts1 pic.twitter.com/Zft4mKUv1Z

— NASA Solar System (@NASASolarSystem) September 16, 2026

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Thanks for taking one for the team, moon! You're the best!

double aught said:

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will25u said:

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The Moon’s got a big new crater! 🕳️

Spotted by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the McGetchin crater formed when a rock as big as a six-story building crashed into the Moon. It’s 141 feet deep and wider than the length of two football fields.🪨💥🌕https://t.co/I2fX7bPts1 pic.twitter.com/Zft4mKUv1Z

— NASA Solar System (@NASASolarSystem) September 16, 2026

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Thanks for taking one for the team, moon! You're the best!

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So basically a hole big enough and deep enough to hold all of Kyle Field stadium.

nortex97 said:

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Kenneth_2003 said:

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I could see SpaceX spinning F9 off to an independent or possibly a wholly owned subsidiary. By that point, even a full sale, they may not have any defendable IP in Falcon and Merlin

---

FWIW, they functionally don't use patents on the rockets. Elon has dismissed them as unnecessary.
Grok;

Quote:

---

Elon Musk has long downplayed patents. In a 2012 interview he said SpaceX had "essentially no patents" because publishing them would give competitors (especially in China) a "recipe book." He has repeated versions of that view since, including that patents are mainly used to block trolls and that others are free to copy SpaceX. Core rocket, engine, and reuse know-how is treated as trade secrets rather than published inventions.

The public record still shows a real, if modest, portfolio. Analyses from 20242026 typically put it in the range of roughly 80200 patent families and a few hundred individual filings or grants worldwide, depending on whether applications, grants, acquisitions, and design patents are counted. The large majority cluster around Starlink user hardwarephased-array antennas, terminals, RF filters, radomes, and related communications gearbecause those products ship to customers and can be reverse-engineered. Rocket engines, Falcon/Starship vehicles, and most launch-process details appear only rarely.
SpaceX has also picked up some patents through acquisitions (for example RF-filter technology).

Enforcement appears limited; the strategy is closer to "patent the commodity layer that customers can take apart, keep the factory-floor launch edge secret." That dual approach is why the portfolio looks thin next to legacy aerospace firms or even some newer space companies.

---

(He commented on this in the past month but that was easier for me to quickly respond with.). But that also makes me think there may be 'trade secrets' in the metallurgy/software etc. in the F9/Merlin series they don't want to just sell off.

---

Yeah... Patents are weird. You want to makes them as broad and vague as possible to prevent having to publish the details. Then as the years go on, the renewals are increasingly more costly and good for shorter and shorter terms.

My thoughts when I posted were more along the line that by the time they discontinue F9, they'll be so far ahead with Starship and Raptor that there simply isn't much anyone could reasonably do to catch them.

Honestly I don't know how much trade secret carryover there is between Falcon and Starship. Is there enough that could reasonably give a competitor a competitive leg up? It would take anyone else in the aerospace industry over a decade to get where SpaceX is today and there's no telling where they'll be in a decade.

It truly is crazy to think that SpaceX could retire F9 and Dragon before anyone else could even fly a single mission with a "colleague" of a capsule.

It's really amazing what our gravity and atmosphere protect us from.

SpaceX: Holy Grail of Rocketry

https://www.spacex.com/content/starship/holy-grail-of-rocketry

Youtube version here

Came here to post this!

This is top quality rocket porn!

I sense a major disturbance in the force, like 1000 astronauts butts puckering at the same time.

— D. Nathan Hilliard (@DanielH31422604) September 17, 2026

because 5 years ago we were in space making these incredible memories pic.twitter.com/ZqIfZEyzzu

— Hayley Arceneaux (@ArceneauxHayley) September 17, 2026

Now targeting to launch Starship Flight 14 as early as Monday, September 28, pending regulatory approval https://t.co/3nG9wffG6A

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 17, 2026

"Pending regulatory approval…"

Before a launch of Starship there are 200-250 tanker truck deliveries of nitrogen, oxygen and methane. To give you a visual, here’s a video I took showing just before Starship Flight 6! pic.twitter.com/DCEwPI505C

— CJP the Panda (@mrtimer2022) September 16, 2026

BREAKING: The U.S. Space Force is giving SpaceX broad freedom to design its new $2.3 billion military satellite backbone - including how many satellites it needs to build.

Rather than prescribing a constellation size or design, the Pentagon is setting requirements for coverage,… pic.twitter.com/FnXKDZe3ug

— Outer Space Today (@outerspacetoday) September 16, 2026

SDN is gonna be huge

Representatives from The Texas A&M University System will help lead Texas' bid to become the permanent home of the United States Space Academy.@GregAbbott_TX named Dr. Nancy Currie-Gregg, director of the Texas A&M Space Institute, and Dr. Robert Ambrose, associate director, to… pic.twitter.com/ZIxuN8BqJv

— Texas A&M System (@tamusystem) September 17, 2026

nortex97 said:

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Now targeting to launch Starship Flight 14 as early as Monday, September 28, pending regulatory approval https://t.co/3nG9wffG6A

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 17, 2026

"Pending regulatory approval…"

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Ok, they need to stop posting dates until 2-3 days before launch

It seems most people are taking the Dragon retirement story to mean that SpaceX is getting out of the human spaceflight game. Pretty obvious that's not the case and the timeline is more of an indication of when Starship is expected to be human rated.

normaleagle05 said:

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It seems most people are taking the Dragon retirement story to mean that SpaceX is getting out of the human spaceflight game. Pretty obvious that's not the case and the timeline is more of an indication of when Starship is expected to be human rated.

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I don't know if human rating Starship means human rating terrestrial Starship landings. The G-forces aren't too high, but it would be coming from multiple directions within a short amount of time



Going from a horizontal belly-flop (+Gx) to a vertical rocket posture (+Gz) while simultaneously swinging sideways (Gy) causes the inner ear fluid to slosh wildly. This causes severe spatial disorientation and motion sickness, even at lower G-levels.

It could work though if SpaceX is planning on having gimbaled seats

JUST IN: Texas A&M is preparing to challenge Caltech for control of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, potentially ending a management relationship that has lasted roughly 90 years.

The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents has authorized the system to assemble a team and…

— Outer Space Today (@outerspacetoday) September 17, 2026

JUST IN: Texas A&M is preparing to challenge Caltech for control of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, potentially ending a management relationship that has lasted roughly 90 years.

The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents has authorized the system to assemble a team and prepare a proposal to manage and operate JPL.

NASA is opening management of the laboratory to competitive bidding for the first time in JPL's history.

Caltech founded JPL and has managed the laboratory since its creation. Its current contract runs through September 2028 and carries a maximum potential value of $30 billion if all options are exercised.

JPL employs roughly 7,300 people and has led missions spanning Mars rovers, Voyager and some of NASA's most important deep-space exploration programs.

Texas A&M already co-manages Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Pantex nuclear weapons facility and is completing a $200 million Space Institute near NASA Johnson Space Center.

NASA says the competition will take several years and will not disrupt current JPL missions.

SpaceX’s Nasdaq-100 weighting is set to more than double at today's closing bell, triggering an estimated $15.5B to $22B in programmatic buying, one of the largest single-day passive flows of the quarter.

When SPCX first joined the index on July 7th, only 4% to 5% of its shares…

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) September 18, 2026

Definitely not selling anything today.

I worked for / with Rob Ambrose in the dexterous robotics lab for a number of years. It's good to see him making such a big push for A&M in the commercial space world.

The Texas A&M Space Institute is opening up this fall and it's currently about 1/4 filled with lunar regolith simulant. Full size is more than a football field of lunar regolith, and they will have another one with Martian regolith simulant.

We're shooting to get in there soon for some hardware testing. I'll give updates when that happens. Either way, our CTO Dr. Tim Crain was a big part of it and it happened quick. Not bad for a t-sip football player!

Rising next to NASA's Johnson Space Center, the Texas A&M Space Institute will serve as a hub for research, workforce development, and aerospace innovation.

— Texas A&M System (@tamusystem) June 2, 2026

https://space.tamu.edu/institute/facility/

Extraordinary https://t.co/YXC6oMbOqY

— NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman (@NASAAdmin) September 16, 2026

The idea is to test equipment with lunar/martian dust??

OnlyForNow said:

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The idea is to test equipment with lunar/martian dust??

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Correct. Although there are a lot of different types of dust simulants depends on the purpose of the test. Most are taken from earth volcanoes and milled / ground down to get the properties you want.