SpaceX has discussed a deal with Boost Mobile to launch its own service through the budget-friendly carrier, according to a report from The Washington Post. The deal, which comes as SpaceX aims to make Starlink a "major" mobile carrier, reportedly involves the Elon Musk-owned company acquiring Boost Mobile or accessing its network.

Musk discussed the potential agreement with Charlie Ergen, chairman of Boost Mobile parent company EchoStar, last month, as reported by The Washington Post. Boost Mobile's network is currently powered by T-Mobile and AT&T, meaning SpaceX may need permission from the two carriers to launch its service.

Neither …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Gravity is a cruel mistress, slowly dragging the famed telescope ever closer to its ultimate demise with every day. Hubble is in no immediate danger of burning up in the Earth's atmosphere, but its time will run out in the early to mid 2030s unless its orbit is boosted. So NASA is taking proposals from the private sector to see if anyone can save it.

In a post on NASA's site, Administrator Jared Isaacman said:

"Hubble still has important science ahead of it, and we should be looking at every reasonable opportunity to keep it delivering for as long as possible … If there are innovative and cost-effective ways to extend the life of an asset …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Google's AI chip-equipped satellite has generated its first response from space. In a blog post on Friday, Google says it successfully booted up the satellite's Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), allowing the on-board Gemma 4 model to follow through on a prompt to create a haiku about being in space:

Blue marble below

Data streams in silent grace

Starlight feeds my core. ✨

Google says it tried out other space-themed limericks and telemetry prompts as well. The test is part of Google's Project Suncatcher, an experimental initiative that could eventually put AI data centers in space. Google launched the satellite into orbit earlier this …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Virgin Galactic's new spaceship is here, dubbed "Apeiron" by popular vote from a public poll. Apeiron is the first of the company's new Delta-class spacecraft, but it isn't slated to launch for nearly another year. Earlier this week, Virgin Galactic announced another delay in its launch timeline:

The lead Spaceship's first commercial spaceflight is now expected in early Q2 2027, and the second Spaceship is expected to begin commercial spaceflight operations in late Q2/early Q3 2027. The updated timeline reflects additional time for completing avionics software integration and validation, which uses an exhaustive testing process. That testi …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Elon Musk claims Ukraine violated Starlink's terms of service before the recent slowdown, as reported earlier by Ars Technica. According to Musk, "Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people. That loophole was closed last week," however Ukrainian officials have denied that happened, or that it is actually possible for them to do.

The statement comes nearly two weeks after Ukrainian officials accused SpaceX of putting limits on the military's satellite internet service that disrupted its drone missions and operations. As reported by Axios, Ukraine uses Starlink for communications …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Last week, Starshield - the version of SpaceX's Starlink used by the Ukrainian military - was throttled to block terminals traveling above certain speeds from accessing the service. The Ukrainian army's interceptors, which counter Russian drones carrying bombs, suddenly stopped working at high speeds, making it easier for Russia to attack the country's energy infrastructure and leading to a reported two deaths and at least 17 injuries.

The Ukrainian military reported receiving no advance warning about the Starshield speed restriction. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was a direct message from the US amid rising tensions b …

Read the full story at The Verge.

SpaceX plans to access at least 80,000 cell sites as part of efforts to compete directly with Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T, according to a report from Bloomberg. Sources tell the publication that SpaceX is in talks with Crown Castle Inc., one of the nation's largest cell tower owners.

The move would give SpaceX access to half of the 158,500 cell towers currently operational in the US, according to Reuters. When asked about a potential partnership with SpaceX, Amazon, or other satellite services during an earnings call on Wednesday, Crown Castle CEO Chris Hillabrant said, "I don't think I want to get into customer-specific detail, but you can …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Oh sure, SpaceX's credit risk is pretty high because it's about to borrow another $40 billion to spend on Nvidia chips, but who cares about that? SpaceX and Tesla have formed special committees to discuss a merger!

The degree to which you find this merger compelling likely has to do with the degree to which you believe Elon Musk about wanting to go to Mars, or "spread the light of consciousness," as he put it in this week's SpaceX earnings call (and earlier S-1). Now, a reasonably informed person knows that we don't have the technology - or, frankly, even the raw information to build the technology - in order to support human life in space. …

Read the full story at The Verge.