Canada’s anti-Trump sentiment has manifested itself in a major loss to Elon Musk’s Starlink broadband-by-satellite system. The Canadian province of Ontario has cancelled an order for Starlink services worth $100 million (€86.6m) and intended to connect 15,000 rural and isolated homes in the region. The deal was originally announced in November 2024 and helped by […]

Elon Musk says his troubled Starship giant rocket is on track to launch again in early August. Starship has had a challenging gestation. The massive rocket, which comprises the ‘Super Heavy’ lower booster stage and the Starship upper stage, has launched nine times to date. The rocket has at its key aim the lowering of […]

Starlink can start operating over India. Elon Musk’s Starlink has been given approval by India agency IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre) to start services. In June, Starlink was provided with a licence by the government to launch GMPCS (Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite) services, VSAT Services and ISP Category-A under unified […]

Elon Musk’s plans to start Starlink broadband services in South Africa are currently stymied. But he is reportedly planning an ambitious work-around with a 2 billion Rand (€96m) overall investment in the Southern Africa region to get around local Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) regulations. South Africa’s Business Day reports that Musk will use the investment […]

Elon Musk was somewhat caught out by talking of significant improvements that had been made to SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket. Then the test rocket, which would have become Flight #10, suffered a spectacular explosion June 19th on its test pad. Experts suggest the damage to the test stand itself possibly looks repairable. There is obviously […]

A supposedly routine static test firing of a SpaceX Starship rocket ended in a gigantic ball of flame in a huge explosion at Elon Musk’s Starbase facility in South Texas. In a statement, SpaceX said the rocket suffered “a major anomaly” while on a test stand at Starbase. “A safety clear area around the site […]

Despite missiles raining down – and perhaps to ensure connectivity – Elon Musk has confirmed that SpaceX’s Starlink broadband-by-satellite is now active in Iran. On June 13th, Iran’s communications ministry announced that “temporary restrictions have been imposed on the country’s internet” in response to Israel’s wave of attacks on military and nuclear facilities. The ministry […]

SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket failed again. It was the ninth test flight but the third failure in a row for the massive 122-metre-high rocket. The flight spun out of control about halfway through the mission but failed to achieve some of its key targets. However, the flight engineers can take some modest comfort in that […]

Starlink subscribers around the world pay anything between $120 (USA), A$139 (Australia), €49 (average in Europe) and Ksh 6500 (in Kenya). But SpaceX has a major dilemma in setting its pricing structure in India. Not only is India a market with plenty of established cellular competition, but also vigorous competition from Eutelsat’s OneWeb and RelianceJio/SES, […]

Elon Musk’s previous comments that South Africa’s government was allegedly “racist” were raised during the tense meeting between President Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa in the White House last week. Musk was present during the meeting but did not speak. South African billionaire Johann Rupert did speak and moved to quell tensions with remarks that […]