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Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk said in a social media post on on Nov. 3 that his various companies will never issue a cryptocurrency token.

Musk stated:

To be super clear, none of my companies will ever create a crypto token.

Musk made that comment in response to news about a token that is attempting to capitalize on a new product from his AI firm, xAI, called Grok. Though that company and project are legitimate, any crypto tokens that use those names are not legitimate.

Musks statement indicates that the other companies that he owns or leads including his rebranded Twitter app X, his automotive company Tesla, and his spacecraft and launch company SpaceX will not issue a cryptocurrency of their own.

Despite that warning, there appear to be numerous tokens in circulation that intend to capitalize on Musks companies and their popularity in the crypto sphere. On the Ethereum blockchain alone, there are 260 tokens that mention SpaceX, 497 tokens that mention Tesla, and countless others that mention Twitter or X.

Though few of those tokens have any market value, some have become high-profile scams. In January 2023, Forbes listed 25 notable Elon Musk-themed scams, including a number of cryptocurrency scams and fake coin offerings.

Though Musks firms will not issue new crypto tokens, those companies do make use of existing cryptocurrencies. Tesla holds about $184 million of cryptocurrency, largely or entirely Bitcoin, and accepts Dogecoin for some merchandise transactions.

Elsewhere, X supports Bitcoin tipping. The firm is also planning to introduce extensive payment features that may or may not include support for crypto transactions.

SpaceX, finally, held an unspecified amount of Bitcoin as recently as 2021. One of the companys customers has also funded a SpaceX mission, called DOGE-1, with Dogecoin; that mission is currently expected to launch in January 2024.

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Elon Musk denies that X, Tesla, or SpaceX will ever issue crypto ... - CryptoSlate

The moon seen from the International Space Station on July 9, 2018.

Alexander Gerst | NASA

WASHINGTON Jeff Bezos has his NASA moon ticket.

The billionaire's space company, Blue Origin, won a key contract from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on Friday to develop a crewed lunar lander for delivering astronauts to the moon's surface later this decade under the agency's Artemis program.

The effort is effectively a more than $7 billion project. NASA's contract award is worth just over $3.4 billion, officials said Friday, and Blue Origin Vice President John Couluris said the company will contribute "well north" of the contract's value as well.

"We're making an additional investment in the infrastructure that will pave the way to land the first humans on Mars," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in announcing the Blue Origin award. "Our shared ambitions now are no less lofty than when President [John F.] Kennedy dared a generation of dreamers to journey to the moon."

An artist's rendering of the lunar lander.

Blue Origin

Bezos said in a tweet Friday he's "honored to be on this journey with @NASA to land astronauts on the Moon this time to stay."

The Blue Origin-led team which includes Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Draper, Astrobotic and Honeybee Robotics topped the proposal of a team led by Leidos-owned Dynetics.

Leidos, in a statement to CNBC, said that "helping NASA with the inspiring efforts to return to the Moon will remain a priority." The company highlighted its existing and ongoing work on NASA systems and said the team is "committed to continuing to assist on these critical missions."

NASA received two additional proposals for the SLD contract but neither was considered "fully compliant with solicitation requirements" and so were quickly discounted, Jim Free, NASA associate administrator for the agency's exploration division, wrote in documents released Friday.

Known as the Sustaining Lunar Development, or SLD, program, the competition was essentially a second-chance contest that NASA organized after Elon Musk's SpaceX was the sole winner of the first crew lander contract in 2021.

That first program, called the Human Landing System, or HLS, gave SpaceX a contract to develop a variation of its Starship rocket for Artemis missions. Prior to the HLS award, NASA was expected to choose two winners, but the agency's budget at the time and SpaceX's more-affordable bid resulted in there being a single winner.

Both HLS and SLD are part of NASA's Artemis program to land astronauts on the moon, with the agency hoping to start flying crews to the lunar surface within the next few years. In December, NASA completed the first Artemis mission, which had no people on board, flying its Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket and Orion spacecraft around the moon for the first time.

Free, in explaining NASA's selection, wrote that Blue Origin's plan featured "compelling" strengths such as two uncrewed pathfinder missions in 2024 and 2025, early-stage technology maturation, excess capabilities of the lander itself, and a "reasonable and balance" price. He mentioned just two weaknesses in Blue Origin's bid, noting an issue with its plan for communications during flights as well as "numerous conflicts and omissions" in the company's schedule.

Regarding Dynetics, the strengths highlighted by Free were not enough to outweigh parts of its plan that were "uncertain" and "unclear," he said. The company's price point, which NASA did not disclose, was also "substantially higher in amount" than Blue Origin, Free wrote.

Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, left, and Amazon and Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos.

Getty Images

Last year, Nelson explained the reasoning behind a second bidding process to add another privately built lunar lander, saying, "Competition is critical to our success."

"We can leverage that money by working with a commercial industry and, through competition, bring those costs down to NASA," Nelson said during Senate testimony in 2022.

SpaceX has continued to develop its nearly 400-foot-tall Starship rocket in the meantime. The company in April attempted to reach space with the vehicle for the first time but it exploded in midflight. Recently, Musk estimated that SpaceX will spend about $2 billion on Starship development this year and said he expects the company to reach orbit around the Earth with its next launch.

Last year, NASA gave SpaceX an additional $1.15 billion award under the HLS contract, exercising an option to buy a second crewed demonstration landing from the company. That brought the total value of SpaceX's HLS contract up to $4.2 billion through 2027.

To date, NASA has paid out about $1.8 billion to SpaceX under HLS, according to federal records.

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Bezos' Blue Origin wins NASA astronaut moon lander contract to compete with SpaceXs Starship - CNBC

Watch a replay of our live coverage of the countdown and launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on the Starlink 6-3 mission at 2:19 a.m. EDT (0619 UTC) on May 19 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Follow us onTwitter.

Another Falcon 9 rocket lifted off early Friday from Cape Canaveral with a batch of 22 upgraded, new-generation Starlink internet satellites.

The Starlink 6-3 mission launched at 2:19:30 a.m. EDT (0619:30 UTC) from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. SpaceX delayed the liftoff from the mornings first two launch opportunities at 12:41 a.m. at 1:31 a.m. EDT to wait for weather to improve.

Like all Starlink launches, the Falcon 9 rocket released the new batch of internet satellites into an orbit below their final operating altitude. The satellites will then use on-board propulsion to raise their orbits to an altitude of more than 300 miles (500 kilometers).

SpaceXs launch team across the country in California was readying a different Falcon 9 rocket for liftoff at 9:19 a.m. EDT (6:19 a.m. PDT; 1319 UTC) from Vandenberg Space Force Base, but the chance for a launch doubleheader was thwarted by a last-minute abort in the countdown. The launch was rescheduled for Saturday to loft spare satellites for the telecom and data relay networks operated by OneWeb and Iridium.

The Starlink 6-3 mission continued launching SpaceXs new Starlink V2 Mini satellite platform fitted with improved phased array antennas with four times the communications capacity of earlier generations of Starlink satellites, known as Version 1.5, to beam internet signals to consumers around the world. Despite their name, the Starlink V2 Mini satellites are nearly times as massive and more than four times larger than the older Starlink V1.5 satellites.

The Mini moniker refers to SpaceXs plans to launch an even larger full-size Starlink V2 satellite design on the companys huge new Starship rocket. The Starship has nearly 10 times the payload lift capability of a Falcon 9 rocket, with greater volume for satellites, too.

The full-size Starlink V2s will be capable of transmitting signals directly to cell phones.But with the Starship rocket not yet operational following its first full-scale test flight in April, SpaceX began launching second-generation satellites on Falcon 9 rockets and developed the V2 Minis to fit on the companys existing launch vehicles.

The first group of 21 Starlink V2 Mini satellites launched Feb. 27 on a Falcon 9 rocket, but some of those spacecraft were decommissioned and intentionally steered back into the atmosphere due to technical problems. Elon Musk, SpaceXs founder and CEO, said the first batch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites were experiencing some issues, as expected. SpaceX planned to thoroughly test the satellites before boosting them above the altitude of the International Space Station to their final operating orbit.

Elon Musk, SpaceXs founder and CEO, tweeted the first group of Starlink V2 Mini satellites were experiencing some issues, as expected.

SpaceX continued launching older-model Starlink V1.5 satellites on a series of missions in March and April, before resuming deployment of the bigger, more capable Starlink V2 Mini satellites with a Falcon 9 launch April 19. Since then, SpaceX has launched four missions with the older Starlink V1.5 satellites before switching back to the larger V2 Minis with Friday mornings launch.

In addition to improved communications capability, the Starlink V2 Mini satellites have more efficient, higher-thrust argon-fueled propulsion systems. Argon is cheaper than the krypton gas SpaceX used to fuel ion engines on the older-generation Starlink V1.5 satellites.

This means Starlink can provide more bandwidth with increased reliability and connect millions of more people around the world with high-speed internet, SpaceX said before the first launch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites in February.

Each Starlink V2 Mini satellite weighs about 1,760 pounds (800 kilograms) at launch, nearly three times heavier than the older Starlink satellites. The are also bigger in size, with a spacecraft body more than 13 feet (4.1 meters) wide, filling more of the Falcon 9 rockets payload fairing during launch, according to regulatory filings with the Federal Communications Commission.

The larger, heavier satellite platform means a Falcon 9 rocket can only launch around 22 Starlink V2 Mini payloads at a time, compared to more than 50 Starlink V1.5s on a single Falcon 9 launch. The first two Falcon 9 launches with Starlink V2 Mini satellites carried 21 spacecraft, while Fridays Starlink 6-3 mission will deploy 22 spacecraft, matching or slightly exceeding the record for the heaviest payload SpaceX has ever launched into space.

The two deployable solar panels on each Starlink V2 Mini satellite span about 100 feet (30 meters) tip-to-tip.The previous generation of Starlink V1.5 satellites have a single solar array wing, with each spacecraft measuring about 36 feet (11 meters) end-to-end once the solar panel is extended.

The enhancements give the Starlink V2 Mini satellites a total surface area of 1,248 square feet, or 116 square meters, more than four times that of a Starlink V1.5 satellite.

The Federal Communications granted SpaceX approval Dec. 1 to launch up to 7,500 of its planned 29,988-spacecraft Starlink Gen2 constellation, which will spread out into slightly different orbits than the original Starlink fleet. The regulatory agency deferred a decision on the remaining satellites SpaceX proposed for Gen2.

Specifically, the FCC granted SpaceX authority to launch the initial block of 7,500 Starlink Gen2 satellites into orbits at 525, 530, and 535 kilometers, with inclinations of 53, 43, and 33 degrees, respectively, using Ku-band and Ka-band frequencies. SpaceX started launching older-design Starlink V1.5 satellites into the orbits approved for the Gen2 constellation in December.

The FCC previously authorized SpaceX to launch and operate roughly 4,400 first-generation Ka-band and Ku-band Starlink spacecraft that SpaceX has been launching since 2019. SpaceX is nearing completion with launches to populate the first-generation Starlink network.

With the launch Friday, SpaceX has sent 464 Starlink Gen2 satellites into orbit, including Starlink V1.5 and Starlink V2 Mini spacecraft. After this mission, SpaceX has deployed 4,469 Starlinks satellites in all, including test units no longer in service. More than 4,100 Starlink satellites are currently in orbit, according to McDowell.

The Gen2 satellites could improve Starlink coverage over lower latitude regions, and help alleviate pressure on the network from growing consumer uptake. SpaceX says the network has more than 1 million active subscribers, mostly households in areas where conventional fiber connectivity is unavailable, unreliable, or expensive.

During the overnight countdown beginning late Thursday night,SpaceXs launch team was stationed inside a launch control center just south of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to monitor key systems on the Falcon 9 rocket and at the launch pad. SpaceX began loading super-chilled, densified kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants into the Falcon 9 vehicle at T-minus 35 minutes.

Helium pressurant also flowed into the rocket in the last half-hour of the countdown. In the final seven minutes before liftoff, the Falcon 9s Merlin main engines were thermally conditioned for flight through a procedure known as chilldown.The Falcon 9s guidance and range safety systems were also configured for launch.

After liftoff, the Falcon 9 rocket vectored its 1.7 million pounds of thrust produced by nine Merlin engines to steer southeast over the Atlantic Ocean.The Falcon 9 rocket exceeded the speed of sound in about one minute, then shut down its nine main engines two-and-a-half minutes after liftoff. The booster stage separated from the Falcon 9s upper stage, then fired pulses from cold gas control thrusters and extended titanium grid fins to help steer the vehicle back into the atmosphere.

Two braking burns slowed the rocket for landing on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas around 400 miles (640 kilometers) downrange approximately eight-and-a-half minutes after liftoff. The reusable booster, designated B1076 in SpaceXs inventory, flew on its fifth trip to space Friday.

The Falcon 9s reusable payload fairing jettisoned during the second stage burn. A recovery ship was also on station in the Atlantic to retrieve the two halves of the nose cone after they splash down under parachutes.

Landing of the first stage on Fridays mission occurred just as the Falcon 9s second stage engine cut off to deliver the Starlink satellites into a preliminary parking orbit. Another upper stage burn 54 minutes into the mission reshaped the orbit ahead of payload separation.

Separation of the 22 Starlink spacecraft, built by SpaceX in Redmond, Washington, from the Falcon 9 rocket was confirmed about 65 minutes after liftoff.

The Falcon 9s guidance computer aimed to deploy the satellites into an orbit at an inclination of 43 degrees to the equator, with an altitude ranging between 195 miles and 200 miles (314-by-323 kilometers). After separating from the rocket, the 22 Starlink spacecraft will unfurl solar arrays and run through automated activation steps, then use their argon-fueled ion engines to maneuver into their operational orbit.

ROCKET:Falcon 9 (B1076.5)

PAYLOAD: 22 Starlink V2 Mini satellites (Starlink 6-3)

LAUNCH SITE: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida

LAUNCH DATE:May 19, 2023

LAUNCH TIME:2:19:30 a.m. EDT (0619:30 UTC)

WEATHER FORECAST:40-60% chanceof acceptable weather; Low risk of upper level winds; Low risk of unfavorable conditions for booster recovery

BOOSTER RECOVERY: A Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship northeast of the Bahamas

LAUNCH AZIMUTH:Southeast

TARGET ORBIT: 195miles by 200 miles (314 kilometers by 323 kilometers), 43.0 degrees inclination

LAUNCH TIMELINE:

MISSION STATS:

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SpaceX launches 22 new-generation Starlink satellites Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

SpaceX launches Space Force Falcon Heavy mission from Florida, lands at Cape Canaveral

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launches the Space Force's USSF-67 mission from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023. The rocket's side boosters landed at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station while the center core was expended.

SpaceX

Florida's Space Coast, already known for the rumble of rockets and window-rattling sonic booms triggered by their return landings, will hear even more of the latter moving forward thanks to launch performance changes made by SpaceX.

For several years, crewed launches to the International Space Station have featured Falcon 9 booster landings on drone ships in the Atlantic Ocean, but the company this week said it was able to take advantage of "extra performance" to start landing boosters at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station during those missions. Over the course of a year, that could translate to up to a half dozen more booster landings at Landing Zones 1 and 2 and just as many sonic booms when those 162-foot boosters return.

"We have a little bit of extra Falcon performance," Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceX's vice president of build and flight reliability, told reporters during a pre-launch briefing this week. "It's advantageous to get the first stage back to the landing site because then we don't have to worry about recovery weather and the drone ship."

Space Force: Weather looks favorable for SpaceX's Axiom-2 private astronaut launch from KSC

Axiom Space: Everything 'go' for launch of SpaceX Axiom-2 private astronaut mission

Having "extra performance" ultimately translates to fuel. When SpaceX began using the upgraded Crew Dragon capsule in 2020, there wasn't enough fuel left over after launch to justify flying all the way back to the Cape, so drone ships have met the boosters "halfway" in the Atlantic. Since then, SpaceX has refined the process to the point where there is not only enough performance, but with a comfortable margin.

"We've always had this kind of capability before," Gerstenmaier said. "We just weren't sure that we would always get the performance but the number of Falcon flights we've flown have allowed us to say that performance is available and can be used where it's needed to be used moving forward."

Gerstenmaier's comments came during a pre-launch briefing for SpaceX's next crewed mission: Ax-2, a private flight to the International Space Station organized by Houston, Texas-based Axiom space. The team of four Peggy Whitson, John Shoffner, Ali AlQarni, and Rayyanah Barnawi is slated to launch from Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A at 5:37 p.m. EDT Sunday, May 21.

After liftoff, the rocket's 162-foot booster will return to Landing Zone 1 and generate its signature triple sonic boom along the way, though it sounds more like a single boom by the time it reaches some spectators. Though startling, sonic booms are largely harmless to humans, wildlife, and infrastructure.

Since the first touchdown at the Cape in 2015, SpaceX has successfully landed boosters 192 times.

For the latest, visitfloridatoday.com/launchschedule.

ContactEmre Kellyataekelly@floridatoday.com. Follow him onTwitter,Facebook,andInstagramat @EmreKelly.

Axiom-2: Brevard braces for heavy traffic Sunday with SpaceX launch, boat races

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Florida will hear more sonic booms as SpaceX squeezes performance out of Falcon 9 rocket - Florida Today

Crewed launch, high-profile events could lead to heavy traffic on Brevard roadways

Cocoa Beach Mayor Ben Malik has a prediction for what traffic will be like Sunday afternoon in Brevard.

"It will be super gnarly, and quite a &$^%show!"

Call it the grand conjunction. The alignment of the planets. The perfect storm. Or any one of a dozen other cliches, but this Sunday afternoon, Brevard is going to experience chaos on local roadways.

"Get to the beach and pick a spot super early and avoid A1A as much as possible," Malik said about traffic in his beachside city with thousands of visitors expected for multiple events through the weekend, but particularly on Sunday.

Why?

Axiom-2, SpaceX's second private astronaut mission to the International Space Station for Axiom Space and NASA, is "go" for launch aboard aSpaceXFalcon 9 and Dragon capsule. The launch is scheduled for 5:37 p.m. Many spectators will likely want to wait for the sonic boom about nine minutes after liftoff because SpaceX, for the first time with a crewed mission, will target a booster landing at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

"We can see as many as 100,000+ people for a crewed launch," said Peter Cranis, executive director of the Space Coast Office of Tourism. "We expect this weekend to be very busy and encourage people to plan their routes and timing carefully."

As with all crewed launches, once the excitement is over, those same spectators will get in their cars to head home, to a Brevard restaurant or some other destination clogging the east-to-westbound traffic arteries leading from the barrier island to the mainland.

But Cranis is quick to say the convergence this weekend is still likely just a fluke even with an increased launch schedule.

"I think this is a bit unique," said Cranis on Sunday traffic expecations. "But during crewed launches, (residents) should be prepared for larger crowds."

Crewed launch: Everything 'go' for launch of SpaceX Axiom-2 private astronaut mission

Rocket launch schedule: Upcoming Florida launches and landings

Add to that the thousands of residents and visitors to the Space Coast who are expected for Thunder on Cocoa Beach. Thunder on Cocoa Beach is considered one of the Space Coast's largest tourism-related events of the year and is expected to bring in upwards of 100,000 people from out of the area.

The high-speed boat races will take place all weekend, but the offshore races happen on Sunday starting around 10 a.m. with the final race of the day scheduled between 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. The races are held from Alan Shepard Park to Coconuts on the Beach and many of those spectators will likely linger to watch the launch.

Cranis said that last year more than 36,000 people from outside of Brevard County came to the Cocoa Beach event and more than 100,000 people attended the event over four days.

"It will no doubt be a busy and exciting weekend from fast boats to faster rockets," Cranis said.

"A lot of these people, I would venture to guess, are going to come and stay the day," said Kerry Bartlett, executive director of Space Coast Super Boats LLC, promoter of Thunder on Cocoa Beach.

Bartlett said many of the people coming for the races would also have planned to come over for the launch.

"It may not be another 100,000 people, it may be another 50,000 people," he said adding that parking is going to be a major issue for people who want to see the launch from the beach. "Parking on the beach is already going to be occupied by people from the boat races and if they know there's a launch at 5:30, they aren't going to leave that parking spot."

Bartlett suggested that residents walk or bicycle to the beach accesses in Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral to avoid traffic and parking frustrations.

Residents wanting to watch the launch will want to avoid State Road A1A altogether and should consider these alternatives:

"Typically in launches like this, pedestrians take over the Max Brewer bridge," said Marcia Gaedcke, development director of the Titusville Playhouse and former executive director of the Titusville Chamber of Commerce.

Titusville should provide an easier route out to Interstate 95 from U.S. 1 via Garden Street and state roads 50, 405 and 46.

Things to do: What's going on this weekend? Our top 5 picks for May 19-25

Crowd expectations: Cocoa Beach powerboat race gets tourism grant, prepares for record-setting event

There is a Space Coast Chess Foundation tournament at the Radisson at the Port this weekend. Sunday is the last day of the event, with matches at 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. It will likely draw players from outside of Brevard.

According to Sean Malone, foundation vice president and secretary, the tournament will draw around 250 players plus an addition 100 or so in parents, organizers, tournament directors, etc.

Malone cautioned that some of those final matches won't end until hours after they start. "A round can last up to four hours," Malone said. "Not everyone will be finished with their game at the same time." Players from the tournament will be trickling out of the Radisson through the afternoon and evening.

On the mainland, the 2 p.m. matinee and final performance of Cocoa Village Playhouse's production of "Mary Poppins" will be getting out. Adding another nearly 500 people trying to navigate heavy traffic on U.S. 1 and State Road 520 in Cocoa Village.

Practically perfect: 'Mary Poppins' flies into Cocoa Village Playhouse

Color and light: Titusville's 'Sunday in the Park with George' blends art, love and legacy

Likewise, the Titusville Playhouse's 2 p.m. matinee of "Sunday in the Park with George" will let out between 4:30 to 5 p.m.

According to Gaedcke, the playhouse is expecting a crowd of about 250 to 300 people for the Sunday performance with many of those coming from outside of Titusville.

Gaedcke said patrons wouldn't need to worry about parking because they would be at the show early enough to avoid the onslaught of people coming for the launch, but that traffic leaving the playhouse might be a little tricky.

Rob Landersis a veteran multimedia journalist for the USA Today Network of Florida. Contact Landers at321-242-3627orrlanders@gannett.com. Instagram:@ByRobLandersYoutube:@florida_today

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SpaceX Axiom-2 launch, Thunder on the Beach: Brace for heavy traffic - Florida Today