AST SpaceMobile will build its own Blacklift rocket, paying Firefly $1.3 billion for engines and the right to make them

The stories

18 on this beat today.

Every story told the same way: what happened, who is involved, why it matters, how it works, the truth and the good news.

1. 01

   AST SpaceMobile will build its own Blacklift rocket, paying Firefly $1.3 billion for engines and the right to make them

   $1.3bn

   AST's deal with Firefly for engines and the right to build them

   $800 million of it is the licence alone [1]

   20 tonnes

   what Blacklift should lift to low orbit

   enough for 5 BlueBird satellites a launch [3]

   5 to 9 years

   what comparable rockets took from announcement to orbit

   Ars Technica's count [1]; AST is planning for about 2 [2]

   What happened

   • AST SpaceMobile said on Friday it will build its own rocket, called Blacklift, to fly in late 2028. [3]
   • AST is a Texas company whose BlueBird satellites send phone signal straight to ordinary mobile phones. [1]
   • It will pay Firefly Aerospace, another Texas rocket company, $1.3 billion for engines and the right to build them. [2]
   • AST's founder, Abel Avellan, says Blacklift gives the company 'regular unconstrained access to orbit'. [1]
   • The licence to build Firefly's Miranda and Vira engines, with no end date, costs $800 million. [1] Half is paid in cash and half in AST shares. [2]
   • Another $250 million buys 36 engines, and $250 million pays for 3 years of Firefly's engineering help. [1]
   • The 36 engines are for AST's first 3 rockets: 27 Miranda engines and 9 Vira engines. [2]
   • Each rocket's first stage, the part that lifts it off the ground, will use 9 Miranda engines. [1]
   • Firefly's chief, Jason Kim, says the deal gives AST control of its own launch schedule. [2]
   • Blacklift should lift 20 tonnes to low orbit around Earth, enough for 5 BlueBird satellites a launch. [3]
   • That puts it in the same class as SpaceX's Falcon 9 and the Vulcan of United Launch Alliance. [2] Falcon 9 can lift about 25 tonnes. [3]
   • Neither engine has flown to orbit yet. [2] Miranda has been fired more than 175 times on the ground, for more than 4,200 seconds. [2]
   • Firefly's own estimate for the first launch of Eclipse, its Miranda-powered rocket with Northrop Grumman, is 2027. [2]
   • AST has launched 13 BlueBirds so far, on rockets from SpaceX, Blue Origin and India. [3]

   123

   0 years5 years10 years

   1. 1AST's plan2 years
   2. 2Falcon 9, the record4.7 years
   3. 3Vulcan8.7 years

   Who is involved

   • Jason Kim Firefly's chief executive; he says AST gains control of its own launch schedule
   • AST SpaceMobile a Texas company whose satellites send signal straight to phones; it will build Blacklift
   • Firefly Aerospace a Texas rocket company; it sells AST engines and the right to build them
   • Abel Avellan AST's founder and chief executive; he says Blacklift gives it regular access to orbit

   How it unfolded

   1. Friday Blacklift announced
   2. Late 2028 Blacklift's planned first flight [3]
   3. 9 Nov AST's results
   4. 10 Nov Firefly reports its results [2]
   5. 12 Nov AST's unveiling event in New York [2]
   6. 6 Nov AST announces Blacklift and the Firefly deal [3]
   7. 9 Nov AST reports its results [2]

   Why it matters

   AST has struggled to get rides to space, Ars Technica says, and Blacklift is its answer. [1]

   SpaceX plans to retire Falcon 9 once Starship works. [3] It has said Starship will carry its own satellites first. [3]

   Starlink, SpaceX's satellite network and a top rival of AST, already flies on its own company's rockets. [4]

   How it works

   Project planners call this the critical path: the longest chain of jobs that must happen in order. [1]

   Buying a tested engine design cuts out one long job. [1] Ars Technica says that saves 1 to 2 years, not 5. [1]

   Seen it before

   Buying ready-made pastry saves one job, but the pie still has to bake for its full hour.

   The truth

   • What is really going on AST SpaceMobile already has rides booked for more than 100 satellites through 2028, yet it is paying Firefly $1.3 billion toward a rocket of its own. [3][2]
   • Ars Technica says new rockets this size take 5 to 9 years from announcement to first orbit. [1] AST is planning for about 2. [2]
   • Of 5 such US rockets announced since 2015, only Vulcan has reached orbit, after 8.7 years. [1] SpaceX's Falcon 9 holds the record, at 4.7 years. [1]
   • AST already has contracts to launch more than 100 BlueBirds in 2027 and 2028 on other rockets. [3] Ars Technica asks what Blacklift is for. [1]
   • Who gains Firefly Aerospace — It gets $800 million up front for the engine licence, money its chief says will speed up its rocket production. [2]
   • Who pays AST's existing shareholders — Half of the $800 million is paid in AST shares, so they now share the company with Firefly. [2]
   • Who pays Satellite companies with no rocket booked — Ars Technica says operators need to book launches years ahead, or build their own rockets as AST is doing. [1]
   • Nobody knows yet

     When Blacklift can really fly.

     AST says late 2028, but Ars Technica says new rockets this size take 5 to 9 years from announcement to first orbit. [1][3]

   • Nobody knows yet

     When the Miranda engine first flies.

     Firefly's own estimate for Eclipse's first launch is 2027, but Ars Technica says Miranda is likely at least 2 years from flight. [2][1]

   • Nobody knows yet

     How big Blacklift is and where it will launch from.

     AST released no height, tank sizes or launch site, and may say more at its event on 12 November. [2]

   What comes next

   AST reports its results on 9 November and plans an unveiling event in New York on 12 November. [2] Firefly reports on 10 November. [2]

1. 02

   China names a Pakistani for its station

   What happened

   • China's crewed space agency has picked a Pakistani astronaut for its next mission, Shenzhou-24, state media said on Saturday. [11]
   • The astronaut will be the first foreign national to visit Tiangong, China's space station. [11]
   • China has not named the astronaut or a date; the flight is expected by the end of the year. [11]
   • The astronaut will fly as a payload specialist, running experiments, then come home on Shenzhou-23 after a short stay. [11]
   • Two Pakistani pilots, Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud, have trained for months in Beijing. [11]
   • China will also send Jinnah-1, Pakistan's first Moon rover, which weighs 35 kg. [11]

   Who is involved

   • Zeeshan Ali Pakistani pilot in training
   • Khurram Daud Pakistani pilot in training

   How it unfolded

   1. Now astronaut picked
   2. By year end the flight

   Why it matters

   China is Pakistan's largest trading partner and a big investor there. [11]

   How it works

   Political scientists call this space diplomacy: using seats and flights to build ties between countries.

   The two countries signed a deal last February for China to train Pakistan's astronauts. [11] The flight is part of China's Belt and Road partnerships. [11]

   Seen it before

   A family takes a neighbour's child on holiday, and the two families grow closer.

   The truth

   • Who gains China's space programme — Its station gets a first foreign visitor through a training deal with Pakistan, its close partner. [11]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Who China's first foreign astronaut is, and when they fly.

     China has named neither the person nor a date; the flight is only expected by the end of the year. [11]

   Good news

   • China has picked a Pakistani astronaut to be the first foreign national to visit its space station, on the Shenzhou-24 mission.
2. 03

   Starship's next flight waits on a licence

   What happened

   • SpaceX's next Starship test, Flight 15, is now planned for no earlier than 13 November. [7] The earlier target was 12 November. [7]
   • Starship is SpaceX's giant two-part rocket: a Super Heavy booster below and a Ship on top. [7]
   • SpaceX will try to catch both halves back at the tower at Starbase, its base in Texas. [7]
   • No Ship has ever been caught, and this would be the first catch at Pad 2. [7]
   • Booster 22 fired its engines in a full test on 25 October, and Ship 42 on 26 and 27 October. [7]
   • The flight could last about 24 hours, against just over 3 hours for Flight 14. [7]

   How it unfolded

   1. Before 12 November
   2. Now 13 November at the earliest
   3. 25 Oct Booster 22 test-fired
   4. 26 and 27 Oct Ship 42 test-fired

   Why it matters

   A long flight shows how much super-cold fuel boils away in space. [7] That matters for a ship-to-ship refuelling test NASA's chart puts in early 2027. [7]

   How it works

   Regulators call this a licence modification: a change to a launch licence already granted. [7] The FAA, the US aviation regulator, must approve it. [7]

   Flight 14's licence covered that flight alone. [7] Bringing Ship 42 home means flying over towns, so it needs a new approval. [7]

   Seen it before

   A permission slip for one school trip does not cover the next one.

   The truth

   • The only public date comes from an air-traffic planning chart, not from SpaceX. [7]
   • Who pays People under Starship's return path — Bringing Ship 42 back to its Texas tower means flying over populated areas, which is why the licence must change. [7]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether Starship Flight 15 flies on 13 November with both catches.

     The US aviation regulator has not yet approved the change that lets Ship 42 return to the tower. [7]

3. 04

   SpaceX flies a secret Space Force batch

   What happened

   • A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a secret mission for the US Space Force from California on Friday. [5]
   • The flight, called USSF-432, was first set for 1 November and slipped several times. [5]
   • It is the 4th in a series of launches that began on 16 August. [5] Each earlier one put 23 satellites in orbit, orbit records show. [5]
   • Jonathan McDowell, a well-known tracker of launches, links them to a Space Force sensing and targeting programme. [5]
   • They are thought to be built on Starshield, the US government's version of SpaceX's Starlink satellites. [5]
   • The booster landed on a ship in the Pacific after its 8th flight. [5]
   • It was the 119th Falcon 9 launch of 2026, and the 14th for US national security. [6]

   Who is involved

   • Jonathan McDowell tracks every launch

   How it unfolded

   1. 1 Nov first planned
   2. Friday launched

   Why it matters

   More than 70% of Falcon 9 flights this year built SpaceX's own Starlink network. [6]

   How it works

   Engineers call the shared body of a satellite, with its power, radio and steering, a bus. [6]

   Starshield satellites are believed to be based heavily on the Starlink bus. [6] So one design serves SpaceX's own network and the US military. [5]

   Seen it before

   One van body can be built as a delivery van, an ambulance or a camper.

   The truth

   • SpaceX cut its webcast about 10 minutes after launch. [6] Neither it nor the Space Force has confirmed earlier satellites were deployed. [5]
   • Who pays The US public — The Space Force declined to say anything about USSF-432, so the public cannot see what the satellites are for. [5]
   • Nobody knows yet

     What the USSF-432 satellites do, and whether the earlier batches worked.

     The Space Force declined to give any information, and neither it nor SpaceX has confirmed the earlier deployments. [5]

4. 05

   NASA's chief says China will reach the Moon

   What happened

   • Jared Isaacman, NASA's head, told Space.com that China will land astronauts on the Moon: 'Yes, they will.' [12]
   • NASA aims to land at the end of 2028, and China by the end of 2029, he said. [12]
   • He wants SLS, NASA's giant Moon rocket, to fly at least once a year. [12]
   • SLS last flew in April, sending the Artemis II crew around the Moon. [12]
   • Next comes Artemis III in 2027, a crewed test of docking with a Moon lander near Earth. [12]

   How it unfolded

   1. End of 2028 NASA's target
   2. End of 2029 China's target
   3. April Artemis II flies round the Moon
   4. 2027 Artemis III

   Why it matters

   If the US gets this wrong, Isaacman says, the world will ask whose AI, computers and cars to trust. [12]

   How it works

   Historians call this a space race: rivals use firsts in space to show strength. [12] Isaacman calls it 'a real space race'. [12]

   In the 1960s the US led in almost every technology, Isaacman says. [12] He says China is now 'very close'. [12]

   Seen it before

   Two school teams building robots both speed up once each sees the other gaining.

   The truth

   • Both landing dates are each side's own targets, and the view of China is Isaacman's own judgement. [12]

   What comes next

   NASA planned a briefing on its Moon base plans for 22:00 GMT on Saturday, at its first air show. [20]

5. 06

   Stoke Space studies a second Florida pad

   What happened

   • Stoke Space, a US rocket start-up, may build a second launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida. [8]
   • The Space Force unit that runs the Cape gave it the right to study the land next door. [8]
   • That allows surveys and environmental checks, the first formal step toward a pad. [8]
   • Stoke's first pad, SLC-14, launched John Glenn in 1962, the first American to orbit Earth. [8]
   • Stoke shipped its first flight booster from Washington state to Florida on 4 November. [8] Its first rocket, Nova, is due to fly around mid-2027. [8]
   • A larger Nova Block 2, planned for 2029, is meant to lift 15 tonnes and be fully reusable. [8]

   How it unfolded

   1. 1962 John Glenn launches from SLC-14
   2. Now Stoke readies the same pad
   3. 4 Nov booster shipped
   4. Mid-2027 first Nova launch

   Why it matters

   Stoke says the second pad would let it launch often, for both versions of Nova. [8]

   How it works

   Launch planners call this pad turnaround: the time to make a pad ready between launches. [8]

   Stoke built its first pad for fast turnaround. [8] A second pad lets it fly two kinds of Nova without one waiting for the other. [8]

   Seen it before

   A busy bakery with one oven buys a second so the bread does not queue.

   The truth

   • The announcement gave no building timetable. [8]
   • Who gains Stoke Space — The Space Force's permission to survey the land next door is the first step to flying two kinds of Nova often. [8]
   • Nobody knows yet

     When Stoke builds its second pad.

     The Space Force granted only a right to survey the land, and Stoke gave no building timetable. [8]

   Good news

   • Stoke Space shipped its first flight booster from Washington state to Florida on 4 November, for a first Nova launch around mid-2027.
6. 07

   Twin NASA probes swing past Earth for Mars

   What happened

   • NASA's twin ESCAPADE probes, called Blue and Red, fly close past Earth on 7 and 9 November. [13]
   • At their closest they pass about 965 to 1,770 km up and fire their engines for about 9 minutes. [13]
   • The burns raise their speed from about 10.14 to 10.78 km a second, sending them on to Mars. [13]
   • One probe alone could not tell a change in the solar wind from its own movement, so NASA sent 2. [13]

   How it unfolded

   They missed the usual Mars launch window, which comes about every 26 months. [13]

   So they waited near L2, a balance point in space, before coming back past Earth. [13] On the way they became the first craft to fly through Earth's magnetic tail. [13]

   1. 7 Nov first probe's burn
   2. 9 Nov second probe's burn

   Why it matters

   At Mars the pair will measure how the solar wind meets the planet's patches of magnetism. [13] That may help show how Mars lost its thicker air. [13]

   How it works

   Mission planners call this a powered slingshot: firing an engine while swinging close past a planet. [13]

   Earth's gravity bends the probes' path, and the engine burn adds speed on top. [13]

   Seen it before

   A cyclist pedals hardest at the bottom of a hill, adding to the speed already gained.

   The truth

   • The article was written before the first burn, so the results are not yet reported. [13]
7. 08

   China's three-core rocket flies for customers

   What happened

   • CAS Space, a Chinese rocket start-up, launched 18 satellites for China's SpaceSail internet network on Tuesday. [10]
   • It was the 2nd flight of its Kinetica 2 rocket, and its first working one. [10]
   • Kinetica 2 has 3 boosters side by side, like a small copy of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy. [10]
   • Each booster carries 3 kerosene engines, against 9 on each booster of Falcon Heavy. [10] It can lift about 12 tonnes to low orbit. [10]
   • SpaceSail, also called Qianfan, now has about 275 satellites, launched since August 2024. [10] Its first phase is planned at 1,296. [10]

   Why it matters

   Each launch grows a Chinese internet network in orbit, like SpaceX's Starlink. [10]

   What comes next

   CAS Space plans to recover and reuse the boosters eventually. [10]

8. 09

   A US firm eyes Scotland's empty spaceport

   What happened

   • Leap, a rocket company from Colorado, wants to launch from Sutherland Spaceport in the north of Scotland. [9]
   • It would be Leap's first launch site outside the US. [9]
   • The site is peatland near Tongue, owned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, which has agreed to work with Leap. [9]
   • Leap says the site could launch small satellites for customers in the UK and mainland Europe. [9]
   • Leap is designing rockets it could build in large numbers in factories. [9]

   Who is involved

   • Highlands and Islands Enterprise owns the land
   • Leap would launch there

   How it unfolded

   Work stopped there in 2024, when Orbex, a Scottish rocket firm, put building on hold. [9] Orbex later collapsed. [9]

   SaxaVord in Shetland is the UK's first fully licensed spaceport, approved for up to 30 launches a year. [9]

   1. 2024 Orbex stops building
   2. Later Orbex collapses
   3. Now Leap steps in

   Why it matters

   Dorothy Pritchard, who chairs the farm estate on the site, calls a spaceport 'a driver of economic opportunity'. [9]

   The truth

   • Leap has agreed only to develop plans with the landowner, and gave no launch date. [9]
   • Who gains Leap — It can take over a spaceport site Orbex left behind, with the landowner and Economy Secretary Stephen Flynn welcoming it. [9]
9. 10

   Japan backs a small rocket start-up

   What happened

   • JAXA, Japan's space agency, has picked Interstellar Technologies for a programme that funds new rockets. [10]
   • The programme gives each company up to $76 million to develop and fly its rocket. [10]
   • Interstellar is building Zero, a 2-stage rocket meant to lift 1 tonne to low orbit. [10]
   • It had already raised over $250 million, roughly half from Japan's government. [10]
   • Its president, Satoshi Nakayama, says it made Japan's first successful firing of an orbital-class methane engine. [10]
   • Zero's first launch is planned for 2027. [10]

   Who is involved

   • Satoshi Nakayama president of Interstellar Technologies

   Why it matters

   The programme's goal is a growing commercial launch industry in Japan. [10]

   How it works

   Economists call this backing an infant industry: a government helps new firms until they can compete.

   The grants pay toward building and test-flying a rocket, before it has paying customers. [10]

   Seen it before

   A school lends a new club its hall for free until the club can pay its own way.

1. 11

   A Planet Nine candidate draws doubt

   What happened

   • A Scientific American column revisits a 2025 claim that a possible Planet Nine had been spotted. [16]
   • Planet Nine is an unseen world that some astronomers think circles far beyond Neptune. [16]
   • The 2025 team compared infrared sky maps from IRAS, in the early 1980s, and AKARI, from 2006 to 2007. [16]
   • They looked for a faint dot that had moved between the two maps, as a far planet would. [16]
   • From hundreds of thousands of objects, they were left with 1 candidate. [16]
   • Mike Brown, who proposed Planet Nine with Konstantin Batygin in 2016, measured the candidate's tilt at 120 degrees. [16]
   • Their Planet Nine would need a tilt of 15 to 20 degrees. [16]

   Who is involved

   • Mike Brown proposed Planet Nine
   • Konstantin Batygin proposed Planet Nine

   How it unfolded

   1. Early 1980s IRAS maps the sky
   2. 2006 to 2007 AKARI maps it again

   Why it matters

   So even if the dot is real, it is not the planet Brown and Batygin predicted. [16] Batygin has called it 'Planet 8.5'. [16]

   How it works

   How astronomers find a hidden world by the pull it has on others

   Everything with mass pulls on what is near it, so a body too dark to see still bends the paths of things astronomers can see.

   The twist

   Astronomers can weigh something they have never seen, by measuring how far it bends the paths of things they can see.

   The picture

   123

   0 degrees90 degrees180 degrees

   1. 1Planet Nine's tilt, low end15 degrees
   2. 2Planet Nine's tilt, high end20 degrees
   3. 3The 2025 candidate120 degrees

   Step by step

   1. 1 Every object with mass pulls on every other one
   2. 2 A heavy body bends the paths of things that pass near it
   3. 3 Astronomers measure those paths over years
   4. 4 A bend that known bodies cannot explain points to an unseen one
   5. 5 The size of the bend gives its rough mass and place, so telescopes know where to look

   The same force, elsewhere today

   Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

   • A Planet Nine candidate draws doubt

     Brown and Batygin proposed Planet Nine because the orbits of far icy bodies line up, and the same maths says its tilt must be 15 to 20 degrees, so a 120-degree candidate cannot be it.

   • A physicist still argues for a hidden star

     Muller reads extinctions every 26 million years as comets knocked loose by an unseen star, and says it needs at least 5% of the Sun's mass to do that.

   • A giant telescope's plan for faint galaxies

     Star clusters circle far out from these galaxies, so studying them would show how much unseen dark matter holds each galaxy together.

   Where you've seen this

   Balancing a car wheel

   a mechanic spins the wheel, and its wobble shows where a weight is missing

   Searching for ore

   geologists measure tiny changes in gravity at the surface to map heavy rock underground

   Fishing

   a float bobs and dips, showing a fish the angler cannot see

   The catch

   A pull shows that something is there and about how heavy it is. It does not show what the thing is, so Planet Nine, Nemesis and dark matter all stay unproven until other evidence confirms them.

   And the whole of it

   The Moon's pull lifts the sea on every coast twice a day, and most people on the beach never think about the Moon. Astronomers hunting the outer solar system often see only the paths for their whole careers, and never the thing doing the pulling.

   The truth

   • 2 dots give only a rough orbit, and a 3rd is needed to learn its shape. [16] Each dot could also be a flaring star or a far galaxy. [16]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether the 2025 Planet Nine candidate is real at all.

     Its two sightings could be a flaring star or a far galaxy, and a third sighting is needed. [16]

   What comes next

   The Vera Rubin Observatory, a new sky-mapping telescope, could find the candidate or rule it out. [16]

1. 12

   Earth's pull may have kept the Moon hot

   What happened

   • A new study says Earth's gravity kept parts of the young Moon hot for billions of years. [19]
   • China's Chang'e-5 mission brought back Moon lava rocks only about 2 billion years old. [19]
   • That puzzled scientists, who expected the small Moon to have cooled long before. [19]
   • The team, led by Miao Chen of Chengdu University of Technology, published in the journal Planet. [19]
   • It found 2 zones that held 2.5% of the Moon's mantle but took 150 gigawatts of heat. [19] That is over 4 times the heat from radioactive rock. [19]

   Who is involved

   • Miao Chen Chengdu University of Technology

   How it unfolded

   Two billion years ago the Moon was closer, circling Earth in 16 days instead of today's 27. [19]

   Why it matters

   The heat may also have kept the Moon's magnetic field going, matching old Apollo rock samples. [19]

   How it works

   Planetary scientists call this tidal heating: a world flexed by a bigger one's pull warms up inside. [19]

   As the Moon swung nearer and farther on its oval path, Earth's pull on it rose and fell. [19] That kneading made heat deep inside. [19]

   Seen it before

   Bending a paper clip back and forth makes it warm at the bend.

   The truth

   • The model is still only a theory, the article says. [19]
2. 13

   Fast solar wind may push the lights south

   What happened

   • Northern lights could reach as far south as New York and Idaho from 6 to 8 November. [14]
   • A large coronal hole, a patch where the Sun's magnetic field opens up, is sending fast solar wind. [14]
   • The solar wind is the stream of charged particles that flows out from the Sun. [14]
   • The UK Met Office expects 550 to 650 km a second, against a usual 400. [14]
   • NOAA, the US weather agency, forecasts a minor G1 storm, and maybe a moderate G2 on 7 and 8 November. [14]
   • Under G1 the lights may show in northern Michigan and Maine. [14]

   Why it matters

   Stronger storms push the lights farther from the poles, so more people can see them. [14]

   The truth

   • Nobody knows yet

     How far south the northern lights reach this weekend.

     Much depends on the strength and direction of the magnetic field the solar wind carries. [14]

3. 14

   A giant telescope's plan for faint galaxies

   What happened

   • Astronomers in Italy have shown how a proposed instrument could study ultra-diffuse galaxies with Europe's Extremely Large Telescope. [18]
   • The telescope, with a 39.3-metre mirror, is due to see its first light in March 2029. [18]
   • Ultra-diffuse galaxies are about as wide as our Milky Way, with thousands of times fewer stars. [18]
   • Their spread-out shape is hard to explain with the main model of how galaxies form. [18]
   • The instrument, NEXUS, would study globular clusters, tight balls of stars that circle these galaxies. [18]
   • The study, led by PhD student Marco Mirabile, is in the journal New Astronomy. [18]

   Who is involved

   • Marco Mirabile PhD student, Italy

   Why it matters

   The clusters reach farther out than the galaxy's own stars, so they help measure its dark matter. [18]

   How it works

   Star clusters circle far out from these galaxies, so studying them would show how much unseen dark matter holds each galaxy together.

   The idea, in story 11: How astronomers find a hidden world by the pull it has on others →

   The truth

   • NEXUS is only a proposed instrument so far. [18]
4. 15

   A physicist still argues for a hidden star

   What happened

   • Richard Muller, a physicist at the University of California, Berkeley, still argues the Sun has an unseen partner star. [17]
   • He calls it Nemesis: a small, dim red dwarf star circling with the Sun. [17]
   • Muller says Nemesis passes through the Oort Cloud, a far shell of icy comets, on that cycle. [17]
   • That would send comets inward, and some would hit Earth, he says. [17] He says Nemesis must be at least 5% of the Sun's mass. [17]

   Who is involved

   • Richard Muller physicist, UC Berkeley

   How it unfolded

   In 1982 two fossil experts, David Raup and Jack Sepkoski, found sea-life extinctions peaking every 26 million years. [17]

   Why it matters

   One of the extinction peaks was 66 million years ago, when the dinosaurs died. [17]

   How it works

   Muller reads extinctions every 26 million years as comets knocked loose by an unseen star, and says it needs at least 5% of the Sun's mass to do that.

   The idea, in story 11: How astronomers find a hidden world by the pull it has on others →

   The truth

   • Most scientists think an asteroid, not a comet, killed the dinosaurs. [17] No telescope has found Nemesis. [17]
5. 16

   The Leonid meteors start their month

   What happened

   • The Leonid meteor shower has begun and runs until 30 November, BBC Weather says. [15]
   • It peaks on the night of 17 November, with up to 10 to 15 meteors an hour. [15]
   • The meteors are dust left by Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle as it circles the Sun. [15]
   • They hit the air at up to 71 km a second, the fastest meteors in the sky. [15]
   • Cloud may hide this weekend's start across much of the UK. [15]

   How it unfolded

   1. Now shower begins
   2. 17 Nov peak night
   3. 30 Nov shower ends

   Why it matters

   Meteors need no telescope, so anyone with a dark, clear sky can see them. [15]

   How it works

   Astronomers call the spot the meteors seem to come from the radiant: for the Leonids, the head of Leo. [15]

   Seen it before

   Railway lines look as if they meet far away, though they run side by side.

6. 17

   Government work shrinks to under 10% of SpaceX's income

   What happened

   • Elon Musk said government contracts will make up less than 10% of SpaceX's revenue this quarter. [21]
   • That is down from 16.6% in the third quarter, and about a fifth in 2025. [21]
   • He said the share would fall below 5% in about a year, Reuters reported. [21]
   • Its biggest earner now is renting out AI computing from its data centres in Memphis, a US city. [21]
   • In the third quarter that AI unit earned $7.56 billion, more than Starlink, SpaceX's satellite internet. [21]
   • Anthropic, an AI company, paid 34.5% of SpaceX's revenue, making it the biggest customer. [21]

   Who is involved

   • NASA astronaut launches
   • US defence department national-security satellites

   How it unfolded

   NASA and the US defence department were long SpaceX's most important customers. [21] They paid it to launch astronauts and national-security satellites. [21]

   1. 2025 about a fifth
   2. Third quarter 16.6%
   3. This quarter under 10%

   Why it matters

   Anthropic can end its contracts with 90 days' notice from early 2027, Bloomberg said. [21]

   Musk spent over $445 million backing Republicans, most of whom lost this week. [21] Bloomberg says that could strain his firms' ties with the new US Congress. [21]

   How it works

   Business analysts call this customer concentration: one buyer paying a large share of a firm's income.

   With one customer paying over a third of revenue, that customer's choice to stay or leave moves the whole company. [21]

   Seen it before

   A corner shop that sells mostly to one office struggles if that office moves away.

   The truth

   • The new share figures come from Musk's own post on X, as reported by Bloomberg. [21]
7. 18

   A Google executive leaves SpaceX's board

   What happened

   • Don Harrison, a Google executive, has resigned from SpaceX's board, a company filing said on Friday. [22]
   • Harrison runs Google's global partnerships and has worked there since 2005. [22]
   • SpaceX's filing said his decision was 'not due to any disagreement' with the company. [22]
   • Alphabet, Google's parent, is SpaceX's largest institutional investor, with a $74 billion stake. [22]
   • Google also pays SpaceX's AI arm up to $920 million a month for computing power. [22]

   Who is involved

   • Don Harrison Google's president of global partnerships

   How it unfolded

   Alphabet first invested in 2015, when SpaceX was valued at about $12 billion. [22]

   SpaceX went public about 5 months ago, in the largest first share sale on record. [22]

   1. 2015 Alphabet invests at about $12 billion
   2. Now its stake is worth $74 billion

   Why it matters

   Google says it remains 'deeply supportive' of SpaceX's mission and will keep the partnership going. [22]

   The truth

   • The filing gives no reason for leaving beyond saying there was no disagreement. [22]