Starlink V3 satellites film Starship from orbit
On Friday evening, SpaceX posted a 65-second video showing its Starship upper stage from an angle captured by Starlink satellites the rocket had just deployed. The footage stitches together four cameras mounted on a single Starlink V3 satellite, opening with a close view of the 171-foot Starship still catching sunlight before pulling back as the two spacecraft separated in orbit.
The video comes from Starship's thirteenth flight test, which launched July 24 from Starbase after a scrubbed attempt and an abort the prior week caused by an engine issue. SpaceX confirmed Flight 13 deployed all 20 Starlink V3 satellites, relit a Raptor engine in space, and splashed down softly in the Indian Ocean off Western Australia. Six of the deployed satellites carried cameras intended to scan the ship's heat shield during reentry. According to a recent FCC filing cited in reporting, Musk's longer-term plan calls for a Starlink V3 constellation of 100,000 satellites, with each Starship flight designed to carry up to 60 V3 satellites once the vehicle reaches routine service. Starship is next expected to attempt a catch of the ship itself with the launch tower's mechanical arms, a maneuver SpaceX has so far reserved for the Super Heavy booster.
First earnings call as a public company
SpaceX is set to release second-quarter results after the market closes on Tuesday, August 4, marking the first time the company has opened its books to the public since its June IPO. Management will host a live audio-only webcast at 4:30 p.m. ET streamed on X, with no dial-in option. Wall Street estimates compiled by the Motley Fool point to revenue near $6.9 billion for the quarter, up sharply from $4.69 billion reported in the first quarter, with a narrower per-share loss than the $1.27 posted three months earlier. Investors will get the first breakdown of SpaceX's three segments — Starlink, launch and AI — including how much of the AI segment's revenue reflects 2026 contracts with Anthropic, Google and Reflection AI, deals that combined could annualize to nearly $28 billion if fully ramped. It remains unclear whether management will offer forward guidance, something SpaceX has never done publicly.
Retail investors bring an eclectic set of questions
Ahead of the call, SpaceX opened an online forum letting users submit and vote on investor questions, an approach borrowed from Tesla. Among the most popular submissions were requests for more footage of Starship's Human Landing System, the vehicle designed to carry astronauts to the moon for NASA's 2027 Artemis mission, alongside questions about in-orbit refuelling, booster-and-ship catching timelines, and visual tweaks to the rocket. One user asked, "Can we paint the rocket pink?" Investors also queried Asteroid, SpaceX's recently unveiled Shiba Inu mascot celebrated with a $35 plush toy, and its potential role in education, children's charities, and outreach. SpaceX's IPO set aside roughly 30 percent of its shares for retail investors, one of the largest individual allocations in a major US listing. A Wall Street Journal report describing internal planning to separate Tesla's China business ahead of a potential Tesla-SpaceX merger drew little engagement on the forum, appearing once with a single upvote on Friday morning; Musk has denied the report.
Starfall capsule completes maiden re-entry test
On June 23, SpaceX conducted the maiden test flight of its Starfall re-entry capsule, launched aboard a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. According to environmental filings submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration prior to flight, the capsule measures 2.4 feet in height and 10.1 feet in diameter, with an unladen mass of approximately 4,600 pounds and payload capacity of up to 2,200 pounds to or from low Earth orbit. The uncrewed craft validated autonomous flight controls before executing a targeted splashdown in the Pacific Ocean and is designed to provide a microgravity environment for pharmaceutical crystallization, optical fiber processing, and material science, while also serving as a point-to-point cargo platform. SpaceX is preparing a second Starfall test flight.
IPO capital accelerates in-space manufacturing ventures
The capital unlocked by SpaceX's June public listing is flowing into a new network of frontier-technology startups focused on in-space logistics, orbital manufacturing, and autonomous re-entry systems, funded by early employees and investors cashing out. Industry counterparts include Impulse Space, which recently expanded its orbital mobility capabilities with the introduction of its Electra electric propulsion system for long-duration satellite positioning, and Varda Space Industries, which demonstrated high-cadence commercial re-entry operations following the Australian recovery of its W-6 orbital capsule for defense and commercial research partners. The transition toward autonomous, high-cadence re-entry platforms is expected to lower cost barriers for commercial pharmaceutical firms and material research institutions.
Follow-up signals
The next verifiable milestone is SpaceX's first public quarterly results and audio-only webcast on August 4 at 4:30 p.m. ET, followed by management's commentary on launch cadence, AI capex and Starlink V3 deployment targets, and the timing of Starship's first ship-catch attempt.
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