SpaceX have announced that they are voluntarily pausing launches of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle while they investigate an issue which caused an off-nominal deorbit burn after the Starlink Group 17-32 mission on February 2nd. SpaceX notes that the first two burns of its Merlin Vacuum engine were successful and that the satellites were successfully deployed into their intended orbit. This incident has not yet triggered an investigation from the Federal Aviation Administration as SpaceX are not required to deorbit their second stages. This is not the first time that the Falcon second stage has experienced issues during flight - an incident during the SpX Crew-9 mission in September 2024 caused the MVac engine to burn for half a second longer than intended causing it to fall outside of the designated pre-determined re-entry area. SpaceX opted to pause launches and several days later, the FAA announced it was requiring a mishap investigation. Regular launches resumed 17 days later. It is currently unknown whether this incident will have any impact on the upcoming launch of SpX Crew-12 however this month may see significantly fewer Falcon 9 launches as a result

SpaceX have today announced that they have acquired artificial intelligence company xAI as part of the next chapter of their future. xAI was founded in 2023 by Elon Musk and comprises their Grok artificial intelligence models as well as social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. According to a statement by Elon Musk, this move is necessary to help accelerate humanity's transition to a Kardashev II civilisation, one in which is capable of harnessing all of the energy of the sun. The move also brings one of Elon's new ideas under a single roof; SpaceX recently filed paperwork for a LEO constellation comprising of one million satellites for AI data centres in orbit which Elon Musk says is necessary for future development of AI as well as bringing down compute cost as Earth is already constrained. This move brings SpaceX's current valuation to approximately $1.25 trillion making it the 11th most valuable company in the world. As per rumours, SpaceX are expected to go public on the stock market towards the end of the year to help fund Elon's mission to move AI computing into orbit

SpaceX have announced their latest project, Stargaze - a space situational awareness system which tracks satellites in orbit to reduce the risks of potential in-space collisions. In the name of space safety, SpaceX are making their data available for free to all satellite operators with the hope that other operators will do the same

SpaceX have announced during a press conference the hardware being used for the upcoming Crew-12 mission as well as the name of their new landing pad at SLC-40. The mission make use of Crew Dragon Freedom (serial number C212) which will be making its fifth trip to space. The booster supporting this mission is B1101 which will be making only its second launch after it debuted at the beginning of this year. Following stage separation B1101 will be performing a Return To Launch Site landing completing the first ever use of SpaceX's new landing zone officially named as Landing Zone 40

NASA have today announced their accelerated timeline for the SpaceX Crew-12 mission set to launch in February. Originally set to launch on the 15th, Crew 12 will now launch on February 11th at 11:00UTC. This launch date has been brought forward after the crew of SpX Crew-11 returned home early following a medical emergency in January. This is the earliest date possible for launch as NASA also work towards launching Artemis II, currently scheduled for the 7th of February. Backup opportunities for Crew-12 are available on both the 12th and 13th of February if necessary. The Dragon spacecraft and booster supporting this mission are not yet known however this mission is expected to feature the first ever landing at SpaceX's new landing zone at SLC-40, the name for which is not yet publicly known