The researchers began by testing a glass formed from a mixture of boron, sulfur, and lithium (B2S3 and Li2S). But this glass had terrible conductivity, so they started experimenting with related glasses and settled on a combination that substituted in some phosphorus and iodine.

The iodine turned out to be a critical component. While the exchange of electrons with sulfur is relatively slow, iodine undergoes electron exchange (technically termed a redox reaction) extremely quickly. So it can act as an intermediate in the transfer of electrons to sulfur, speeding up the reactions that occur at the electrode. In addition, iodine has relatively low melting and boiling points, and the researchers suggest there's some evidence that it moves around within the electrolyte, allowing it to act as an electron shuttle.

Successes and caveats
The result is a far superior electrolyte—and one that enables fast charging. It's typical that fast charging cuts into the total capacity that can be stored in a battery. But when charged at an extraordinarily fast rate (50C, meaning a full charge in just over a minute), a battery based on this system still had half the capacity of a battery charged 25 times more slowly (2C, or a half-hour to full charge).

But the striking thing was how durable the resulting battery was. Even at an intermediate charging rate (5C), it still had over 80 percent of its initial capacity after over 25,000 charge/discharge cycles. By contrast, lithium-ion batteries tend to hit that level of decay after about 1,000 cycles. If that sort of performance is possible in a mass-produced battery, it's only a slight exaggeration to say it can radically alter our relationships with many battery-powered devices.

What's not at all clear, however, is whether this takes full advantage of one of the original promises of lithium-sulfur batteries: more charge in a given weight and volume. The researchers specify the battery being used for testing; one electrode is an indium/lithium metal foil, and the other is a mix of carbon, sulfur, and the glass electrolyte. A layer of the electrolyte sits between them. But when giving numbers for the storage capacity per weight, only the weight of the sulfur is mentioned.

Still, even if weight issues would preclude this from being stuffed into a car or cell phone, there are plenty of storage applications that would benefit from something that doesn't wear out even with 65 years of daily cycling.

There is renewed talk of a coal power comeback in the United States, inspired by Donald Trump’s return to the presidency and forecasts of soaring electricity demand.

The evidence so far only shows that some plants are getting small extensions on their retirement dates. This means a slowdown in coal’s rate of decline, which is bad for the environment, but it does little to change the long-term trajectory for the domestic coal industry.

In October, I wrote about how five of the country’s 10 largest coal-fired power plants had retirement dates. Today, I’m revisiting the list, providing some updates and then taking a few steps back to look at US coal plants as a whole. Consider this the “before” picture that can be judged against the “after” in four years.

Some coal plant owners have already pushed back retirement timetables. The largest example, this one from just before the election, is the Gibson plant in Indiana, the second-largest coal plant in the country. It’s set to close in 2038 instead of 2035, following an announcement in October from the owner, Duke Energy.

But the changes do not constitute a coal comeback in this country. For that to happen, power companies would need to be building new plants to replace the many that are closing, and there is almost no development of new coal plants. //

The United States had about 176,000 megawatts of coal plant capacity as of October, down from about 300,000 megawatts in 2014.

The coal plants that do remain are being used less. In 2023, the average capacity factor for a coal plant was 42 percent. Capacity factor is a measure of how much electricity a plant has generated relative to the maximum possible if it was running all the time. In 2014, the average capacity factor was 61 percent.

The upper stage, meanwhile, appeared to fly normally until a telemetry display on SpaceX's webcast indicated that one of the ship's six engines shut off more than seven minutes after liftoff. The display then showed more engines failing, and the data stream froze.

In an update posted on SpaceX's website later Thursday evening, officials said ground teams lost contact with the spacecraft approximately eight and a half minutes into the flight. At the time, information on SpaceX's live video stream showed the vehicle was traveling at about 13,246 mph (21,317 km/hr) at an altitude of about 91 miles (146 kilometers).

"Initial data indicates a fire developed in the aft section of the ship, leading to a rapid unscheduled disassembly with debris falling into the Atlantic Ocean within the predefined hazard areas," SpaceX officials wrote in the update.

The falling debris caused air traffic controllers to divert or reroute commercial flights over the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Air traffic controllers have the ability to activate a "Debris Response Area" if a spacecraft experiences an anomaly with debris falling outside of identified closed aircraft hazard areas, where the FAA notifies pilots in advance about the risk of reentering space junk. Activating a Debris Response Area "allows the FAA to direct aircraft to exit the area and prevent others from entering," the statement read.

This is what the FAA did Thursday evening. Air traffic controllers closed a swath of airspace between the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico to commercial air traffic for more than an hour, causing some passenger airline flights to enter a holding pattern, return to their departure airports, land at alternate airfields, or delay their takeoffs.

Given the number of people working for tech startups (6 million), the failure rate of said startups (90 percent), their usage of Google Workspaces (50 percent, all by Ayrey's numbers), and the speed at which startups tend to fall apart, there are a lot of Google-auth-connected domains up for sale at any time. That would not be an inherent problem, except that, as Ayrey shows, buying a domain with a still-active Google account can let you re-activate the Google accounts for former employees.

With admin access to those accounts, you can get into many of the services they used Google's OAuth to log into, like Slack, ChatGPT, Zoom, and HR systems. Ayrey writes that he bought a defunct startup domain and got access to each of those through Google account sign-ins. He ended up with tax documents, job interview details, and direct messages, among other sensitive materials.

You have to close up shop, not just abandon it
Reached for comment, a Google spokesperson provided a statement:

We appreciate Dylan Ayrey’s help identifying the risks stemming from customers forgetting to delete third-party SaaS services as part of turning down their operation. As a best practice, we recommend customers properly close out domains following these instructions to make this type of issue impossible. Additionally, we encourage third-party apps to follow best-practices by using the unique account identifiers (sub) to mitigate this risk.

Google's instructions note that canceling a Google Workspace "doesn't remove user accounts," which remain until an organization's Google account is deleted.

Notably, Ayrey's methods were not able to access data stored inside each re-activated Google account, but on third-party platforms. While Ayrey's test cases and data largely concern startups, any domain that used Google Workspace accounts to authenticate with third-party services and failed to delete their Google account to remove its domain link before selling the domain could be vulnerable.

Random US Citizen bintexas
12 hours ago edited
Well, if you can turn a man into a woman just by saying it's true, certainly you can turn an unratified amendment into a ratified one...

One of the things that makes it clear that our society continues to deteriorate is the almost Medieval level of superstition we're seeing almost every day. Saying something makes it true (this amendment was ratified). Naming a thing allows you to control it (western medicine widely contains this superstition) A magical belief that behavior can effect nature (climate change). The belief that words can cause physical/spiritual harm (conservatives talking is the same a violence). Belief that a person is the incarnation of the devil (Trump)

Western civilization isn't dead yet, but it certainly is ill.

mikwcas
3 hours ago edited
All I saw [in these videos] was, well, you're fired you're fired you are too, and you and you and you. And so on and so forth.

And I'm not talking about Milley, Yellen or Garland. Talking about all the clapping seals. See ya'.

There's an old joke that goes, "How can you tell if there's a vegan at your party?" The answer: "They'll tell you."

The entire issue of health factors and ethical matters around diet has been battered endlessly. "Ethical vegans," the most strident of the lot — and the most fact-challenged — make all kinds of outrageous claims about animals, their nature, the biology of humans, and how a "vegan" diet somehow causes "less harm" to animals than a diet that includes meat — a claim that they cannot back up.

That's the extreme end of the spectrum, though. There are plenty of people who forgo meat for reasons of their own without being self-righteous about it, and that's fine; live and let live. But there are matters of science involved, especially where pregnant women are concerned. We've known for some time now that excessive alcohol use by pregnant women can damage a developing fetus; this is what Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is. However, a recent study indicates that forgoing animal protein in the diet may be more damaging than moderate alcohol use. //

Realistically, while any cell mutation can happen any time, you are unlikely to get cancer caused by an occasional drink, but US culture always has pregnant women and new mothers on blast, so they are told to abstain from alcohol, coffee, too many foods to count, etc.

What we should really be cautioning pregnant women about is vegetarian diets. While some epidemiological data on alcohol can be critiqued on merit, people who believe claims about PFAS in water, GMOs, pasteurized milk, vaccinated chickens, Scotchguard, or cancer-causing spatulas absolutely cannot deny the risks of a vegetarian diet. This is far more rigorous than any of the epidemiology in those claims. //

It's important to note that the paper cited is not original work; it's what is called a "meta-analysis," an examination of previous peer-reviewed studies. That doesn't make the study any less credible, especially given the size of the data sets that were examined; eight studies, taking in 72,284 participants.

If you understand biology and the human digestive tract, though, the study isn't necessary. This isn't new information. It's been known for literally all of the history of humankind; that women who have a well-balanced diet have healthier babies. //

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589936824000707 //

Eeyore1953
4 hours ago
How is it possible that Baby Boomers were born, with their mothers smoking and drinking through the pregnancy? And how is it that the French even exist?

Elon Musk @elonmusk
·
Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was large enough to build pressure in excess of the vent capacity.

Apart from obviously double-checking for leaks, we will add fire suppression to that volume and… Show more
8:14 PM · Jan 16, 2025 //

Elon Musk @elonmusk
·
It’s harder than it looks

Ryan Saavedra @RealSaavedra
CIA Director Nominee John Ratcliffe yesterday: “There's only one country in the world that can parallel park a 200-foot rocket booster. The Chinese can't do it. The Russians can't do it. We do it.”
Embedded video
2:05 AM · Jan 17, 2025. //

anon-9s7n
10 hours ago
Explosions in tests can be just as useful as non explosions. Sometimes more so. The success of a test flight is whether you learned what you needed to change to make it better and safer. I'd say this was successful.

The debil
10 hours ago
Unfortunately, it takes failure to have true success, no matter what the endeavor.
If you do not learn from failure, you are on the path to greater failures. //

Random US Citizen The debil
8 hours ago
Thomas Edison: “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work”

Archivist of the United States Dr. Colleen Shogan and Deputy Archivist William J. Bosanko released the following statement today on the Equal Rights Amendment and the constitutional responsibilities for administering the ratification process:

“As Archivist and Deputy Archivist of the United States, it is our responsibility to uphold the integrity of the constitutional amendment process and ensure that changes to the Constitution are carried out in accordance with the law. At this time, the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) cannot be certified as part of the Constitution due to established legal, judicial, and procedural decisions.

“In 2020 and again in 2022, the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice affirmed that the ratification deadline established by Congress for the ERA is valid and enforceable. The OLC concluded that extending or removing the deadline requires new action by Congress or the courts. Court decisions at both the District and Circuit levels have affirmed that the ratification deadlines established by Congress for the ERA are valid. Therefore, the Archivist of the United States cannot legally publish the Equal Rights Amendment. As the leaders of the National Archives, we will abide by these legal precedents and support the constitutional framework in which we operate.

“The role of the Archivist of the United States is to follow the law as it stands, ensuring the integrity of our nation’s governing institutions. Personal opinion or beliefs are not relevant; as the leaders of the National Archives, we support established legal processes and decisions.

On January 27, 2020, the Commonwealth of Virginia became the 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. The American Bar Association (ABA) has recognized that the Equal Rights Amendment has cleared all necessary hurdles to be formally added to the Constitution as the 28th Amendment. I agree with the ABA and with leading legal constitutional scholars that the Equal Rights Amendment has become part of our Constitution.

It is long past time to recognize the will of the American people. In keeping with my oath and duty to Constitution and country, I affirm what I believe and what three-fourths of the states have ratified: the 28th Amendment is the law of the land, guaranteeing all Americans equal rights and protections under the law regardless of their sex. //

Note the date of the Virginia's ratification: January 27, 2020. The original Congressional resolution that sent the Equal Rights Amendment to the states for ratification included a ratification deadline of seven years. The original deadline was March 1979. There was an extension, passed by a simple majority — not the two-thirds majority required for constitutional amendments — and signed by President Carter.

However, the president has no role in the passage and ratification of constitutional amendments, as the Supreme Court decided back in 1798. //

Even the interns running the White House social media accounts and press releases have to understand that this "affirmation" means less than nothing. The Equal Rights Amendment has not been ratified. It is not the law of the land. It remains as it was: a failed effort to amend the Constitution. Again, the President of the United States has no role in amending the Constitution. It is, as MacBeth said, "...a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." //

The President of the United States has no authority to make any such decree, and Joe Biden can "affirm" this until his eyes fall out and it means a grand total of nothing. This administration is leaving as it lived: with no knowledge of the Constitution and how this republic is supposed to work, and only a tenuous connection with reality. //

mdavt
2 hours ago
Hasn't the Archivist stated she will not abide by any such order?

RedPanda mdavt
an hour ago
Yep!

https://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2025/nr25-004

These two women are a symptom of a disease being suffered by so many people in our society. They are faceless participants in this degeneracy and the driving force behind this normalization of extremism. //

According to E! News, Phillips said her earnings are "in the millions" after her 100-man stunt. Billinger says she earns roughly $750,000 a month on her OF account.

That means there are thousands and thousands of people, most of them men, giving up their money to subscribe and watch these women debase themselves in these extreme ways. As sick as Billinger and Phillips are, these subscribers are pushing this to happen. Every new sign-up is an encouragement. //

With face-to-face interaction taken out of the equation, we have become something other than people. Phillips and Billinger aren't two women with emotions, personalities, and humanity, they're entertainment.

In the same way the slaves and prisoners were in the Colosseum, watching them be destroyed in real time isn't registering due to the mental detachment. What we're watching in front of us is grotesque and horrible, yet it's so normalized for too many because the internet has allowed us to view this kind of thing for years without having to put ourselves anywhere near it. We can be a faceless observer from the safety of our homes who, upon getting what we want out of it, can click away and not have to worry about any of the consequences afterward. //

But if I'm being honest, I'm not entirely sure how this gets better altogether. If Phillips and Billinger were to suddenly realize the error of their ways, find God, and become the most vocal anti-porn advocates you've ever heard of, then there would be two more women to take their place. If you were to take down the OnlyFans platform, others would rise up.

I don't know how to fight this, and fear this is going to be a problem that either gets better after it gets severely worse, or Christ returns.

In the meantime, the only thing we can do is guard ourselves against it by making sure people understand how damaging this stuff is, not just to view but to take part in.

In his view, it will be the aftermath when people want to quickly rebuild and come face to face with California’s progressive bureaucracy that will red-pill thousands of Democrats. //

One of the podcasts that I listen to on a regular basis is the Versus Media Podcast by Stephen L. Miller, who you may know as @redsteeze on Twitter/X. In a recent episode, Miller suggested that the reason the media is working overtime to deflect blame for the fires is because they know that if California goes red, Democrats will never win another presidential election.

Don’t think it couldn’t happen. Florida, Iowa, and Ohio are solidly red states now but were considered swing states just a decade ago.

As a nation founded on the revolutionary truth that “all men are created equal” with rights that come not from man but from God, we will never be indifferent to the suffering of our fellow man. But ultimately, under President Trump, the top priority of the United States Department of State must be and will be the United States. The direction he has given for the conduct of our foreign policy is clear. Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, and every policy we pursue must be justified with the answer to three simple questions:

• Does it make America safer?

• Does it make America stronger?

• Does it make America more prosperous?

Under President Trump, the dollars of hardworking American taxpayers will always be spent wisely and our power will always be yielded prudently, and toward what is best for America and Americans above all else. //

Rubio struck a very serious tone as he discussed the foreign policy priorities of Donald Trump, and competently answered all of the questions from the panel. Rubio's answer to a question from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) showed what the power structure will be like in the new administration:

"The foreign policy of the United States will be set by the president, and my job will be to advise and execute."

But one of the most interesting exchanges was with new Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT), who was able to unseat Jon Tester in Big Sky Country, and he was impressive in his questioning of Hegseth. It was hilarious, but it also got to the most important quality that a SecDef needs to have.

Eric Daugherty
@EricLDaugh
·
Follow
SENATOR TIM SHEEHY: How many genders are there?

HEGSETH: Two.

SHEEHY: I know that well, I'm a "she-he (Sheehy)." What is the diameter of a rifle round fired out of an M4A1?

HEGSETH: 5.56.

SHEEHY: How many pushups can you do?

HEGSETH: I did 5 sets of 47 this morning.

SHEEHY: Most important strategic base is in the Pacific?

HEGSETH: Guam.

SHEEHY: How many rounds of 5.56 can you fit into the magazine of an M4 rifle?

HEGSETH: Standard issue is 30.

SHEEHY: What size round is the M9 Beretta standard issue sidearm for the military?

HEGSETH: 9mm.

SHEEHY: What kind of batteries do you put in your night vision goggle?

HEGSETH: Duracell.

SHEEHY: You represent what warfighters deal with every day on the battlefield. You understand them. What happens is - decisions made in rooms like this cause d*ad 17, 18, 19-year-old Americans. Your priority is warfighters. I support you.

Bondi is a terrifying woman if you're a Democrat, and just how scared of her Democrats are more than came through in their questioning of her. They would hardly ever let her speak. When she started giving answers they didn't like, or when she'd checkmate them, they'd either talk over her or immediately move on.

You only do that when you have an unmitigated contempt for the person you're engaging with, and I'm pretty sure that this contempt stems from their fear of Bondi. They are terrified that she will do to them what they did to Trump, to Republicans, and to us.

Their strategy isn't necessarily to stop her confirmation — which is more than likely going to happen — it's to set up narratives that make Bondi seem like she's abusing her position in order to weaponize the justice system against Democrats. Yes, this is exactly what the Democrats did during Biden's administration, but they're still hoping they can sell this narrative in an age where the legacy media has lost a great deal of its power.

If they can get social media clips circulating of them warning Bondi against doing such a thing, and admonishing her for Trump even thinking about doing it, then when a Democrat is inevitably caught up in something they can appear on networks with a "see, I told you she was corrupt" and a "Trump is everything we warned everyone about" for good measure. //

So if they did nothing wrong, then Democrat politicians have nothing to worry about. She will maintain the honor of her position... but if you did break the law, then don't be surprised to have a one on one meeting with justice as arranged by Pam Bondi. //

LDRider
12 hours ago
Bondi. Pam Bondi.

Southern California has been ravaged by wildfires, which have destroyed the communities of Altadena, Pacific Palisades, and Malibu. So, Newsom needs the Trump administration's goodwill (and recovery dollars) and is now changing his tune.

Thomas Catenacci @ThomasCatenacci
·
NEW: California is withdrawing a request for the Biden admin to approve its EV truck mandate. Under the rules, a large share of truck sales in CA and other states would have been forced to be electric by 2035. Less than 1% of truck sales are EVs.

A major setback for activists.
6:47 PM · Jan 14, 2025. //

Newsom is fighting to save his political career and keep control of power. This move makes it clear he is not succeeding. His hand-selected CARB agency is simply doing his bidding. Along with the terrible optics of Newsom standing in front of burning buildings and practically dancing with glee, Californians are rejecting the whole climate change schtick the Democrats love to trot out when their save-the-environment policies do exactly the opposite. Many recognize that any environmental gains that might have been produced through these EV mandates have gone up in smoke. //

polyjunkie
4 hours ago
Well. Gonna be interesting when Congress requires that the reservoirs and power line maintenance ALREADY APPROVED by CA voters be built or no rebuilding money. Someone once said, “Never let a crisis go to waste”….😳😊

In case you aren't acquainted with the details, Ratcliffe is nailing Rep. Adam Schiff in the above excerpt. He was the "chairman of the intelligence committee" that went on various news programs to lie to the American people and claim that the Hunter Biden laptop was a Russian information operation. That ultimately led to Schiff being censured and prevented from rejoining the committee after Republicans won the House of Representatives in 2022.

Ratcliffe, who was DNI during Trump's first term, was the only major intelligence official to come out and tell the truth about the laptop. He did so under a barrage of attacks from the press claiming he was misleading the public to protect the soon-to-be second-term president. In the end, he was vindicated while people like Schiff never apologized for the falsehoods they pushed. That is exactly why Ratcliffe is the right man to lead the CIA. That organization has been politicized and weaponized against Americans for far too long. The time to bring everyone back in line is now, and those who don't want that can "find a new line of work."

With the wildfires in the Los Angeles area still raging, a new exclusive report from the UK's Daily Mail's Perkin Amalaraj reveals that the Los Angeles Fire Department has, for some time, been literally begging the city council for funding to replace aging equipment and hire new maintenance staff. Those pleas went unanswered, and now we see the results. //

Here's the part I find baffling: My son-in-law, a paramedic and volunteer firefighter for a small Iowa county of about 12,000 people — the kid is basically Captain America — reports that his little, mostly rural county has just funded the purchase of replacements for one of their three modern fire trucks and all three of their ambulances. Between the county seat's town council and the county, he assures me that the emergency services departments are a high priority and get what they need.

Would that Los Angeles had their priorities so properly in order.

Thank you to my incredible wife Jennifer, who has changed my life and been with me throughout this entire process. I love you sweetheart, and I thank God for you. And as Jenny and I pray together each morning, all glory—regardless of the outcome—belongs to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His grace and mercy abound each day. May His will be done.

Thank you to my father Brian and mother Penny, as well as my entire family—including our seven wonderful kids: Gunner, Jackson, Peter Boone, Kenzie, Luke, Rex & Gwendolyn. Their future safety and security is in all our hands.

And to all the troops and veterans watching, and in this room—Navy SEALs, Green Berets, Pilots, Sailors, Marines, Gold Stars and more. Too many friends to name. Officers and Enlisted. Black and White. Young and Old. Men and Women. All Americans. All warriors. This hearing is for you. Thank you for figuratively, and literally, having my back. I pledge to do the same for you. All of you. //

As I’ve said to many of you in our private meetings, when President Trump chose me for this position, the primary charge he gave me was—to bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defense. He, like me, wants a Pentagon laser focused on warfighting, lethality, meritocracy, standards, and readiness. That’s it. That is my job. //

My only special interest is—the warfighter. Deterring wars, and if called upon, winning wars—by ensuring our warriors never enter a fair fight. We let them win and then bring them home. Like many of my generation, I’ve been there. //

The desperation of the left was evident in the fact that no one addressed policy or strategic questions with all of them choosing to direct personal attacks on Hegseth's character. //

It is difficult to get away from the feeling that the Democrats knew they had nothing to stop him, so they resorted to smearing him as much as possible before he takes office.

Hegseth came across weakest on the complaint that he'd refused to engage in one-on-one meetings with any of the Democrats other than the ranking member. His reason for doing so was obvious. The substance of any conversation would be lied about or distorted, and the conversation would give the Democrats a chance to test how he would respond to questions. Hegseth unconvincingly passed this off as "scheduling conflicts" because you can't very well try to come across as bipartisan while revealing that you don't trust the Democrats. //

In terms of optics, Hegseth was polite, responsive, and telegenic. He was able to successfully filibuster during some particularly nasty personal attacks and not look flustered or angry. In terms of intelligence, he may very well have been one of the two or three smartest guys in the room.

On any given day, SpaceX is probably launching a Falcon 9 rocket, rolling one out to the launch pad or bringing one back into port. With three active Falcon 9 launch pads and an increasing cadence at the Starbase facility in Texas, SpaceX's teams are often doing all three.

The company achieved another milestone Friday with the 25th successful launch and landing of a single Falcon 9 booster. This rocket, designated B1067, launched a batch of 21 Starlink Internet satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. //

But SpaceX's accomplishment of 25 flights offers an opportunity to step back and take in some context. The newest and final iteration of the Falcon 9 design, known as Block 5, debuted in 2018. At the time, SpaceX officials said they planned to fly each booster 10 times before standing down for more thorough refurbishment.

SpaceX now plans to launch each Falcon 9 booster up to 40 times. Engineers temporarily removed two Falcon 9 boosters from SpaceX's launch rotation in 2023 for in-depth inspections after their 15th flight. That allowed SpaceX to extend each booster's certification to 20 flights, and last year, officials announced they were going for 40. //

SpaceX is also recovering and reusing payload fairings, the shell that encloses satellite payloads during their initial climb through the atmosphere. Last month, the company confirmed it flew a fairing shell for the 22nd time, another new record. SpaceX's factory in Hawthorne, California, must also churn out new upper stages for each Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy flight. That's 135 of these multimillion-dollar stages for each Falcon mission in the last 365 days, or one flight (and one new upper stage) every 2.7 days. //

Imagine, for a moment, the sprawling footprint and bloated headcount of SpaceX's factory if it had to manufacture a new Falcon 9 booster, nine engines, and a payload fairing set every 2.7 days. How cost-effective could that be? Would it even be possible? It's mind-boggling enough to visualize the blistering production pace for Falcon 9's upper stages in Hawthorne or SpaceX's Starlink satellites in Redmond, Washington. //

Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and CEO, has suggested that his company must produce 100 or more Starships per year to fulfill his Mars settlement ambitions, even with full reusability. //

While SpaceX's competency with reusing Falcon 9 boosters gets a lot of attention—landing a rocket is still incredible, even after seeing it nearly 400 times—its manufacturing prowess with Falcon 9 upper stages suggests that building 100 Starships each year just might be doable someday.