8 Minutes to SpaceX History
SpaceX Makes History (Again)
SpaceX made history with a jaw-dropping rocket launch that crossed international borders. On Tuesday, the company's Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and stuck the landing in the Bahamas.
This groundbreaking mission saw the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster touch down on the “Just Read the Instructions” droneship, which was strategically positioned off the Bahamian coast.
Courtesy: SpaceX
SpaceX successfully lands a Falcon 9 rocket on a droneship stationed off the Bahamas
The landing, occurring just under eight minutes after liftoff, marks the first time a rocket has taken off from one nation, reached space and landed in another country.
Why the Bahamas? The Bahamas location is about practicality. Calmer waters near Exuma Island offer more reliable landing conditions compared to the choppy open Atlantic. Plus, the area’s milder winter weather means fewer launch delays.
Tuesday’s mission was a success on two fronts. It not only validated SpaceX’s innovative new landing strategy but also successfully deployed 23 Starlink satellites into orbit, further bolstering the company’s expanding internet constellation.
And launching from Florida’s Space Coast, SpaceX is now able to optimize its trajectories, allowing for larger satellite payloads per mission. This capability also paves the way for groundbreaking human spaceflight opportunities, such as the upcoming Fram2 mission (reportedly happening sometime this spring) which aims to explore Earth from polar orbit.
With its most recent achievement, SpaceX continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible in spaceflight, making the extraordinary seem almost routine.
As the company eyes even more ambitious goals, including trips to the moon and Mars, this Bahamian touchdown serves as a powerful reminder of how far SpaceX has already come.
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Trump Fights the Fed?
The Fed’s January meeting minutes, released after we went to virtual press yesterday, suggest that Trump's strategies could put a wrench in the gears of disinflation. Specifically, the Federal Reserve warns that American wallets might feel the pinch if President Trump’s tariff ambitions come to fruition.
Fed “minutes,” we remind you, aren't your typical meeting notes. Rather than an objective record, they're a carefully crafted political document, designed to guide market perceptions while often obscuring the full picture.
Meanwhile, even as Trump clamors for interest rate cuts, the Fed is standing pat, maintaining rates between 4.25–4.5% — the highest rates, in fact, since 2007. And Fed Chair Powell insists they’re not rushing to slash rates further.
“Analysts predict the Fed will likely cut the benchmark interest rate only once in 2025, with a big possibility of no rate cuts at all,” says the BBC.
Trump, however, vows to “demand” immediate rate cuts. (It's a familiar demand from his first term, when Trump dubbed Fed officials “boneheads” and likened Powell to a golfer who can’t sink a putt.)
Of course, this high-stakes game of economic-policy chicken raises eyebrows about the Fed’s supposed political independence. As Trump’s tariffs loom large, threatening to fan the flames of inflation, will the Fed withstand the heat of political pressure?
Exploring the market landscape today, stocks are getting a beatdown. The Big Board is faring the worst — down 570 points or 1.3% — to 44,050. Meanwhile, the tech-laden Nasdaq and S&P 500 are both down about 0.70% to 19,915 and 6,100 respectively.
- Notably, Walmart (WMT) announced Q4 earnings yesterday. The company reported strong performance, with revenue rising 4.1% to $180.6 billion, beating analysts expectations. Despite the positive results, WMT shares are down almost 7% at the time of writing due to cautious guidance for the rest of the year.
Taking a peek at commodities, oil is up 1% to $73 for a barrel of West Texas Intermediate. As for precious metals, both gold and silver are catching bids. The price of gold is up 0.70% to $2,957.20 per ounce while silver’s up 1.15% to $33.40.
As for the market that never sleeps, Bitcoin is up 1.60%, just under $98,000. And Ethereum is up 0.30% to $2,725.
The Rise and Fall of NYC’s Congestion Toll
New York City’s congestion pricing program, implemented on Jan. 5, 2025, has sparked heated debate. The program, which charges most vehicles $9 to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street during peak hours, was designed to reduce traffic, fund public transit and decrease vehicle emissions.
On the other hand, the program has been characterized as a regressive tax that unfairly burdens the middle class while benefiting wealthier Manhattan residents who are less reliant on cars.
NYC Councilwoman Vickie Paladino expresses the frustration felt by many: “You can only push people so far. Otherwise law-abiding people who follow the rules and want to be left alone can only tolerate so much nickel-and-diming by a government that seems out to screw them at every opportunity before they've had enough.”
To wit, one unintended consequence of the congestion program has been the emergence of so-called “ghost cars” with manipulated license plates attempting to evade toll cameras.
Now the controversy has escalated to the point where the U.S. Department of Transportation has rescinded approval of the congestion pricing system altogether.
“New York state’s congestion pricing plan is a slap in the face to working-class Americans and small-business owners,” says Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
Predictably, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has contested the federal order to terminate the program in court, arguing that it has already yielded positive outcomes such as decreased traffic congestion and improved travel times
“New York’s toll plan, inspired by cities such as London, Stockholm and Singapore, is” — er, was? — “the nation’s first congestion-pricing system,” the Wall Street Journal notes.
“[Gov.] Hochul delayed the start of the tolls in June after years of planning, citing concerns of the costs. She later brought it back with a lower fee.”
Amid soaring inflation? That’s already ravaging household budgets? New York City’s congestion toll adds insult to injury — especially for New Yorkers who can least afford to take another financial hit.
Middle Earth: “Everyone Must Go!”
New Zealand’s latest $285,000 (USD) tourism campaign — “Everyone Must Go!” — sounds less like an invitation and more like a government diktat.
(Or perhaps it's a subtle hint to join the record-breaking exodus from the country? More on that in a moment.)
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, however, claims the campaign’s controversy is “a great thing” because, at least, people are talking. Meanwhile, the Labour Party’s tourism spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel likens the slogan to New Zealand being “in a clearance bin at a sale.” Oh, dear…
But the irony is palpable. While the government tries to lure Australian tourists in particular, New Zealanders are fleeing the country in droves.
“Official figures show that there were nearly 130,000 departures last year,” the BBC reports, “though that was offset by the arrival of nearly 160,000 immigrants.”
This tourism fiasco is just the latest in a series of missteps. Remember the immigration boom under former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern? Only to face rising unemployment and a recession in 2024.
Now, with official unemployment at 5.1% in December 2024 — and underemployment at 12.1% — immigrants and Kiwis alike might well wonder if they should stay or go.
In the end, New Zealand's tourism campaign perfectly captures the country's state: a beautiful landscape with a slightly desperate undercurrent. Come for the scenery, yes, but don’t stay expecting a job.
Nuclear Renaissance (and “Bean Counters”)
“Perhaps this long weekend is the right time to share my experience in following nuclear power with you,” writes a longtime reader and frequent contributor.
“I started in 1974 as a consultant to Florida Power and Light writing procedures for the control of nuclear documents. After that I was an assistant project manager building two GE Mark II boiling water reactor plants for CFE in Mexico.
“I should add that those plants have been running without incident since they were brought online. Of course, the cost overruns and schedule delays were legendary, but despite that they are working just fine.
“I have found it frustrating to learn that safe and inexpensive nuclear power could be built and generated for less than the cost of coal plants, using molten salt reactor technology that was developed and proven at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the early 1960s.
“The economic reasons why the development of this technology has been stymied are various, but the main culprit is the bureaucratic largesse of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and their support of myths about radiation,” our reader continues.
“While the imputed costs of the consequences of having blocked such progress will never be recovered, the actual taxpayer costs for propagating baseless radiation policy are monumental.
“China is building and operating molten salt reactors of various power ratings already. Indonesia is in the process of implementing commercial-sized 500 megawatt modular units built in shipyards. In the U.S. we are making mud pies with dirt.
“Investable opportunities in cheaper-than-coal molten salt fission technology are probably still a decade away, if we can defer going bankrupt until then.”
Emily: To our reader’s point, in September 2024 — in one of my Saturday highlight issues — I outlined Constellation Energy’s deal with Microsoft to revive a reactor at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island — marking the first time a U.S. nuclear reactor would be brought out of retirement.
According to a report from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as well as a 2004 book published by University of California Press, the 1979 “partial meltdown” at Three Mile Island caused no casualties or lasting environmental damage.
But coupled with anti-nuclear activism, the incident led to onerous regulations plus a significant slowdown in nuclear plant construction and innovation.
Not to mention: “[Activists] conflated nuclear weapons with nuclear energy,” says Eric Dawson, co-founder of Nuclear New York. “And they made it their mission to shut down nuclear energy.”
A misunderstanding which persists today… But the tides might be turning?
Per a Feb. 5 order signed by newly confirmed Energy Secretary Chris Wright: “The long-awaited American nuclear renaissance must launch during President Trump’s administration.
As global energy demand continues to grow, America must lead the commercialization of affordable and abundant nuclear energy. As such, the department will work diligently and creatively to enable the rapid deployment and export of next-generation nuclear technology.
But a letter that American Nuclear Society CEO Craig Piercy addressed to Secretary Wright offers a dose of reality: “You will spend more time than you think preparing budgets, arguing with the Office of Management and Budget over what’s included, and then defending said budgets on Capitol Hill.
“Don’t let the bean counters steal from you!”
Words to live by. And on that note…
Best regards,
Emily Clancy
Associate editor, Paradigm Pressroom's 5 Bullets