SpaceX just laid out Starship’s final path home before the first ever ship catch • Last GO/no-go before flying over land; a no-go sends it into the Pacific before Mexico • Over land about 25 minutes before catch, on a flight path designed to weave around populated areas • Engine and tower check about 4 minutes before catch; a no-go diverts it into the Gulf If every check is green, Mechazilla catches a Starship for the first time

🚨🇷🇺 NATO IN PANIC: RUSSIA’S T-80BVM TANK GETS NEW ARMOR FOR DRONE WAR A previously unseen T-80BVM configuration has appeared with a tighter roof screen and expanded side protection. Russian engineers are turning lessons from frontline crews into a more coherent armor package built around the threats tanks actually face in Ukraine. 🔸 The lower anti-drone screen sits closer to the turret and covers more of its upper surface than many early field-built cages. It is designed to trigger FPV warheads away from the thin roof and disrupt clean top-down attacks. 🔸 Additional Relikt explosive reactive armor and side screens strengthen the hull flanks, fuel-tank areas and engine compartment against shaped-charge weapons — the sections drone operators repeatedly try to reach. 🔸 The upgrades preserve the T-80BVM’s main advantage: mobility. Its 1,250 hp gas-turbine engine can push the tank to around 70 km/h, allowing crews to fire, relocate and avoid remaining exposed in one position. 🔸 The tank retains its 125 mm gun, modern fire-control system and ability to launch guided missiles through the barrel, giving it the firepower to engage armor and fortified positions from range. 🔸 Uralvagonzavod says recent T-80BVM batches incorporate combat experience and direct feedback from the front, with the main emphasis placed on crew safety and overall survivability. 🔸 Russia has also increased production of the T-80BVM, T-90M and T-72B3M severalfold. New batches continue to reach the troops as anti-drone protection becomes a standard part of the upgrade process. The T-80BVM keeps its turbine-powered speed while adding protection where FPV crews look first: the turret roof, hull sides and engine deck. Every clean attack angle is becoming harder to find. Which matters most for tank survival now: roof armor, electronic warfare or speed?

Road and area closures begin at 10:15 AM today for a Booster 21 engine test. The test is expected between noon and 1 PM. You may hear a low rumbling and feel some vibration for a few minutes at most. That is normal and expected. The test is controlled and safe for the public. Please stay clear of closed areas until testing is complete. Thank you.

ICYMI: President of @IsomorphicLabs @maxjaderberg joined @business ’s @shiringhaffary to explain their strategy for targeting diseases—focusing on broad platform capability over single-target discovery. #BloombergTech# "We’ve built this general engine that you can apply to many different disease areas." Watch the full session here ⏯️

THERMAL ALERT: SOHAR, OMAN SITE • Sohar industrial port area, Oman, on the Gulf of Oman • Two candidate sites share one detection: OQ Sohar refinery (198 kbpd, operated by OQ, the Oman state energy group) and the adjacent Oiltanking Odfjell Terminal Sohar (Advario), 1,294,780 cubic meters of clean products and petrochemicals storage in 66 tanks • The detection sits 2.58 km southeast of the refinery center and 5.72 km southeast of the terminal center, so it reads closer to the refinery DETECTION • Terra MODIS, October 15, 2026, 16:09 UTC: 1 hotspot, 30.56 MW, confidence 90 • Single nighttime pass. The site baseline median is 3.8 MW, so this is 8.1 times baseline and just above the 30 MW alert threshold • One pixel generated both site alerts. This is likely one physical event, not two separate fires CORROBORATION • No post found on X about a Sohar refinery or terminal fire, strike, or explosion • No news found yet for an onshore Sohar incident. The only Sohar fire reporting today is a separate offshore tanker engine-room fire about 21 nautical miles northeast of Sohar at 06:05 UTC, a different location and time • Status: UNVERIFIED. Damage extent unknown, no damage claimed by any source WHY IT MATTERS • A 198 kbpd refinery and a major products terminal sit next to each other at Sohar. A real fire at either would matter for regional product supply • A single pass just above threshold, with no ground confirmation, is as consistent with a flare or process upset as with a fire. A second satellite pass or ground reporting decides it Coordinates: 24.46508, 56.6285

BREAKING: Inside Impulse Space with Tom Mueller (@lrocket) (SpaceX's 1st Employee) FULL TOUR The famous engineer behind the Merlin engine, now Founder, CEO & CTO of Impulse Space (@GoToImpulse) ICYMI: Merlin still powers Falcon 9 today, the most reliable rocket engine ever flown & the highest thrust-to-weight ever developed. It's the workhorse behind nearly every SpaceX mission: Starlink launches, Dragon crew & cargo flights to the ISS, & booster landings Tom walks us through the factory floor, from the avionics clean room to a live rocket engine firing in the vacuum chamber Impulse is building the in-space mobility layer: the vehicles & engines that move spacecraft after launch, from LEO to GEO, the Moon, infinity & beyond We cover: → Mira: precision maneuvering spacecraft & its saiph thrusters (8 thrusters, ~50 lbs thrust, 5-yr orbit life) → Helios: long haul same-day delivery vehicle (12 tons of LOX/methane, LEO to GEO) → Deneb Engine: 15,000 lbs thrust engine that powers Helios, ox-rich staged combustion, carbon skirt running over 3,000°F → Why 3D printing is "almost a cheat code" for rocket engines → In-house composite tanks, Novaloy, & copper liners machined from 700 lbs down to 25 → 3 spacecraft in orbit + a 1,200-meter rendezvous → Starlink, iterating Merlin & Raptor, & working with @elonmusk → Nuclear propulsion, the Moon, & why compute needs to move to space 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Tom Mueller, Founder, CEO & CTO of Impulse Space (00:49) Inside Impulse Space (02:32) Avionics Bay floor (02:59) Building rockets at home (03:50) Mira and Helios (08:00) Why Tom left SpaceX (09:33) The Deneb Engine walkthrough (11:42) Testing in Mojave (12:23) Favorite part of the Engine (13:30) How it's 3D Printed (14:21) Why 3D Printing changes everything (16:54) Finding Talent for COPVs (17:28) No Modern hardware without software (19:52) The Mill Turn explained (22:42) Payload Deck Design (25:28) Entering the Secret Area (30:48) Thrust, Flow Rate, & 100 Sensors (32:13) Collision avoidance in Orbit (32:57) The Electric Propulsion Chamber (34:28) Nuclear Electric is the future (38:49) Data Centers in Space (40:28) SpaceX & Starlink's Growth (41:10) Working with Elon (42:07) If not CEO, then what? (42:32) Moon matters more than Mars

Guerrilla Games co-founder Arjan Brussee, a longtime Epic Games veteran who previously served as global director of product management for Unreal Engine, is developing The Immense Engine. The new engine is made in the Netherlands as a European choice instead of Unreal Engine or Unity and follows all EU rules and keeps data inside Europe. The Immense Engine introduces new native AI integration from the outset. Brussee explains that AI agents can fundamentally change devs work with small teams making games faster It will be used for video games and also for 3D simulations in areas like defense and logistics The project, announced today via a Dutch podcast interview, is still in early development

Adrian Adrian. He does not only have the same first and last name. He is also our Technical Lead of Engine Assembly and brings our Helix engines to life. From small individual parts to fully assembled powerhouses for RFA ONE, the journey to ignition is intense 🔥 In the video, he shares his story and what it's like to work at RFA. Building history instead of just watching it unfold. For him, the roar of the engines is the greatest reward, but right after that? It’s time to work on the next ones. Because it takes many Helix engines to achieve the goal of flexible, regular and independent access to space for Europe 🚀 We are growing quickly and are looking for people who share our curiosity, passion and drive in the areas of development, production, assembly and testing! ➡️ Check out our open roles and join us: Engine Assembly Technician 🔗 Electrician (Sweden) 🔗 Avionics AIT Technician 🔗 Manufacturing Engineer 🔗 Welder 🔗

Jason Schreier: The Making of Grand Theft Auto VI Jason Schreier’s long-teased story details the challenges of GTA VI’s eight-plus years of development and Rockstar’s transformation during production. >Rockstar nearly doubled in size, from 2,441 employees at Red Dead Redemption II’s 2018 release to 4,711 across 12 offices. >The game entered a “dark period” as leadership struggled to settle on its vision amid disagreements over realism, gameplay systems, and design. >Originally codenamed “Project Americas,” it aimed to cover large areas of North and South America before being scaled back to Vice City and surroundings. >The two delays stemmed from challenges with system scale and resources for the detailed world and NPCs. >Rockstar says crunch improved after RDR2 criticism, with measures to cut excessive overtime, though some employees still report it. >Remote work remains restricted to five days a week in office for security reasons; the policy will be revisited after launch. >Unionization is contentious: the article covers the firing of 34 employees amid alleged union-busting. Rockstar cites sharing confidential information; workers dispute this. >Developers say the engine, tools, and technology from GTA VI should help produce future games more quickly.

Security remains our top priority for preserving trust in the XRP Ledger (XRPL). Sharing a few thoughts following yesterday's disclosure of the critical payments engine vulnerability reported by Veria AI. First, this was a serious vulnerability, and we don't take that lightly. The bug had existed in the codebase for over a decade and could have allowed XRP to be created beyond its fixed supply. Fortunately, it was discovered through our bug bounty program before it could ever be exploited. Second, our response was fast and coordinated. The team developed and thoroughly tested a fix, worked closely with validators to rapidly upgrade the network, and secured the ledger before public disclosure. I'm proud of how everyone came together to address the vulnerability and protect the XRPL network. But there's a much bigger lesson here. AI is fundamentally changing how quickly vulnerabilities can be discovered. We have to move even faster than before, especially with a codebase that's been around for over a decade. This means we're doubling down in a few important areas: * Proactive security: Strengthening our bug bounty programs, expanding AI-assisted vulnerability discovery/adversarial testing, and continuously improving testing across releases. This discovery reinforces why these investments matter. * Addressing legacy tech debt: Working with our internal red team, external security researchers, and the XRPL Foundation to revisit longstanding assumptions in critical areas like payments engine, consensus, and P2P networking, guided by an updated threat model. * Accelerating formal verification of critical areas: Continuing our work with CommonPrefix and the XRPL Foundation to apply formal verification to critical parts of the protocol, with the goal of uncovering deeper issues that other approaches could easily miss. We will build on the learnings from formal verification of the Lending Protocol and Single Asset Vault. * Systemic hardening: Moving beyond individual bug fixes to identifying latent risks in older parts of the XRPL codebase and eliminating entire classes of vulnerabilities. Our goal isn't simply to find more bugs. It's to systematically address the underlying risks and make the XRPL harder to exploit. As the XRPL's role in global financial infrastructure grows, so does our responsibility to protect it. Security is never finished. We'll keep investing and improving alongside the broader XRPL community. Full disclosure for the 3.4.1 release: