The Prototype: SpaceX Plans Orbital Refueling Of Starship

In this week’s edition of The Prototype, we look at SpaceX’s plans for Starship, a startup extending a lifeline to leukemia patients, a potential replacement for silicon in processors and more. You can sign up to get The Prototype in your inbox here.

Elon Musk may be preoccupied wielding his influence in the incoming Trump administration, but his rocket company is forging ahead. This week, SpaceX announced plans to conduct a sixth test flight of the largest rocket ever built as early as November 18, utilizing the same booster that was successfully recovered from its fifth flight test last month. The next test will have expanded objectives from the fifth, the announcement said, “iterating towards a fully and rapidly reusable launch system.”

The quick turnaround time between the two tests highlights the aggressive testing schedule that SpaceX has set for its new rocket system. Last week, TechCrunch reported that the company intends to conduct an orbital refueling test of the spacecraft early next year.

Stay tuned.

This Startup Aims To Expand Bone Marrow Availability

Every year in the United States, nearly 20,000 people are diagnosed with a life-threatening illness that requires a bone marrow transplant. These transplants allow the body to produce healthy blood cells in patients, particularly leukemia. Approximately 70% of people don’t have a bone marrow match in their family, so they have to rely on donors. But finding a match isn’t always easy – which is why thousands die every year waiting for one. That’s in part because it has to come from a living donor, and less than 5% of the U.S. population is in the current bone marrow registry.

Kevin Caldwell has a solution for this problem. His startup, Ossium, has developed a technique to cryopreserve bone marrow from the recently deceased, expanding the available bone marrow by including organ donors at the time of death. “That achieves two things,” the CEO told Forbes. “One, it creates a source of bone marrow that can be ready within days instead of the months that patients have to wait while they look for a living donor. Two, we’re able to obtain much more bone marrow from an organ donor.”

In September, the company announced positive results for its first transplant patient, whose procedure took place in July. Caldwell told Forbes that the grafting process took less time than it takes marrow from a living donor, and the patient experienced no adverse events. Since then, three other patients have been treated and all show positive results so far, the company said.

DISCOVERY OF THE WEEK: A NEW KIND OF TRANSISTOR

Researchers at MIT created a new type of transistor using semiconductor nanowires made up of gallium antimonide and iridium arsenide instead of silicon. The transistors were designed to take advantage of a property called quantum tunneling to move electricity through the transistors. The end result? “You could use it with all the functions that silicon currently has, but with much better energy efficiency,” researcher Yanjie Shao said in a press release. This could potentially pave the way for processors that utilize much less electricity than conventional ones do. The research findings were published this week in Nature Electronics.

FINAL FRONTIER: APPLE TAKES STAKE IN SATELLITE PROVIDER

Apple is taking a 20% stake in satellite communications company GlobalStar as part of a $1.5 billion transaction which includes both the equity transfer and for expansion of iPhone services. GlobalStar’s network enables the iPhone’s emergency texting in areas without cellular or internet. The funds will support Globalstar’s plans to launch more satellites to add to its current constellation of 31 and build out its ground infrastructure.

WHAT ELSE I WROTE THIS WEEK

I wrote about dental AI startup Overjet, which has launched a software package that can identify dental health issues from an X-ray and then enhance the visual with AI-powered annotations and color to make concerns like cavities clearer to both dentists and patients.

In my other newsletter, InnovationRx, I gave some initial thoughts on what the Trump Administration will mean for healthcare, particularly some second-order effects that may stem from its economic policies.

SCIENCE AND TECH TIDBITS

The first wooden satellite, a collaboration between the University of Kyoto and Sumitomo Forestry, was launched into space earlier this week to determine how well the material works for spacecraft.

Quantum computing company D-Wave announced the benchmarking of its new 4,400 qubit processor, which it says can solve certain problems up to 25,000 times faster than its current tech.

A cloned black footed ferret gave birth to two healthy kits earlier this week, marking the first time a cloned member of an endangered American species has reproduced.

PRO SCIENCE TIP: EXERCISE FIVE MINUTES A DAY TO LOWER BLOOD PRESSURE

If your doctor has been warning you about high blood pressure, put down your phone and get a little exercise. That’s the conclusion from researchers at the University of Sydney, who found that just five minutes a day of exercises like walking uphill or stair climbing has the potential to lower blood pressure, and extending that to 20 or more minutes a day is clinically significant. The findings were published in the journal Circulation.

WHAT’S ENTERTAINING ME THIS WEEK

The Penguin TV series chronicles the rise of the Gotham City crime lord in this spinoff from 2022’s The Batman. Colin Farrell completely owns the titular role, disappearing into his makeup as he pits his working-class villain against Cristin Miloti’s aristocratic mafia don in a bloody chess match over who gets to rule the city. It’s better than it has any right to be. Episodes are currently streaming on Max.

MORE FROM FORBES