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Elon Musk’s SpaceX is set to join the Federal Aviation Administration as a co-defendant to fight an environmental lawsuit brought after the first Starship test flight.
The groups suing the FAA are alleging the agency should have conducted a more in-depth environmental study on the likely impacts of SpaceX activity before allowing the company to launch its Starship rocket.
SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen said Starship delays could harm the company financially and disrupt the deployment of its Starlink satellite internet service.

An aerial view of a Starship prototype stacked on a Super Heavy booster at the company’s Starbase facility outside of Brownsville, Texas.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is set to join the Federal Aviation Administration as a co-defendant to fight a lawsuit brought by environmental groups following the company’s first test flight of Starship, the world’s largest rocket, which ended in a mid-flight explosion last month.
In a motion filed Friday in court, SpaceX requested that federal judge Carl Nichols allow the company to join the FAA as a defendant against environmental and cultural-heritage nonprofit groups that sued the aerospace regulator earlier this month. 

The plaintiffs “do not oppose” the company’s intervention, per the filings. Jared Margolis, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity and lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said it’s “standard and expected for the applicant to intervene in a case where their permit is at issue.”  
The groups suing the FAA alleged that the agency should have conducted a more in-depth environmental study on the likely impacts of SpaceX activity before allowing the company to launch the world’s largest rocket, Starship, from its Starbase facility, a spaceport on the Gulf Coast near Brownsville, Texas. 
The groups also alleged that the “mitigations” the agency required of SpaceX were not enough to avoid “significant adverse effects” to endangered species, their habitat and tribes in the area that count the land and wildlife sacred.
Friday’s SpaceX filing outlines the potential consequences for the company if the environmentalists win the lawsuit, noting implications for its business and finances — as well as arguing there would be damage to the “substantial national interest” and possible scientific benefits of Starship.
“If the Court were to rule in Plaintiffs’ favor, the FAA’s decision could be set aside, and further licensing of the Starship/Super Heavy Program could be significantly delayed, causing severe injury to SpaceX’s business,” the company wrote.

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The lawsuit seeks for the FAA to conduct an environmental impact statement (EIS) — a lengthy and thorough procedure that would likely sideline SpaceX’s Starship work in Texas for years.
The company also wrote in the motion that “the FAA does not adequately represent SpaceX’s interests” in the lawsuit, since it’s a government agency. It noted that the FAA “has a direct and substantial economic interest in the outcome of this case that the government does not share.”
The FAA in a statement to CNBC said it “does not comment on ongoing litigation issues.”

At stake for SpaceX

SpaceX Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen submitted a declaration alongside the motion to further detail potential damages to the company if it lost the lawsuit. In the statement, Johnsen wrote that “SpaceX has invested more than $3 billion into developing” the Starbase facility and Starship system since July 2014.
This year alone the company expects to spend about $2 billion on Starship development, according to comments CEO Musk made following its first fully stacked launch attempt last month.
Johnsen also highlighted the pipeline of contracts that SpaceX is building for future Starship missions.
SpaceX currently has a major NASA contract worth up to $4.2 billion to use the rocket to land astronauts on the moon. Additionally, the company has signed commercial customer contracts — including three separate missions for wealthy individuals Jared Isaacman, Yusaku Maezawa and Dennis Tito — for Starship that Johnsen wrote are “worth hundreds of millions of dollars at this time.”

Starship also is crucial to the future of the company’s Starlink satellite internet business, which has over 1.5 million customers. Johnsen noted that “SpaceX has invested billions of dollars into Starlink” to date.
Musk has previously highlighted the interdependence of those two businesses, with Johnsen further reiterating that SpaceX needs Starship flying in order to launch its second generation, or “V2,” Starlink satellites.
“Without Starship … not only will SpaceX be harmed financially by its inability to launch v.2 satellites, but also hundreds of thousands of people … are waiting until the Starlink constellation is upgraded and can serve them,” Johnsen wrote.
Finally, Johnsen noted that losing the lawsuit would cause the company to “substantially reduce” investment in its Starbase facility, which would harm its interests, as well as local employees and communities.

Fallout from first launch

Debris litters the launch pad and dmaged tanks (R rear) on April 22, 2023, after the SpaceX Starship lifted off on April 20 for a flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images

The dramatic and explosive first Starship launch saw the company achieve several milestones for the nearly 400-foot-tall rocket, which flew for more than three minutes. But it also lost multiple engines during the launch, caused severe damage to the ground infrastructure and ultimately failed to reach space after the rocket began to tumble and was intentionally destroyed in the air.
SpaceX is in the process of cleaning up damage to the launch site, which carved a crater into the ground and smashed debris into the tower, nearby tanks and other ground equipment. The launch also created a plume of dust and sand, with particulate matter reported as far as six miles from the launchpad.
The test flight also sparked a 3.5-acre forest fire.
Phil Metzger, a planetary scientist on research faculty at the University of Central Florida, is studying the substance of samples of the particulate matter. He thinks “SpaceX dodged a bullet” with the launch, telling CNBC that the amount of “concrete blowing around” could have destroyed the rocket on the launchpad.
“It could have been much worse than it was. I think they made a mistake by taking a risk and launching off the [concrete] surface, trying to do it that way one time. But it was like a 70% success. They cleared the tower, tested their first stage, got a lot of good data, found a problem with the staging and hopefully will be able to have that fixed and have a better outcome in the next test,” Metzger said.
Metzger did not assess the ecological impacts of the launchpad debris, and rocket explosion on endangered species that live in and migrate through the area. The Texas regional office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and independent researchers are among those studying the environmental impacts of the Starship test flight and explosion.
SpaceX’s motion also made the case for why Starship is ultimately beneficial to scientific endeavors. The company wrote that the rocket’s unprecedented capabilities “will allow scientists to focus on previously impossible scientific missions and pursue the fastest, easiest way to get their missions from concept to execution.”
“For instance, with its large capacity, Starship could economically put large telescopes and heavy science experiments in orbit, and cargo, people, and even colonies on moons and other planets,” SpaceX wrote.
Read the company’s filing to establish itself as a defendant alongside the FAA: More

Paramount plans to launch its combined streaming services Paramount+ and Showtime in the U.S. on June 27.
Paramount+ with Showtime’s premium tier will increase to $11.99 from $9.99, while its lower-priced tier, without Showtime content, will increase by $1 to $5.99.
The company will sunset its standalone Showtime app, as well as rebrand the premium Showtime cable-TV network, by the end of the year.

Tom Ryan, CEO and President of Paramount Streaming, speaks during the LG press conference ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 4, 2023.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images

Paramount Global’s flagship streaming service Paramount+ will combine with its Showtime app in the U.S. on June 27, the company said Monday.
With the newly merged streamer will come an increase in pricing, as Paramount had announced earlier this year. The Paramount+ with Showtime premium tier will increase to $11.99 from $9.99, while the Paramount+ option without Showtime content will increase by $1 to $5.99.

The integration goes beyond Paramount’s streaming options. The premium cable-TV network, known for series like “Yellowjackets” and “Billions,” will also be rebranded as Paramount+ with Showtime, and the company will also sunset the standalone Showtime app by the end of the year.
Once integrated, the Showtime TV network will also feature content from Paramount+, which has produced original series that spun off from popular franchises like “Yellowstone” and “Criminal Minds.” Showtime is an extra subscription fee on the pay-TV bundle.
Paramount has said it expects peak losses for its fledgling streaming service Paramount+ this year.
The combined platforms will also help cut down on content spending, which has been a recent focus for media companies as they look to make streaming profitable.
Warner Bros. Discovery has been cutting costs since completing its merger. The company is also launching Max on Tuesday, the combination of HBO Max and Discovery+. However, Discovery+ will also remain as a standalone service.
Disney announced this year it would cut $5.5 billion in costs, including $3 billion on the content said. Last week, CEO Bob Iger said Disney would add Hulu content to its Disney+ platform, a move toward a one-app experience for consumers and to streamline business for advertisers. The company will also focus on adding more ad-supported customers, and plans to increase its ad-free streaming prices later this year. More

Walmart is partnering with veterinary telehealth provider Pawp to offer Walmart+ subscribers free access to virtual veterinarians for a year beginning Tuesday.
The retailer’s foray into veterinary telehealth comes as the company looks to better compete with Amazon and hold on to higher-income customers by making its subscription service more valuable.
Some veterinarians say pet telehealth could be risky for animals while others say it helps bridge the access to care amid a nationwide vet shortage.

A shopper wearing a protective mask pushes a dog in a cart outside a Walmart store in Lakewood, California, July 16, 2020.
Patrick T. Fallon | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Walmart is jumping into the burgeoning pet telehealth market. 
The mega-retailer has inked a deal with veterinary telehealth provider Pawp to offer Walmart+ subscribers access to the startup’s membership for a year, the companies confirmed to CNBC. 

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Unlimited access to veterinary telehealth via video or text will be available to Walmart+ subscribers beginning Tuesday when Walmart is expected to announce the partnership publicly. Remote veterinarian visits are growing industry wide as consumers seek convenience, but some vets say the practice could be risky for pets.
The offer will be available for a limited time, Walmart said. Walmart+ subscribers will have until Nov. 19 to opt in.
The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Pawp’s annual membership starts at $99.
Walmart’s foray into veterinary telehealth comes as the company looks to deepen loyalty with shoppers, attract and hold on to higher-income customers and better compete with Amazon by making its subscription service more valuable with the addition of perks.
Walmart+ costs $98 annually, or $12.95 a month. Similar to Amazon Prime, the Walmart service gives members access to unlimited free deliveries and a range of other benefits, such as free access to Paramount+ and discounts at the gas pump.

Amazon Prime, which costs $139 annually or $14.99 monthly, offers its own partnerships, as members currently get free access to GrubHub+ for a year, along with other perks such as photo storage and discounts on prescriptions. By adding Pawp to its subscription, Walmart hopes to keep its membership service competitive with Amazon Prime.
“It’s undeniable that over the past decade, we started thinking and looking at pets as part of the family,” Pawp’s CEO Marc Atiyeh told CNBC. “[Walmart has] a very strong thesis around the pet category and yes, they want to be a big player in pet care and pet health in general, and Pawp really allows them to leapfrog the competition and do something that none of the other players have done.” 

Promotional image from Pawp.
Source: Pawp

The deal comes as the $123.6 billion U.S. pet market explodes, with more and more American households shelling out big bucks to keep their furry family members healthy and happy. 
The U.S. market is expected to grow to $200 billion by the end of the decade and pet health care is driving that boom, according to research from Bloomberg Intelligence.
“During the pandemic there was a huge number of pet adoptions and even more important than just the numbers is how people are treating their pets. Pets are becoming part of the family, people are spending on their pets and spending on their pet’s health care,” Ann-Hunter Van Kirk, a senior biopharmaceutical analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, told CNBC.
When an animal had a serious health concern or life-threatening disease in the past, it was common to put the pet down, but now, people are often willing to spend what’s necessary to keep them alive, said Van Kirk. 
She said Walmart’s partnership with Pawp “makes perfect sense” and shows how eager retailers are to grow their share of the pet market. 
As Amazon has deepened its investments into human health, including through its $3.9 billion acquisition of primary-care provider One Medical, Walmart has been growing its pet business. It’s already one of the larger players in pet food, prescriptions, insurance and hard goods such as toys and beds.
Walmart’s expansion into pet telehealth signals the largest U.S. retailer is ready to grow its share of the market.
“[Walmart] has become the one-stop destination for all the needs of pet parents,” a company spokesperson told CNBC. “By providing simple, convenient shopping and affordable solutions to take care of pets across all areas — from food, treats, toys, apparel, durables and services — Walmart delivers real value, especially during this inflationary time.”
The telehealth visits can be used to address “many common concerns,” such as allergies, digestive issues or “light limping,” the spokesperson said. The service can also be used for follow-up care.
Traditional pet-only retailers such as Chewy and Petco have already been investing in pet health care to better compete with big-box stores. Long term, it will be a key factor in whether they can grow and make higher profits over time.

A Walmart logo seen from the parking lot of its store in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania.
Paul Weaver | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Walmart’s partnership with Pawp will allow it to better compete with Amazon and could boost sales of its pet products. The deal will also solve a crucial problem for Pawp: customer acquisition. 
Walmart has yet to publicly disclose its Walmart+ subscriber numbers, but Morgan Stanley estimates membership has reached 19.3 million and is steadily growing, according to an April research note. 
Industry insiders have pointed to gaining new customers as one of the steepest hurdles pet telehealth providers must overcome to scale their businesses, because the practice is still new, and its value proposition can be limited. 
Pawp, which has raised $27.5 million in funding since its inception in 2020, according to Crunchbase, also doesn’t share its membership numbers. But it will now have access to millions of potential customers through the partnership. 

The risks and benefits of pet telehealth

Pet telehealth is just one arm of the overall pet health market and has been rapidly growing since the Covid-19 pandemic, when it first arose out of necessity. 
Chewy was one of the first major retailers to offer the service, which is currently free for its customers. Now, a slew of startups and large veterinarian chains offer telehealth to pet parents. 
The practice has come under scrutiny from some veterinarians who have expressed concerns the service could put pets at risk. It has become a major point of debate in the veterinary community. 
Some veterinarians have told CNBC it’s difficult to assess health concerns, including life-threatening conditions, when examining a pet virtually, and said there’s no substitute for a physical exam.
Others have argued pet telehealth helps bridge the access to care as pet owners contend with a nationwide veterinary shortage and swaths of pet health deserts across rural America.

Promotional image from Pawp.
Source: Pawp

The space is also subject to a maze of regulatory challenges both on the state and federal level, which has held Chewy back from scaling its telehealth service, CEO Sumit Singh told CNBC previously.
Most states forbid veterinarians from diagnosing conditions or prescribing medications virtually unless they have previously examined the pet in person and established what’s called a veterinary client patient relationship, or VCPR.  
During the Covid-19 pandemic, several states temporarily rolled back those guidelines to respond to the global health emergency, but some states have made the changes permanent. It’s sparked a growing lobbying movement to change VCPR regulations nationally, which Chewy and Mars Veterinary Health, a subsidiary of pet food and candy conglomerate Mars, has helped to fund. 
The American Veterinary Medical Association, the nation’s leading advocacy group for veterinarians, maintains outside of an emergency such as a global pandemic, a VCPR can only be established after an in-person exam. The group’s ethical standards allow vets to diagnose conditions, prescribe medication or treat animals virtually, but only after a VCPR has been established in person. 
In states that allow a virtual VCPR, Pawp’s veterinarians are prescribing medications and diagnosing where appropriate. But the company’s founder defended the practice and said the best pet care comes when “physical and digital get married.” 
“More often than not, especially within our industry, regulations lag behind what I would say is the latest innovation, latest kind of like findings, so we want to make sure that we strike the right balance,” said Atiyeh, Pawp’s CEO.
“We have a huge shortage of vets, right?” he continued. “The last thing you want is a pet that is in need of a certain medication … to not get the proper care that they need, to not get the medication that they need only because they couldn’t get physical access to that vet.” 
He said the company’s medical team is constantly reviewing medications to determine what kinds are safe to prescribe virtually, such as flea and tick prescriptions, regardless of what the regulations say. 
“Number one is can we prescribe? Number two is what kind of medications we are comfortable prescribing,” said Atiyeh. “We still have a very high bar on what we believe is the right thing to do for pets.”
— CNBC’s Melissa Repko contributed to this report. More

Ford Motor made its case to Wall Street at an investor event Monday, sharing details of its plan to profitably build millions of EVs while growing its traditional operations.
Ford CEO Jim Farley kicked off the day discussing the company’s growth plans for its gas-powered, fleet, and electric business units.
Doug Field, chief advanced product development and technology officer, touted a push into software and subscription revenue models.

Ford Mustang on display at the NY Auto Show, April 6, 2023.
Scott Mlyn | CNBC

DEARBORN, Mich. – Ford Motor made its case to Wall Street at an investor event Monday, sharing details of its plan to profitably build millions of EVs while growing its traditional operations.
Ford CEO Jim Farley kicked off the day discussing the company’s growth plans for its gas-powered, fleet, and electric business units.

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“I’m not here to tell you that we’re undervalued, you’ll make your own decision,” Farley said.
Ford said early Monday that it is maintaining its 2023 guidance of between $9 billion and $11 billion in adjusted EBIT and about $6 billion in adjusted free cash flow.
The company ahead of the event also announced a series of new deals for the supply of lithium products in support of its plan to dramatically ramp up production of electric vehicles.
Ford is targeting an 8% EBIT margin on its electric vehicle unit and a 2 million EV production run rate by 2026, up from an expected 600,000 by year-end.
Ford went into greater detail about its profit expectations for each of its main business units but did not announce any significant changes to its plans, which some on Wall Street have criticized as being ambitious, if not unrealistic.

Farley focused much of his time on how Ford’s plans aim to bust the company out of the industry’s current valuation penalty box for traditional automakers compared to the likes of Tesla.
Ford estimated its total costs are $7 billion higher than its competition.
Ford CFO John Lawler was frank with analysts toward the end of the morning: “We’ve talked about this for years. You’re not going to believe us until we start delivering it … Because we’ve told you this before. That’s the truth. We have, and we haven’t delivered. So we have to prove it.”
The automaker is expected to lose about $3 billion on its “Model e” electric vehicle business this year, offset from profits in its traditional “Blue” and “Pro” fleet businesses. The company separated the businesses and began reporting them individually this year.
Growth projections
For the first quarter, Ford said the EV operations’ loss widened to $722 million from $380 million a year earlier. The company’s traditional car business earned $2.6 billion, and the automaker’s fleet operations reported $1.4 billion in earnings. 
The company expects to simplify its operations and increase margins from traditional products to low double-digit EBIT margins up from 7.2% in 2022. For example, Ford said it has removed more than 2,400 parts from its next-generation F-150 compared with the current vehicle.
For the traditional business, Kumar Galhotra, president of the operations, said 8 percentage points of margin are expected to come from reductions in structural and controlled costs. That will assist in off-setting 6 percentage points in net pricing.
“Demand continues to outstrip capacity for our key [internal combustion] vehicles,” Galhotra said. “In the next 10 months, Ford Blue will increase its capacity by over 160,000 units.”
That increase may be surprising, as the company invests billions into EVs. Galhotra said while Ford expects its sales of traditional vehicles to begin declining after 2025 in exchange for EVs, vehicles with internal combustion engines will be around “well into” the next decade, he said.
Profitably balancing the shift from traditional vehicles with engines to EVs is an increasingly difficult challenge for traditional automakers such as Ford.
Doug Field, chief advanced product development and technology officer, said a key to doing so is increasing efficiencies in its next-generation EVs that are set to begin production in 2025.

‘Different kind of revenue’

Field also touted a push into software and subscription revenue models, using the automaker’s BlueCruise hands-free highway driving system as as example.
“As we build out our next gen platforms, we aspire to deliver [BlueCruise] to as many customers as possible,” Field said. “When you can take your eyes off the road, everything changes.”
Ford for the 2024 model year expects to build 500,000 vehicles equipped with the hands-free technology. At an expected take rate of 20%, Field said BlueCruise alone could amount to $200 million in revenue.
“My finance and business partners tell me that this is a different kind of revenue,” he said. “They use these words like accretive to margins, less cyclical than vehicle sales.”
Field said that Ford’s approach to creating EVs is radically different from its traditional strategy for vehicle development, emphasizing that software will define and control many new features – including features Ford hasn’t yet developed, but will add to existing vehicles in the future via updates.
“The products we make are not living rooms,” Field said. “They are moving, working robots. And our software ambition goes way beyond deep into how our products move, how they collect data, and how they support people who are going to use them for real work.
“We call them unimaginably great products, because the best things we will make are the ones we haven’t thought of yet.” More

An oral drug from Pfizer causes a similar amount of weight loss as the blockbuster Ozempic injection, made by rival Novo Nordisk, according to results from a phase two clinical trial. 
The results were presented at a medical conference late last year but JAMA Network now has released the full peer-reviewed study.
New York-based Pfizer’s pill could also offer an advantage as an oral treatment option rather than a frequent injection.  
Hollywood celebrities, social media influencers and even billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk have reportedly used popular weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy to get rid of unwanted weight.

Weight-loss drugs have become a hot topic as public heath authorities and pharmaceutical companies seek to find solutions to the growing global obesity epidemic.
Florian Gaertner | Photothek | Getty Images

An oral drug made by Pfizer causes a similar amount of weight loss as rival Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster injection Ozempic, according to a peer-reviewed study of phase 2 clinical trial results released Monday.
The results were presented at a medical conference late last year, and did not compare Pfizer’s drug with Ozempic or other weight loss medications. JAMA Network only now is releasing a peer-reviewed study.

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Pfizer’s trial followed 411 adults with Type 2 diabetes who either took the company’s pill, danuglipron, twice a day or a placebo. 
Body weight was “statistically significantly reduced” after patients took either 120-milligram or 80-milligram versions of danuglipron for 16 weeks, the study found.
Patients who took a 120-milligram version lost around 10 pounds on average over that time period, the study found.
Pfizer’s drug could offer an advantage as an oral treatment option rather than a frequent injection. 
The study results also suggest danuglipron may be as effective for weight loss as Ozempic, though there are stark differences in dosage levels. 

A phase 3 clinical trial on Ozempic found that adults who took a 1-milligram version of the injection lost around 9.9 pounds on average over 30 weeks. Patients take that shot once a week. 
Ozempic is authorized in the U.S. to treat diabetes and is now being used off-label for weight loss.
Novo Nordisk’s other drug, Wegovy, is the same medication, but it is approved for “chronic weight management.”
A phase 3 clinical trial on Wegovy found that adults who took a 2.4-milligram version of the injection each week lost about 33 pounds on average over 68 weeks.
Danuglipron, Ozempic and Wegovy are part of a class of drugs called glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists.
They mimic a hormone produced in the gut called GLP-1, which signals to the brain when a person is full. 
The drugs can also help people manage Type 2 diabetes because they encourage insulin release from the pancreas, lowering blood sugar levels.

CNBC Health & Science

Read CNBC’s latest global health coverage:

New York-based Pfizer is the latest pharmaceutical company to dip into the blockbuster weight loss drug market. 
Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy catapulted to the national spotlight in recent years for being weight loss “miracles.”
Hollywood celebrities, social media influencers and billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk have reportedly used the popular injections to get rid of unwanted weight. 
But experts say the medicines may further perpetuate a dangerous diet culture that idealizes weight loss and thinness.
Some patients who stop taking the drugs also complain about a weight rebound that is difficult to control.
More than 2 in 5 adults have obesity, according to the National Institutes of Health. About 1 in 11 adults have severe obesity.
Clarification: This article’s headline has been updated to remove a reference to evidence showing that Pfizer’s drug might work more quickly than Ozempic. While the amount of weight loss from Pfizer’s drug occurred in roughly half of the time for the same amount of weight seen with Ozempic, the dosage of Pfizer’s drug was markedly higher than Ozempic. More

SpaceX delivered another quartet of astronauts to the International Space Station on Monday morning.
Axiom Space booked the roughly week-long trip, known as the Ax-2 mission, to the ISS with Elon Musk’s company.
The private flight carries two Americans and two Saudis, including the first woman to fly in space from the Arab nation.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule, named Freedom, is seen docked with the International Space Station, May 22, 2023.

SpaceX delivered another quartet of astronauts to the International Space Station on Monday morning, on a private flight that included government astronauts from Saudi Arabia as the Arab kingdom leverages U.S. companies to expands its ambitions in space. 
Axiom Space booked the roughly week-long trip, known as the Ax-2 mission, to the ISS with Elon Musk’s company. SpaceX launched the four people Sunday evening from Florida. Its Falcon 9 rocket launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and the company’s Crew Dragon capsule, named Freedom, reaching the ISS about 16 hours later.

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES – MAY 21: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Crew Dragon spacecraft lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center for the Axiom Space Mission 2 (Ax-2) on May 21, 2023 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The four-person private astronaut Ax-2 crew, which will spend eight days on the International Space Station, includes former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, pilot John Shoffner, and Saudi Space Commission astronauts Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi, the first Saudi woman to fly to space. (Photo by Paul Hennesy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

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Ax-2 is commanded by retired NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who has spent more time in space than any other American or woman, and piloted by businessman and auto racer John Shoffner, who purchased a seat on the flight through Axiom. Whitson is also Axiom’s director of human spaceflight.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia bought the final two seats on Axiom’s mission, with Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali al-Qarni flying as mission specialists. Barnawi is the first Saudi woman to fly in space.
The mission will feature a busy slate of research and technology experiments, with over 20 different science investigations.

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For SpaceX, the Ax-2 mission is the company’s 10th human spaceflight. The company has flown seven government-booked crew missions and three private flights since launching astronauts for the first time in May 2020.
The mission featured the first time SpaceX returned a Falcon 9 booster to land back near the launch site, rather than on a ship in the ocean, after a crew launch. The company continues to expand the technical capabilities of its fleet.

This was also the second launch for the company’s reusable Freedom capsule, which previously carried NASA’s Crew-4 mission on a six-month mission to and from the ISS.
Axiom and SpaceX have not disclosed financial details about the Ax-2 mission. NASA has previously disclosed a SpaceX crew launch costs about $55 million per seat, so the price for these private missions is expected to be high. Axiom has booked four crewed flights from SpaceX to date.
Although SpaceX is providing the rocket and capsule, Axiom is leading the mission’s management from training to the return to Earth. More

General Motors on Monday confirmed plans to introduce an all-electric version of its flagship Cadillac Escalade later this year.
The Detroit automaker said the new SUV will be called the “Escalade IQ.”
An Escalade EV was expected, as the company plans to fully convert Cadillac into an electric vehicle brand by 2030.

GM’s first all-electric Cadillac Escalade will be called the “Escalade IQ,” which continues Cadillac’s EV naming strategy that so far includes the Lyriq crossover and upcoming Celestiq ultra-luxury sedan.

DETROIT – General Motors on Monday confirmed plans to introduce an all-electric version of its flagship Cadillac Escalade later this year.
The Detroit automaker said the new SUV will be called the “Escalade IQ,” which continues Cadillac’s EV naming strategy that so far includes the Lyriq crossover and upcoming Celestiq ultra-luxury sedan.

An electric Escalade was expected, as the company plans to fully convert Cadillac into an electric vehicle brand by 2030.
A Cadillac spokeswoman declined to release any additional details about the vehicle aside from its existence and name. Analysts expect the vehicle to go into production and on sale as soon as next year, according to Automotive News.
The Cadillac Escalade IQ is anticipated to utilize GM’s Ultium battery cells, motors and technologies, which the automaker is using to power and underpin its next-generation EVs.
But just because it’s called an Escalade doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll be identical to the brand’s iconic internal combustion engine-powered SUV. Previously announced EVs that share names with GM’s traditional vehicles have included design features and technologies completely different than their predecessors.

2023 Cadillac Escalade V-Series More

Ford Motor on Monday announced a series of new deals for the supply of lithium products in support of its plan to dramatically ramp up production of electric vehicles.
The automaker has said it plans to be producing EVs at a rate of 2 million per year by 2026.
The company is set to outline its path to reach that goal during its capital markets day Monday.

A Ford F-150 Lightning Platinum electric truck during the 2022 New York International Auto Show (NYIAS) in New York, U.S., on Thursday, April 14, 2022. The NYIAS returns after being cancelled for two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Ford Motor on Monday announced a series of new deals for the supply of lithium products in support of its ambitious plan to dramatically ramp up production of electric vehicles over the next several years.
The automaker has said it plans to be producing EVs at a rate of 2 million per year by 2026.

That projected runrate, as well as an estimated 8% EBIT margin on its EV business, has drawn some skepticism from Wall Street. The company is set to outline its path to both goals during its capital markets day Monday.
Here are the deals Ford announced ahead of that presentation:

Albemarle said it has entered into a “strategic partnership” with Ford to supply more than 100,000 metric tons of lithium hydroxide, enough for roughly 3 million electric vehicle batteries, between 2026 and 2030. The companies will also “explore collaborations” to develop battery-recycling solutions.
Compass Minerals International said it has signed a “binding, multiyear” deal under which it will supply Ford with up to 40% of the battery-grade lithium carbonate originating from a new project in Ogden, Utah. The company said previously that it expects the project to produce about 35,000 metric tons of lithium carbonate equivalent per year once it’s fully up and running, with capacity of about 11,000 metric tons per year coming online in 2025.
EnergySource Minerals said it has agreed to provide Ford with lithium hydroxide from a new site in Imperial Valley, California, expected to be operational in 2025. The project is expected to produce about 20,000 metric tons of lithium annually.
Canadian miner Nemaska Lithium has agreed to supply Ford with up to 13,000 tons of lithium hydroxide per year over 11 years. The lithium will be sourced from projects in Nord-du-Québec and Bécancour, both in the province of Québec.

All of the minerals supplied to Ford under these deals will originate in the United States or in countries with which the U.S. has free trade agreements, to ensure that Ford’s future EVs qualify for the new federal tax credits that took effect earlier this year. More