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Rocket Lab’s sunny weather bodes well for future constellation plans

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Rocket Lab’s sunny outlook bodes well for future constellation plans 

Rocket lab surpassed $100 million in quarterly revenue for the primary time, up 71% from the identical quarter last yr. That’s just one in every of several big accomplishments executives touted to investors on Thursday — and a superb sign for the space company’s ambitious medium-term plans.

Executives continued to tease plans for Rocket Lab’s owned-and-operated satellite constellation, a part of founder and CEO Peter Beck’s stated ambition to develop into a “comprehensive space company.” The company clearly intends to do something just like what SpaceX is doing with its Starlink constellation: beat the competition by owning launch vehicles, together with a highly vertically integrated supply chain that allows rapid production.

“Having the launchers and spacecraft gives us a distinct advantage when it comes to building our own space capabilities or constellations,” Beck said during an earnings conference call Thursday. “We can build and launch our own spacecraft at cost and we don’t have to wait in line for a limited launch capacity. We completely avoid the problem that most constellation operators face: being dependent on vendors for cost and schedule, often causing deeply disruptive delays and bringing capabilities online at scale.”

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Beck declined to offer details on exactly what opportunities are being considered, but suggested acquisitions will proceed to play a job in the corporate’s strategy.

But to appreciate its constellation plans, the corporate will first have to launch its medium-lift Neutron rocket. Rocket Lab plans to launch Neutron for the primary time in mid-2025, an especially aggressive timeline: If it hits that date, the corporate says it’s going to be the fastest commercially developed vehicle to go from clean-sheet design to market by way of its weight.

Visualization of Neutron placing satellites into orbit.
Image sources: Rocket lab (opens in recent window)

The rocket will likely be powered by nine all-new engines called Archimedes, which accomplished a key test this month. The “hot fire” test, held at the corporate’s test complex at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, marked the primary time Archimedes had fired at full power on a test stand. Now engineers can move on to a full qualification campaign and production of the following batch of engines.

Aside from the engines, Rocket Lab said the complete Neutron is currently in production and qualification. There’s still a number of work ahead — including creating launch infrastructure like a test bed, not to say integrated testing of the rocket itself — but Beck confirmed the corporate is on the right track for a launch in the midst of next yr.

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Neutron could have a payload capability of 13,000 kilograms, making it a direct competitor to SpaceX’s Falcon 9, the undisputed leading launch vehicle currently in operation. Beck addressed the query of how Neutron will compete with what he called a “virtual monopoly” in medium-lift launches, saying that demand for launch capabilities is growing, particularly amongst megaconstellation planners.

“Neutron is best positioned to be the rocket that disrupts that monopoly,” he said. “We have a proven track record of building and bringing to market a reliable vehicle that has become a market leader. That track record has allowed us to work extremely closely with customers to design a new rocket that meets their needs, resulting in a customer-centric design that is well on track to bring to market in an extremely short time frame.”

Beck used the chance to indicate a standard misconception concerning the company: that it is just a launch services provider. In reality, launches are only one a part of the business, and “space systems” — which incorporates satellites, software and components — are one other.

In addition to $106 million in second-quarter revenue, $29.4 million of which got here from launch and $77 million from space systems, the corporate expects nearly the identical amount of revenue next quarter. Rocket Lab ended the quarter with $547 million in money available.

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This is the shipping of products from China to the USA

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Shein and Temu icons are seen displayed on a phone screen in this illustration photo

The Chinese retailer has modified the strategy in the face of American tariffs.

Thanks to the executive ordinance, President Donald Trump ended the so -called de minimis principle, which allowed goods value 800 USD or less entering the country without tariffs. It also increases tariffs to Chinese goods by over 100%, forcing each Chinese firms and Shein, in addition to American giants, similar to Amazon to adapt plans and price increases.

CNBC reports that this was also affected, and American buyers see “import fees” from 130% to 150% added to their accounts. Now, nevertheless, the company is not sending the goods directly from China to the United States. Instead, it only displays the offers of products available in American warehouses, while goods sent from China are listed as outside the warehouse.

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“He actively recruits American sellers to join the platform,” said the spokesman ago. “The transfer is to help local sellers reach more customers and develop their companies.”

(tagstotransate) tariffs

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One of the last AI Google models is worse in terms of safety

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The Google Gemini generative AI logo on a smartphone.

The recently released Google AI model is worse in some security tests than its predecessor, in line with the company’s internal comparative test.

IN Technical report Google, published this week, reveals that his Flash Gemini 2.5 model is more likely that he generates a text that violates its security guidelines than Gemini 2.0 Flash. In two indicators “text security for text” and “image security to the text”, Flash Gemini 2.5 will withdraw 4.1% and 9.6% respectively.

Text safety for the text measures how often the model violates Google guidelines, making an allowance for the prompt, while image security to the text assesses how close the model adheres to those boundaries after displaying the monitors using the image. Both tests are automated, not supervised by man.

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In an e-mail, Google spokesman confirmed that Gemini 2.5 Flash “performs worse in terms of text safety for text and image.”

These surprising comparative results appear when AI is passing in order that their models are more acceptable – in other words, less often refuse to answer controversial or sensitive. In the case of the latest Llam Meta models, he said that he fought models in order to not support “some views on others” and answers to more “debated” political hints. Opeli said at the starting of this yr that he would improve future models, in order to not adopt an editorial attitude and offers many prospects on controversial topics.

Sometimes these efforts were refundable. TechCrunch announced on Monday that the default CHATGPT OPENAI power supply model allowed juvenile to generate erotic conversations. Opeli blamed his behavior for a “mistake”.

According to Google Technical Report, Gemini 2.5 Flash, which is still in view, follows instructions more faithfully than Gemini 2.0 Flash, including instructions exceeding problematic lines. The company claims that regression might be partially attributed to false positives, but in addition admits that Gemini 2.5 Flash sometimes generates “content of violation” when it is clearly asked.

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“Of course, there is a tension between (after instructions) on sensitive topics and violations of security policy, which is reflected in our assessment,” we read in the report.

The results from Meepmap, reference, which can examine how models react to sensitive and controversial hints, also suggest that Flash Gemini 2.5 is much less willing to refuse to reply controversial questions than Flash Gemini 2.0. Testing the TechCrunch model through the AI ​​OpenRoutter platform has shown that he unsuccessfully writes essays to support human artificial intelligence judges, weakening the protection of due protection in the US and the implementation of universal government supervisory programs.

Thomas Woodside, co -founder of the Secure AI Project, said that the limited details given by Google in their technical report show the need for greater transparency in testing models.

“There is a compromise between the instruction support and the observation of politics, because some users may ask for content that would violate the rules,” said Woodside Techcrunch. “In this case, the latest Flash model Google warns the instructions more, while breaking more. Google does not present many details about specific cases in which the rules have been violated, although they claim that they are not serious. Not knowing more, independent analysts are difficult to know if there is a problem.”

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Google was already under fire for his models of security reporting practices.

The company took weeks to publish a technical report for the most talented model, Gemini 2.5 Pro. When the report was finally published, it initially omitted the key details of the security tests.

On Monday, Google published a more detailed report with additional security information.

(Tagstotransate) Gemini

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Aurora launches a commercial self -propelled truck service in Texas

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The autonomous startup of the Aurora Innovation vehicle technology claims that it has successfully launched a self -propelled truck service in Texas, which makes it the primary company that she implemented without drivers, heavy trucks for commercial use on public roads in the USA

The premiere appears when Aurora gets the term: In October, the corporate delayed the planned debut 2024 to April 2025. The debut also appears five months after the rival Kodiak Robotics provided its first autonomous trucks to clients commercial for operations without a driver in field environments.

Aurora claims that this week she began to freight between Dallas and Houston with Hirschbach Motor Lines and Uber Freight starters, and that she has finished 1200 miles without a driver to this point. The company plans to expand to El Paso and Phoenix until the top of 2025.

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TechCrunch contacted for more detailed information concerning the premiere, for instance, the variety of vehicles implemented Aurora and whether the system needed to implement the Pullover maneuver or the required distant human assistance.

The commercial premiere of Aurora takes place in a difficult time. Self -propelled trucks have long been related to the necessity for his or her technology attributable to labor deficiencies in the chairman’s transport and the expected increase in freigh shipping. Trump’s tariffs modified this attitude, not less than in a short period. According to the April analytical company report from the commercial vehicle industry ACT researchThe freight is predicted to fall this yr in the USA with a decrease in volume and consumer expenditure.

Aurora will report its results in the primary quarter next week, i.e. when he shares how he expects the present trade war will affect his future activity. TechCrunch contacted to learn more about how tariffs affect Auror’s activities.

For now, Aurora will probably concentrate on further proving his safety case without a driver and cooperation with state and federal legislators to just accept favorable politicians to assist her develop.

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At the start of 2025, Aurora filed a lawsuit against federal regulatory bodies after the court refused to release the appliance for release from the protection requirement, which consists in placing warning triangles on the road, when the truck must stop on the highway – something that’s difficult to do when there isn’t a driver in the vehicle. To maintain compliance with this principle and proceed to totally implement without service drivers, Aurora probably has a man -driven automotive trail after they are working.

(Tagstranslate) Aurora Innovation

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