Artemis II, Space X, Information Centers and Competition. – Blain’s Morning Porridge

Blain’s Morning Porridge April 2026 – Artemis II, Space X, Information Centers and Competition.

“The place will end up being one of the places that are improving the Earth.”

Hype and reality rarely meet. Elon Musk is the exception that proves this rule. The Space X IPO is set to make him the first trillionaire – but what if the Competition is already eating his lunch in space-based data centers before he even looks at the menu? In the race of the Turtle vs the Inner – will Jeff Bezos be the winner?

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Today’s launch of Artemis II’s 4-man lunar orbit mission is the most exciting space exploration event in decades. Business? The financial markets are fully focused on how well the Space-X IPO will fare in terms of size, price and profit performance – or at least it was…

The excitement surrounding the Artemis mission overshadowed yesterday’s successful launch of two sets of geo-sync satellites built by Singaporean technology firm JieYuren on a Blue Origin New Glenn prototype rocket. The startup was not an unusual example of Asian/American technology collaboration but it could be the straw that breaks the Elon Musk Myth. If any of Musk’s legion of fanboys were paying attention, he should have reminded them that the new global economy will be a “place” of competition. (Ha!)

The future is not always the same. Not only has Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin achieved many orbital launches of the New Glenn rocket, and delivered a package to a high altitude, but the two JieYuren satellites are prototype units for orbital data centers – an idea that Musk thought he had a patent for!

According to Avril Salmon, the spokesperson of JieYuren, the joint launch yesterday is not a deliberate waste for Space-X – but it is a clear sign that there are many ways to make money – not just Musk’s vision. The Space-X IPO is expected to value Musk’s firm at $ 1.75-2 trillion to a record $ 75 bln from the beginning of June.

Musk is drinking his fan base wisely – announcing 33% of the IPO will be directed to retail investors. Musk knows his sales rep is “stuck”, absorbing whatever he says, and asking few tough questions.

The IPO will be launched with a strong wave of hype to support the incredible value. Expectations of $ 2 trillion are based on Space X’s control of the commercial space flight with its successful and reliable Falcon 9 rocket, a lot of money that it receives now from the Starlink system, with a large growth from the Internet users that are not processed, (I put it on board and it is very good.) the system that will one day throw him to Mars. It is debatable how these sources of income can be achieved and how sustainable they are, especially since Space is becoming a very competitive market.

Jeff Bezos and Musk have very different approaches to space.

Bezos and Blue Origin choose to be a turtle and move forward slowly. He recently gave up on space tourism to focus on making the New Glenn the top rocket of choice. He is focused on being a trusted partner to NASA. Many investors in the space economy consider Blue Origin’s approach too complicated – but it brought The Americans to the Moon back in the 1960s. Rocket watchers say BO’s launch schedule is too slow, saying his team isn’t getting the benefit of the lessons Musk’s employees are.

JieYuren’s approach is close to the Chinese approach to AI – build enough, open source, and keep it simple. They described it as a “pencil method” for solving space-based data centers – instead of inventing a pen for zero-gravity, use a pencil instead.

Musk is a rabbit. His starship has launched several times but has yet to complete a full orbital flight and recovery. That’s because his fast-failure style is tempered by the complexity of the Raptor’s 36 engines that make it the most powerful thing ever made. But the complexity and weight means it wobbles and slides under incredible lift pressures, prone to bursting, as it closes. There has been much speculation that it is underpowered and too heavy to reach orbit.

To get payloads into space, they’re talking about refueling a rocket while it’s in the clearance phase! Musk’s rapidly failing ethos has seen many spectacular fireballs – which Musk’s fan base is happy to accept as the price of his genius.

What if they are wrong? If Musk can’t make Starship work and provide constant, reliable liftoff power, someone else will — and Blue Origin’s New Glenn looks like it could be the winner.

Musk is a brilliant salesman and snake oil king. He saw an opportunity to monetize his space delivery platform and power his X-AI (now part of Space X) by convincing the world that orbital data centers are the solution to all things AI. And the massive foundations he plans to build will be built by his Optimus robots and powered by massive solar panels. How to pay for it? The plan is for foreign investors to buy the IPO, pay today what he can bring tomorrow!

The IPO will be sold with the money that Starlink generates, but more than that with the huge amount of money that SpaceX will make as a monopoly provider of “orbital data centers” and from the “Spaceship” that flies to Mars and back. I can’t wait to read the risk statements in the prospectus.

Musk has talked on the back legs of a donkey about the importance of space-based data centers but has yet to present a comprehensive conceptual framework or address many of the obvious technical issues.

On the other hand, JieYuren seems to have addressed many of the issues that Musk is starting to talk about:
· Instead of trying to build Musk’s space-station size orbital datacentres, the Singaporeans have adopted the latest lock-tech, connecting many small units using laser digital links to create what will be the first distributed space data center.
· Each unit has a fraction of the number of (hardened) that can be expected in a traditional global data center, but CTO Xin Luici says that the many ways that AI teams manage large herds will learn to work between them will enable big improvements in chip performance, unlike human nerves.
· Flocks of space station satellites in geo-sync orbits will increase the issue of latency (time delay between earth stations and units) and potential service issues but avoid the risk of Kessler Syndrome of Low Earth Orbit collisions. As with all things, it’s a compromise, but maintaining a solid design, and one that is cheap enough that failing parts can be disassembled and replaced, means that maintenance costs can be reduced.
· The main problem of heat dispersion and gamma ray damage has been solved using heat shielding technology from the latest solar observation satellites, while the new “windmill” sails are compatible with the dispersion of radiation energy, producing solar energy, while at the same time working as a heat exchanger – in fact using the solar wind as a heat exchanger.
· Geo-Sync orbits mean lower power requirements in the future, enabling more of the power generated by the sails to be used for computing tasks.
· The sails in each part of the multi-unit distributed data center can be coordinated using distributed AI on board, ensuring that each part is always well connected to the station to maintain laser digital comms. Blue Origin Project Team Leader Brad Raybury believes the herd needs to stay connected even through the storms of solar and fame.

The implications for Space X are huge. Although Musk has succeeded in inventing the Electric Vehicle Market and reaping the benefits from the extraordinary charge in Tesla’s share price – the car manufacturer is now posting operating losses and is no longer leading new trends in this sector. The mass launch of Robotaxi in which Musk has invested Tesla has been delayed again. Recently a Finnish firm managed to publish 1000km solid state batteries with 5 minute charging times – a complete revolution.

History has many lessons… The Wright brothers founded the airplane market in November 1903 at Kitty Hawk when mankind flew for the first time. For the next 10 years Wilbur and Orville had a monopoly. But by 1914 they had lost their lead to rapidly advancing aviation technology. Of the thousands of airplanes flown by the allied nations during WW1, none were built by the Wright Brothers. The same thing happened with Tesla. Although it has already highlighted its future in Robotaxis – it is a very competitive area where Tesla does not have a first mover advantage.

Although Space X is expected to present its IPO of $ 75 bln in June – it will be the largest recorded. It will be immediately accepted on the NASDAQ (and some think the S&P will follow). It lives up to its hype. If Starship is a flop and Blue Origin continues to improve its launch cadence and win more government-wide business, even Starlink could find itself under pressure for the same reasons Tesla is already in decline – competition.

Have a great day… nothing like a pinch of salt on the first day of the second quarter of the year to get your mind going.

Bill Blain
Breakfast Writer
CEO Windshift Capital
Advisor – Spitfire Strategic Capital