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SpaceX’s Starship — the largest and most powerful rocket ever built — has blasted off from its Texas launchpad. Despite exploding minutes after liftoff, the first-of-its-kind flight has been hailed as a success by the company. 

Starship launched from a SpaceX launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas, today (April 20) atop the company’s Super Heavy booster rocket, whose 33 Raptor 2 engines carried the vehicle into the stratosphere with a record-breaking 16.5 million pounds (7.5 million kilograms) of thrust.

Shortly after liftoff, an issue with the separation mechanism between the rocket’s two stages caused it to enter a spin, and it exploded just minutes later. 

Related: Geomagnetic storm sends 40 SpaceX satellites plummeting to Earth

“As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation,” SpaceX wrote on Twitter (opens in new tab) .

The launch is the first test of the rocket system that SpaceX has said it will use to transport crews, spacecraft, satellites and cargo to locations in the solar system — both for its own purposes and on behalf of NASA. The U.S. space agency is slated to use Starship’s Human Landing System to transport humans to the moon’s surface for the first time since 1972 on the Artemis 3 and 4 missions. 

Now that the spaceship has shown it can fly, SpaceX intends to send another Starship into low Earth orbit with a crew on board by the end of the year, but how much the separation mechanism issue will delay or alter these plans is unknown. 

At 394 feet (120 meters) tall, Starship is roughly the length of three passenger jets and is 30 feet (10 m) taller than the Saturn V rocket that first sent the Apollo 11 astronauts to the moon in 1969. Starship is also more than twice as powerful as Saturn V, which propelled itself with 7.6 million pounds (3.4 million kg) of thrust.RELATED STORIES — Ethereal whirlpool of light grows into a giant, perfect spiral above Alaska. What was it?

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Starship is designed primarily with cheap and efficient manufacturing in mind, using inexpensive stainless steel for its construction and methane (which SpaceX says can be collected on Mars) to power the rocket. It is designed to be reusable, and can carry a payload of up to 275 tons (250 metric tons) in its non-reusable state — around 10 times that of SpaceX’s current Falcon 9 rockets.

This was the rocket’s second attempt at taking off. During the first attempt, on Monday (April 17), the rocket was fueled and readied, but the launch was stopped with nine minutes left on the clock, after a frozen valve caused pressurization problems in the Super Heavy booster.

On Sunday (April 16), Musk lowered expectations for the upcoming launch, warning in a Twitter discussion that many problems could arise and that he would consider it a success if the launch just didn’t “blow up the launchpad.”

“Success is not what should be expected,” he said ahead of Monday’s scrubbed launch. “It may take us a few kicks of the can here before we reach orbit.”

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Politics

Trump signs resolution killing IRS DeFi broker rule

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Trump signs resolution killing IRS DeFi broker rule

Trump signs resolution killing IRS DeFi broker rule

US President Donald Trump on April 10 signed a joint Congressional resolution overturning a Biden-era rule that requires decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to report to the country’s tax authority, the Internal Revenue Service.

The rule would have required DeFi platforms, such as decentralized exchanges, to file their gross proceeds from crypto sales and include information on those involved in the transactions.

Trump was widely expected to sign the bill, as White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks said in March that the president would support killing the measure.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.

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Environment

This electric excavator has battery swap tech that lets it recharge in minutes [update]

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This electric excavator has battery swap tech that lets it recharge in minutes [update]

The electric construction equipment experts at XCMG just released a new, 25 ton electric crawler excavator ahead of bauma 2025 – and they have their eye on the global urban construction, mine operations, and logistical material handling markets.

UPDATE: telematics announcement.

Powered by a high-capacity 400 kWh lithium iron phosphate battery capable of delivering up to 8 hours of continuous operation, the XE215EV electric excavator promises uninterrupted operation at a lower cost of ownership and with even less downtime than its diesel counterparts.

XCMG is delivering on part of that reduced downtime promise with the lower maintenance and easier repair needs of electric equipment, and delivering on the rest of it with lickety-quick DC fast charging that can recharge the machine’s massive battery in 1.5-2 hours … but that’s not the slick bit. The XCMG XE125EV can be powered up without leaving the job site thanks to its BYD battery swap technology.

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We first covered XCMG and its battery swap technology back in January, and covered similar battery-swap tech being developed by MOOG Construction offshoot ZQUIP, as well – but while XCMG’s battery tech has been in production for several years, it’s still not widely known about in the West (even within the industry).

XCMG showed off its latest electric equipment at the December 2024 bauma China, including an updated version of its of its 85-ton autonomous electric mining truck that features a fully cab-less design – meaning there isn’t even a place for an operator to sit, let alone operate. And that’s too bad, because what operator wouldn’t want to experience an electric truck putting down 1070 hp more than 16,000 lb-ft of torque!?

Easy in, easy out

XCMG battery swap crane; via Etrucks New Zealand.

The best part? All of the company’s heavy equipment assets – from excavators to terminal tractors to dump trucks and wheel loaders – all use the same 400 kWh BYD battery packs, Milwaukee tool style. That means an equipment fleet can utilize x number of vehicles with a fraction of the total battery capacity and material needs of other asset brands. That’s not just a smart use of limited materials, it’s a smarter use of energy.

You can check out all the XE215EV’s specs at this tear sheet, and get an in-person look at the Chinese company’s latest electric excavator this week in Munich, Germany.

Telematics announcement at bauma

XCMG showcases green, smart tech at bauma 2025; via XCMG.

Earlier today, XCMG launched its next-generation Xrea Global Telematics Platform, integrating IoT, big data, cloud computing, and AI to enable what it’s caling, “seamless cross-border fleet management.”

The new telematics platform supports a dozen languages via PC and mobile interfaces, and offers real-time diagnostics, predictive maintenance, and data-driven optimization of both the vehicle and the vehicle’s batteries, empowering equipment managers and fleet operators to track fleets across town, or across time zones.

“XCMG remains committed to advancing engineering technology to empower a sustainable future. Our mission is to deliver efficient, intelligent, and eco-friendly lifecycle solutions for global clients,” said Mr. Yang Dongsheng, Chairman of XCMG Group and XCMG Machinery. “Today, 19% of our product portfolio comprises green innovations under our ‘Green Mountain’ new energy line, with full electrification across all series underway.”

SOURCE | IMAGES: XCMG; via PR Newswire.

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Environment

Tesla (TSLA) is having a terrible month, and it’s only April 10th!

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Tesla (TSLA) is having a terrible month, and it's only April 10th!

On today’s troubling episode of Quick Charge, we explore all the troubles befalling Tesla (and TSLA stock) in the month April – with top executives fleeing the ship, demand plummeting, sales slipping, government incentives at home and abroad under threat, and a raft of receipts brought on by an OpenAI lawsuit hitting the brand, it’s already a bad month for Elon … and there’s still 20 more days to go!

None of this even touches on the $43 million “backlogged” rebate scandal Tesla’s facing in Canada that’s being blamed for people’s negative attitudes about the brand (ha!) or the fact that neither the long-promised Roadster 2.0 or the Tesla Semi will see production anytime this year, either.

The word you’re looking for when you think of Tesla these days is, “cooked.”

Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple PodcastsSpotifyTuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

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New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.

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Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show.

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