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Elon Musk‘s brain implant startup Neuralink, which was valued at close to $2 billion (roughly Rs. 16,500 crore) in a private fundraising round two years ago, is now worth around $5 billion (roughly Rs. 41,300 crore) based on privately executed stock trades described to Reuters by five sources with knowledge of the matter.

Some purchases by bullish investors boosted the valuation in recent months, ahead of Neuralink’s May 25 announcement that U.S. regulators had approved a human trial on its brain chip, the sources said.

Experts have said it could take several years for Neuralink to secure commercial use clearance. Kip Ludwig, former program director for neural engineering at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), said he “optimistically” expected Neuralink to take at least 10 more years to commercialize its brain implant. The company also faces other challenges that include federal probes into its handling of animal research.

Following the trial’s approval, however, Neuralink shares were marketed privately to investors in recent days at a $7 billion (roughly Rs. 57,900 crore) valuation, equivalent to $55 (roughly Rs. 4,500) per share, according to an email seen by Reuters. Reuters could not establish whether the seller found buyers for that price. The email cited the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of the clinical trial as grounds for the deal being “sweeter.”

Neuralink executives and Musk did not respond to requests for comment.

Musk has expressed grand ambitions for Neuralink, saying its chip would allow healthy and disabled people alike to pop into neighbourhood facilities for speedy surgical insertions of devices to treat obesity, autism, depression and schizophrenia. He even sees them being used for web-surfing and telepathy. A Neuralink executive recently gave more modest short-term objectives, such as helping paralyzed patients communicate through computerized text without typing.

The stock transactions at a valuation of around $5 billion (roughly Rs. 41,300 crore) have been carried out by shareholders such as employees and the company’s early backers, rather than Neuralink selling new shares to investors. Such so-called secondary trades are an imperfect gauge of a company’s value; their volume is thin and they lack the wider market consensus of a fundraising round or initial public offering (IPO).

Neuralink’s valuation jump in secondary trades is in sharp contrast to other startups. About 85percent of pre-IPO companies are currently valued in secondary trades at an average discount of 47 percent to their last funding round, according to data provider Caplight.

In Neuralink’s last known fundraising in 2021, it raised $205 million (roughly Rs. 1,700 crore) at an approximately $2 billion (roughly Rs. 16,500 crore) valuation, according to data provider Pitchbook.

Many of the recent stock sales have been to relatively small investors, who typically focus more on getting a slice of a company owned by Musk than scrutinizing its valuation. The maximum amount sought for the Neuralink shares marketed for sale at a $7 billion (roughly Rs. 57,900 crore) valuation was just $500,000, according to the email seen by Reuters.

Sim Desai, chief executive of Hiive, an online platform where the shares are traded, said demand for Neuralink stock has been “tremendous.” He pegged the valuation that buyers are willing to pay at around $4.5 billion (roughly Rs. 37,200 crore).

Some biomedical experts are skeptical. Arun Sridhar, a scientist and entrepreneur who specializes in neuromodulation, called Neuralink’s valuation “bonkers” based on how early the brain implant is in its clinical development.

“A study to assess safety and tolerability is in no shape or form valid to justify a $5 billion (roughly Rs. 41,300 crore) valuation,” said Sridhar, who helped launch Galvani Bioelectronics, a developer of implants backed by GSK Plc and Alphabet Inc’s Verily Life Sciences. Galvani is not a competitor of Neuralink because its implants under development will be installed in an artery to the spleen to help treat rheumatoid arthritis, rather than the brain.

Investigations

The FDA initially rejected Neuralink’s request for a human trial last year, citing safety reasons, Reuters has reported. Even after securing approval, the company faces several challenges.

Neuralink has come under scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers after Reuters reported in May that its animal-research board may have violated conflict-of-interest regulations. Neuralink employees who sat on that board, which oversees the welfare of the animals that were being tested, also stood to benefit from the implant’s quick development. Neuralink stock that some of the employees hold has jumped around 150 percent in value in just two years, based on the secondary trades.

The law enforcement arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been investigating Neuralink for potential animal-welfare violations. Neuralink staff told Reuters last year that the company was rushing and botching surgeries on monkeys, pigs and sheep, resulting in far more animal deaths than necessary, as Musk pressured staff to receive FDA approval.

The Department of Transportation is separately probing whether Neuralink illegally transported dangerous pathogens on chips removed from monkey brains without proper containment measures.

Neither Musk nor Neuralink have responded to multiple requests for comment on the probes or the Reuters reports.

© Thomson Reuters 2023
 


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SpaceX Launches Two O3b mPOWER Satellites, Successfully Lands Falcon 9 Booster at Sea

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SpaceX Launches Two O3b mPOWER Satellites, Successfully Lands Falcon 9 Booster at Sea

The Falcon 9 launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida to MEO on July 22, at 5:12 p.m. EDT (2112 GMT) with two SES communication satellites — O3b mPOWER 9 and 10. About 8.5 minutes after launch, the rocket’s first stage returned to Earth, landing gently on the droneship “Just Read the Instructions” in the Atlantic Ocean. It was the sixth launch and landing for the booster and extended a run of spot-on recoveries and frequent orbital missions for SpaceX.

SpaceX Expands SES’s mPOWER Constellation with 89th Falcon Launch of 2025

According to a SpaceX mission update, the Falcon 9’s second stage will fire again to beat the satellites out into MEO — slowing down the satellites’ relative speed to Earth, tricks mission planners can use to reduce the moment magnitude before the ground impact. The launch was scrubbed by the abort itself but was aborted 11 seconds before the abort was actually supposed to happen. The abort was not immediately explained, and SpaceX did not immediately request help troubleshooting the issue. The satellites would bring the SES O3b mPOWER constellation up to 100 satellites, a constellation already taking shape with four launches with SpaceX in 2022 and 2024.

The spacecraft are all out of Boeing’s assembly line and weigh about 3,700 pounds each. Today’s successful launch means that SES has 10 satellites in orbit, of which 3 more are currently under construction for launch to orbit within the next 12 months. mPOWER provides a high-capacity internet service across the globe, especially in less connected parts, on-the-go assets, and industrial and large enterprise facilities.

SpaceX’s 89th Falcon launch of 2025 and a trio of Starship test hops are part of a new reliability and cadence standard. Also part of the deal is the company’s delivery of reusable launch capabilities for commercial and deep space missions.

The buildup of SES’s mPOWER fleet is a significant step toward a 13-satellite constellation and a validation of SpaceX’s role as a force in the commercial satellite and internet infrastructure business.

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Astronomers Solve Betelgeuse’s 6-Year Dimming Mystery by Spotting Secret Companion Star

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Astronomers Solve Betelgeuse’s 6-Year Dimming Mystery by Spotting Secret Companion Star

For the first time, astronomers have directly imaged a long theorised companion star orbiting Betelgeuse, the red supergiant famed for its dramatic brightness shifts visible to the naked eye. This elusive companion is believed to be the cause behind Betelgeuse’s puzzling six-year dimming cycle, a mystery that has persisted for over a thousand years. The star system’s newfound configuration, which features Betelgeuse gradually nearing the end of its life and a tightly orbiting blue-white companion, could also foretell a cosmic cannibalisation event in the distant future.

Gemini Telescope Unveils Hidden Companion of Betelgeuse, Solving Ancient Stellar Mystery

As per NASA’s announcement, the detection was made possible through observations by the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii, using the ‘Alopeke instrument. Lead scientist Steve Howell of NASA Ames Research Centre credited the telescope’s high angular resolution and speckle imaging technique for the breakthrough. Past efforts with the Hubble Space Telescope and Chandra X-ray Observatory had failed to reveal the companion. But Gemini’s short-exposure imaging pierced through atmospheric distortions to resolve the faint partner star.

The team found that this companion is roughly 1.5 times the mass of the Sun and orbits just four astronomical units from Betelgeuse—about four times the distance from Earth to the Sun. This makes it the closest detected companion to a red supergiant ever observed, existing deep within Betelgeuse’s extended atmosphere. Scientists believe the companion hasn’t yet ignited hydrogen fusion, suggesting it remains in an early stellar stage.

While the two stars likely formed simultaneously, their evolutionary timelines differ drastically due to mass. Betelgeuse, 700 times the size of the Sun, has aged rapidly, while the smaller star remains youthful. This disparity also sets the stage for a grim outcome: gravitational forces may eventually pull the companion into Betelgeuse, a fate predicted to unfold within the next 10,000 years.

The detection not only resolves Betelgeuse’s mysterious heartbeat-like dimming but also provides astronomers with a new path to study stellar evolution in red supergiants. Another clear view of the companion is expected in November 2027, when it reaches maximum separation from Betelgeuse. The findings were published on July 21 across two papers in The Astrophysical Journal.

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Earth to Spin Faster on July 22 to Place It Among Shortest Days in History

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Earth to Spin Faster on July 22 to Place It Among Shortest Days in History

Scientists say Earth will spin slightly faster on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, making that day roughly 1.34 milliseconds shorter than the usual 24-hour period. This subtle acceleration, detected by atomic clocks and satellites, will make July 22 the second-shortest day in recorded history. (Only July 10, 2025 — 1.36 ms short — was shorter this year.) Experts note that since 2020, Earth has repeatedly set new short-day records, a trend now under close watch by global timekeeping authorities. While imperceptible in daily life, the phenomenon may ultimately require an unprecedented “negative” leap second to keep atomic time aligned with Earth’s spin.

Earth’s Unusual Acceleration

According to previous studies, Earth’s rotation is not perfectly constant. The July 22 rotation was measured at 1.34 milliseconds less than a normal day. Reports say that 2025 is witnessing some of the fastest spins on record – the quickest since continuous measurements began in 1973.

In fact, new data showed that earlier in 2025 the shortest day occurred on July 10 (about 1.36 ms shorter than 24 hours), with July 22 a “close runner-up” at 1.34 ms below normal. If current models hold, another brief day is expected on August 5 (roughly 1.25 ms short), leaving July 22 as the second-shortest of the year. Altogether, researchers describe this as a “puzzling trend” of Earth’s rotation speeding up in recent years.

Speed-Up reasons

Scientists attribute these fluctuations to a mix of celestial and geophysical factors. The Moon’s orbit is a prime factor: in early July it reached maximum declination, pulling off-center and briefly accelerating Earth’s spin. The same lunar alignment on July 22 is expected to repeat the effect. Normally, lunar tides act as a brake, gradually lengthening days, but on these shorter timescales the Moon’s position can instead speed up the rotation.

Other subtle influences also play a role. Climate-driven mass shifts – such as melting ice sheets and moving ocean water – change Earth’s moment of inertia and can tweak day length. Even large earthquakes or seasonal atmospheric changes can nudge Earth’s rotation by tiny microseconds.

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