Elon Musk is reportedly looking to finally take SpaceX public after years of resistance, according to sources who spoke to The Wall Street Journal. The company has long said it wouldn't choose an IPO until it had established a presence on Mars. That isn't happening anytime soon.

So why now? Company insiders have suggested it's because Musk wants to build AI data centers in space. Google recently announced it was looking into putting a data center in space, with test launches scheduled for 2027. Musk reportedly wants to beat his rival to the punch, but SpaceX would need the billions of dollars in capital that an IPO would deliver. Putting a giant center in space isn't cheap.

Sources say that Musk wants to complete the IPO by July. SpaceX is reportedly expected to select banks to lead the stock offering in the near future.

This is also being seen as an attempt to boost xAI, which trails behind rivals like OpenAI and Google in the AI race. If SpaceX were to be successful in putting data centers in space, it's likely that xAI would get a sweetheart deal given that Musk runs both companies. Then they could pass money to one another in perpetuity, which seems to be the AI way.

Other companies have also begun considering jettisoning data centers into the great beyond. Blue Origin CEO Jeff Bezos recently suggested that shifting data centers to orbit makes sense. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been looking into partnering or purchasing a rocket maker called Stoke Space for a similar reason.

Of course, putting data centers in space is an extraordinary undertaking. There are serious issues that must be overcome, from latency to heat dissipation and radiation. Components must be launched and the structure must be built in space. WSJ reports that SpaceX made a breakthrough of some sort last year, but the company hasn't announced specifics.

If we need giant data centers to generate Garfield memes or whatever, I'd rather them in space. Microsoft's latest AI data center in Wisconsin takes up 325 acres. Meta recently announced a data center that would be nearly the size of Manhattan. These structures hoover up energy and water, strain local resources, create pollution and offer just a few long-term local jobs.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/elon-musk-is-reportedly-trying-to-take-spacex-public-170337053.html?src=rss

©

© Unsplash / Anirudh

Sometimes, you just need to give your mind a little vacation. And these days, outer space sounds like as good a destination as any. Thankfully, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is here to give us a dazzling new image of the Helix Nebula.

Discovered in the early 19th century, the Helix Nebula resides in the constellation Aquarius. (Cue The 5th Dimension.) At about 655 light-years away, it's one of Earth's closest planetary nebulae. When zoomed farther out, it's easy to see why it's been nicknamed the Eye of God or Eye of Sauron. This 2004 image from the Hubble telescope illustrates that.

NASA / ESA / C.R. O'Dell (Vanderbilt University) / M. Meixner / P. McCullough / G. Bacon ( STSI)

What we're seeing in the nebula is, in a sense, a moment of death that lays the groundwork for a new birth. The dying star (out of frame in the closer new image) sheds its outer layers. As expelled gas and dust cool, they provide raw material that could someday form new stars and perhaps planetary systems.

The new image from Webb's NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) provides a much closer, higher-resolution view.

Those pillars you see are called cometary knots, and this image is our best view of those to date. "Here, blistering winds of hot gas from the dying star are crashing into colder shells of dust and gas that were shed earlier in its life, sculpting the nebula's remarkable structure," the ESA wrote in its press release.

The knots' colors represent temperature and chemistry. Hints of blue indicate the hottest gas (energized by ultraviolet light). The yellow regions, where hydrogen atoms form molecules, are farther from the nebula's nucleus (and therefore cooler). On the edges, reddish-orange regions depict the coolest material, where gas thins and dust begins to form.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/earth-is-having-some-issues-so-lets-enjoy-the-webb-telescopes-new-nebula-image-181049901.html?src=rss

©