I don't buy that. Based on payloads, New Glenn 7x2 is in the class with Falcon and Vulcan. That landing should make ULA panic about someone showing up to steal their #2 spot and NSSL and Amazon launches.

New Glenn 9x4 (in a few years?) will get closer to Starship payloads, but I still think the only direct competition between the two will be for the rare payloads that need a big fairing.

nah, New Glenn is neat but it is not competition for Starship. glad it exists though

I bet starship is a long way from actual service. Hence trying to cash in on some bullshit hype train

It sounds as though their AI satellites are contingent on the Starlink V3 design, which in turn rely on Starship to launch them, as the sat bus is too large for Falcon 9.

Relevant Elon tweet: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1998872465087541752

Starlink V3 will be 20kW and launched at scale around Q4 next year. No problem to scale that to >100kW if the satellite mass is shifted towards solar arrays and radiators for AI compute, instead of giant phased array antennas for Internet connectivity.

As you mention, it would use the same laser comms system as Starlink to connect to Starlink.

An AI satellite is easier, not harder, than the Starlink V3 design, which is a marvel of engineering created by an epic team of humans. I am so proud of the @SpaceX team.

If they think Starship is a long way from actual service, pursuing AI satellites is a strange move, as it seems these satellites would be dependent on Starship to launch them.