Tech Lab Podcast 🌐

Analytics firm Quilty Space estimates that outside China, the world will fall about 150 launches short of satellite operator and civil space agency demand between now and 2030. The gap could double if US military needs are added and SpaceX does not extend Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy service. Contributing factors include Russian rockets leaving the Western market, soaring Amazon Leo demand, delays in new rockets such as New Glenn, Vulcan, Neutron, and Terran R, and the winding down of Falcon 9 for commercial customers. Starship could ease the crunch, but SpaceX has stopped promoting it as a commercial launcher and shows no sign of building a conventional payload fairing door, which means customers may need to design flat satellites to fit its dispenser. Quilty expects the shortage to peak in 2028, with Blue Origin’s New Glenn ramping up as a key relief valve.

On August 12, 2026, Heart Aerospace flew the largest battery-electric aircraft ever built for 27 minutes, on about $5 of electricity, and it still needed a runway. In Guangzhou, XPeng's aviation arm Aridge has opened a factory sized for 10,000 flying cars a year that need no runway at all. We break down the engineering behind eVTOLs, the battery physics holding them back, and who is actually winning the race.

JCB's Hydromax streamliner has set an FIA world land speed record for a hydrogen powered vehicle, averaging 653.909kph (406.320mph) at the Bonneville Salt Flats on 11 August 2026 with Andy Green driving. The two hydrogen combustion engines behind it share their architecture with the engine JCB now fits to its production diggers, so the run doubles as a durability showcase for the company's 100 million pound hydrogen programme. The previous record, 298.5kph, had stood since BMW's H2R set it in 2004.