The Moon Plan Resets, AI Pays for Rockets, and a New Way to Stop Hepatitis B

The Ticker

• [LAUNCH] Seven orbital launches this week, all successful, from the U.S., China, Japan and New Zealand. source
  Why it matters

  rockets now fly almost daily somewhere on Earth, which is what keeps satellite internet, GPS and weather data running.

• [LAUNCH] Japan's H3 rocket sent the MMX probe toward Mars on Oct. 19; it plans to land on the moon Phobos no earlier than December 2028 and bring samples home in 2031. source
  Why it matters

  a piece of a Martian moon could reach scientists on Earth within five years.

• [ORBIT] A Falcon 9 rideshareA rocket launch that carries many satellites from different customers at once, like a shared ride, which lowers the cost for each of them. In the Glossary flight on Oct. 20 carried 32 payloads, including two capsules designed to make products in orbit and bring them back. source
  Why it matters

  factories in space could one day make certain medicines and materials that are hard to make under gravity.

• [ORBIT] Falcon 9 lifted 27 StarlinkSpaceX's satellite internet service, delivered by thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit to small dishes on homes, ships and planes. In the Glossary internet satellites from California on Oct. 23 after three scrubs; its booster flew for the 36th time. source
  Why it matters

  a rocket that flies 36 times works more like an airplane than a firework, which is the main reason launches have gotten cheaper.

• [ORBIT] Perseverance passed 45 km driven on Mars, a record for any vehicle on another world. source
  Why it matters

  that is about 28 miles, crossed by remote control from roughly 140 million miles away.

• [ORBIT] NASA ended the Swift space telescope's mission after 22 years of watching cosmic explosions. source
  Why it matters

  older science satellites are being retired as new ones take over.

• [AI] Moonshot AI's Kimi K3.1 Pro scored 55 on the Artificial Analysis Intelligence IndexA combined score from Artificial Analysis, an independent testing company, that ranks AI models across many reasoning, knowledge, math and coding tests. Higher is better. In the Glossary, fourth best overall; its makers say open weightsAn AI model whose trained settings, called weights, are published so anyone can download it and run it on their own computers. It is like publishing the recipe, not just selling the dish. In the Glossary ship by Nov. 4. source
  Why it matters

  when a model anyone can download comes close to the best paid ones, AI tools get cheaper for everyone.

• [AI] OpenAI's newest models went into preview on Google Cloud, so businesses there can now pick OpenAI, Anthropic or Google models in one place. source
  Why it matters

  more competition between AI providers usually means lower prices in the apps you use.

• [AI] OpenAI described a two-month effort to fix two critical security flaws in PHP, software that runs a large share of websites; an AI modelA computer program trained on large amounts of data to recognize patterns and produce answers, text, images or actions. Chatbots such as ChatGPT and Claude run on AI models. In the Glossary helped find one of them. source
  Why it matters

  AI is now finding serious security holes; this time defenders found them first, and patches are out.

• [AI] Anthropic opened a research preview of Claude Duet, an assistant that works on tasks on its own in a browser. source
  Why it matters

  AI is moving from answering questions to doing errands and chores on a computer for you.

• [AI] DeepSeek released V4.1 Flash as open weights on Oct. 17 and opened web search tools for developers. source
  Why it matters

  Chinese labs keep releasing free models that compete with U.S. ones, which pressures prices worldwide.

• [AI] Inception launched Mercury 3, a model that writes text in a different way than most chatbots and claims more than 1,000 words of output per second. source
  Why it matters

  faster AI means answers that feel instant, at lower cost.

• [MED] FDA approved Hibsago, the first drug of its kind for chronic hepatitis B; in trials, 19% of patients kept the virus in check 24 weeks after stopping all treatment. source
  Why it matters

  most people with hepatitis B take pills for life; this offers some a chance to stop.

• [MED] FDA granted accelerated approvalA faster FDA path that lets a drug for a serious illness reach patients based on early signs that it works, as long as later studies confirm the benefit. In the Glossary to the immunotherapyA treatment that helps the body's own immune system find and fight disease, most often cancer. In the Glossary Jemperli for a genetic subtype of rectal cancer; 68% of patients had no visible cancer after 12 months. source
  Why it matters

  for these patients, a drug may replace surgery that can change daily life permanently.

• [MED] Merck and Moderna reported that their personalized melanoma vaccine, given with immunotherapy, lowered the risk of the cancer returning, or death, by 42% in a Phase 3 trialThe last and largest stage of testing a new treatment in people before a company asks regulators to approve it. It usually involves hundreds or thousands of patients. In the Glossary. source
  Why it matters

  a vaccine built from a patient's own tumor is closer to becoming a standard cancer treatment.

• [MED] FDA launched a neuroscience program whose first project aims to speed up treatments that prevent Alzheimer's. source
  Why it matters

  the focus is shifting from treating memory loss to stopping it before it starts.

• [AIR] BETA Technologies received the first FAA certificate letting an electric air taxiA small aircraft, usually an eVTOL, meant to carry a few passengers on short trips across or between cities, booked much like a ride-hailing car. In the Glossary fly demonstration trips for prospective customers; its first trip crossed Lake Champlain in 20 minutes. source
  Why it matters

  it is a step toward air taxis, not a service you can book yet.

• [AIR] Archer mapped planned air taxi routes linking Dallas and Fort Worth, Houston and Austin. source
  Why it matters

  these are plans; they show where flights could start once the FAA signs off.

• [DEF] The Pentagon and Lockheed Martin agreed on a 10-year framework to build 850 F-35 fighters for the U.S.; Congress still has to approve it. source
  Why it matters

  long contracts usually lower the price per jet, which is taxpayer money.

• [DEF] The Pentagon's drone competition ended with orders for 60,000 small attack drones from nine companies, according to Defence Blog. source
  Why it matters

  militaries are shifting from a few expensive weapons to many cheap ones.

• [POLICY] Homeland Security ordered DeepSeek's AI products removed from federal civilian agencies' systems. source
  Why it matters

  the government is treating some foreign AI apps as security risks; the order covers federal systems, not your phone.

• [POLICY] Treasury proposed rules barring U.S. investment in advanced chips, quantum computingA computer that uses the rules of quantum physics to solve certain problems, such as breaking some codes or simulating molecules, far faster than ordinary computers. Today's machines are still small and make many errors. In the Glossary and certain AI in China and other countries of concern; comments are due Dec. 7. source
  Why it matters

  it limits where American money can help build advanced technology abroad.

• [TOKEN] The U.S. bank regulator OCC finalized its rule for stablecoinsA digital token designed to stay worth a fixed amount, usually one U.S. dollar, backed by cash and safe assets such as Treasury bills. In the Glossary under the GENIUS ActThe 2025 U.S. law that sets federal rules for stablecoins, including that every coin be backed one for one by cash or similar safe reserves. In the Glossary; it takes effect Jan. 18, 2027. source Not investment advice.
  Why it matters

  digital dollars issued by banks now have a clear federal rulebook, which is meant to make them safer to hold.

• [TOKEN] Tokenized real-world assetsIn blockchain finance, a traditional asset that exists outside the blockchain, such as a Treasury bill, a loan or a building, represented by a token on one. Often shortened to RWA. In the Glossary, such as government bonds recorded on blockchains, reached $39.02 billion, not counting stablecoins. source Not investment advice.
  Why it matters

  traditional investments are slowly moving onto blockchain systems that settle around the clock.

• [WILD] Tesla said its first production-quality Optimus humanoid robotsA robot built in roughly human shape, with arms, hands and often legs, so it can work in places and with tools designed for people. In the Glossary are coming off its Fremont, California lines; it gave no production rate. source
  Why it matters

  humanoid robots are moving from demos toward real factory work, though no one can buy one from Tesla yet.

• [WILD] Agility Robotics said it has more than $300 million in multi-year orders for its Digit humanoid and is expanding its Pittsburgh site. source
  Why it matters

  companies are paying real money for robots that move boxes and parts in warehouses.

• [WILD] Commonwealth Fusion Systems signed an $85 million letter of intent with the Commerce Department for fusion-related chip research. source
  Why it matters

  fusion, the power source of the Sun, is still years from your power bill, but government money is backing the work.

• [WILD] The Nuclear Regulatory Commission finalized a rule letting test data from government reactor demonstrations support commercial license applications. source
  Why it matters

  it could shorten the path for new small nuclear plantsA nuclear power plant much smaller than a traditional one, designed to be built mostly in a factory and put together on site. In the Glossary, which AI data centersA building full of computers that store data and run online services. Data centers for AI use large amounts of electricity. In the Glossary want for power.