THE TICKER[AI] Artificial Analysis still ranks Claude Fable 5.2 first on its Intelligence Index at 65 points, and Google's new Gemini 4 Hydrogen entered at 54.[AI] Thinking Machines Lab posted the open weights of its Inkling 2 Small model on Hugging Face, keeping last week's promise.[WILD] Samsung is in talks to buy Modine, which makes cooling systems for data centers, Bloomberg reports, and Modine's stock rose about 29% on Friday. Not investment advice.[WILD] Chip stocks fell Friday on worries about tighter oversight of chip sales to China: AMD dropped 8.8%, Nvidia 2% and the Nasdaq 0.9%. Not investment advice.[WILD] SK hynix and Intel are working on designs that let AI servers share one pool of memory, DIGITIMES reports.[WILD] xFusion, Huawei's former server business, won a Shenzhen exchange committee's approval for a $1.2 billion stock listing, Bloomberg reports. Not investment advice.[WILD] The IAEA's World Fusion Outlook counts a record $4.5 billion of new money for fusion power in the year to July 2026 and 26 planned fusion power plants.[LAUNCH] ULA moved Vulcan's return to flight with 40 Amazon Leo satellites to Saturday at 12:32 PM ET after a power cut at the plant that supplies nitrogen gas to its pad.[LAUNCH] A Senate spending panel proposed about $24.9 billion for NASA for the 2027 budget year.[ORBIT] Blue Origin is leaving NASA's contest to build private space stations to focus on the Moon, AIAA reports.[ORBIT] NASA satellite pictures show mangrove forests growing back around the world after decades of loss.[ORBIT] NASA says it will start judging new ways to bring Perseverance's Mars rock samples home in January.[ORBIT] NASA's Chandra X-ray telescope helped explain why an unstable star about 30 million light-years away keeps flaring up.[MED] Tandem Diabetes Care said the FDA cleared a tubeless way to wear its Mobi insulin pump, which adjusts insulin on its own from sensor readings.[MED] Rezolute said 13 of 16 patients met the goal in a Phase 3 trial of ersodetug, an antibody for tumors that drive blood sugar dangerously low.[MED] Windward Bio priced its Nasdaq stock listing at $17 a share, raising about $225 million. Not investment advice.[DEF] The Navy's top submarine official said maintenance delays fell from about 1,400 days a year to about 780 days in 2026.[DEF] Britain will buy three ships from Norway that carry robot boats to find sea mines, for £90 million, with the first due in 2031.[DEF] The Air Force adopted a new plan for its future forces that puts sensors, networks, AI and robot aircraft first.[POLICY] President Trump nominated two Republicans and two Democrats to the SEC and the CFTC, the agencies that police stocks and futures, including crypto.[POLICY] The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed updating the federal rule for car lights and signals so it fits vehicles driven by automated systems.[POLICY] The Justice Department and the CFTC sued Arkansas to stop the state's case against Kalshi, a prediction market.[POLICY] The Justice Department won court approval to seize $1.2 billion in crypto tied to North Korea's theft from Binance.[TOKEN] Kazakhstan plans to issue government bonds as blockchain tokens, likely in early 2027, officials said in Almaty. Not investment advice.[TOKEN] Thailand's securities regulator proposed capping stablecoin trades at 5 million baht, about $147,750, a day per customer on each exchange. Not investment advice.[TOKEN] Kraken's parent Payward said its xStocks tokenized shares passed $1 billion in October. Not investment advice.[TOKEN] Tokenized real-world assets slipped to $39.77 billion, from $39.84 billion on Thursday, per RWA.xyz. Not investment advice.
LONGEVITYLife expectancy gained +0.6 yearsEscape velocity, our estimate 2036SN DATAOrbital launches YTD 264Satellites this week 50Top AI score 65 (Claude Fable 5.2)Tokenized assets $39.8BNext launch in 1 day
Singularity Nightly

The future, explained every weeknight.

Evening Edition No. 15

Starship Reaches Orbit but Skips Its Booster Catch, the B-21 Drops Its First Weapon, and a New Bladder Cancer Treatment Wins Approval

Covers Thursday, November 12, 2026, 6:00 PM ET to Friday, November 13, 2026, 6:00 PM ET

Starship Flight 15 reaches orbit while its booster skips the tower catch and comes down in the Gulf, LangChain raises $300 million for AI agent tools, the Pentagon offers Rocket Lab a $150 million loan for its Neutron rocket, Commerce picks four companies to test a new permit for unusual space missions, Eve's air traffic software runs more than 100 helicopter flights in a day, the FDA approves Imfinzi with Padcev around bladder cancer surgery, the B-21 Raider releases its first weapon, Congress sets December hearings on AI chip sales to China, three central banks link tokenized and ordinary payment systems, and Statkraft switches on its first grid-forming battery.

Edited by Dennis W. Davis. AI-assisted; see How We Make This.

SpaceX's Starship lifting off on its 15th test flight from Starbase, Texas, on Nov. 13, 2026
SpaceX's Starship lifts off on its 15th test flight from Starbase, Texas, on Nov. 13, 2026. SpaceX

In 60 Seconds

  • SpaceX's Starship Flight 15 reached orbit Friday evening, but the giant booster called off its catch by the launch tower and came down in the Gulf of Mexico.
  • The Air Force's new B-21 Raider stealth bomber released a weapon for the first time in a test flight over California.
  • The FDA approved a two-drug treatment given before and after bladder cancer surgery that cut the risk of death by 42% in a big trial.
  • Congress set hearings in December on how Nvidia's AI chips reached China, and the Commerce Secretary agreed to testify.

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The whole dashboard

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Lead Signal

Starship reaches orbit on Flight 15, but the booster skips its tower catch

SpaceX's Starship lifting off on its 15th test flight from Starbase, Texas, on Nov. 13, 2026
SpaceX's Starship lifts off on its 15th test flight from Starbase, Texas, on Nov. 13, 2026. SpaceX

SpaceX launched Starship Flight 15 from Starbase, Texas, at about 5:47 PM ET on Friday, Space.com reports, hours after the FAA issued its license for the flight. Starship is the biggest rocket ever built, in two parts: the Super Heavy The first and largest stage of a rocket, which gives the push for liftoff. SpaceX and others now land their boosters and fly them again. In the Glossary, which does the first push, and the ship on top, which goes to space. This flight paired Booster 22 with Ship 42, carrying 26 SpaceX's satellite internet service, delivered by thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit to small dishes on homes, ships and planes. In the Glossary V3 internet satellites, Spaceflight Now reports. The plan was for the booster to fly back about 6.5 minutes after liftoff and be caught by the launch tower's two giant arms, nicknamed The two giant arms on SpaceX's launch tower that catch a returning Starship booster or ship. In the Glossary. Instead, Booster 22 called off the catch and came down in the Gulf of Mexico, CBS News reports. One of its 33 engines may have shut off early, and SpaceX has not said what caused the abort. Ship 42 reached orbit, where it was due to release its 26 satellites. If the ship stays healthy, it will circle Earth up to 14 times and fly home about 4:17 PM ET Saturday to try a tower catch of its own, which no ship has done before. Flight 14 on Sept. 28 was the first Starship to reach orbit. SpaceX's Dan Huot said on the webcast: "We'll dig in to what caused that abort."

The Desks

[AI] AI Models

LangChain raises $300 million to sell the tools that keep AI agents in line

Illustration of small robots on an assembly line watched by a dashboard
Small glowing robots moving along a tidy assembly line watched by a green dashboard. Illustration: Singularity Nightly (AI-generated)

LangChain, a company whose software helps businesses build AI software that takes actions on its own, such as making a payment or booking a trip, instead of only answering questions. In the Glossary, raised $300 million in a A company's third big round of money from outside investors, usually raised to grow fast. In the Glossary, a company's third big round of outside money, at a value of $3 billion, the company announced on Friday. An AI agent is an AI helper that carries out tasks on its own, such as answering customer emails or filling out forms. CapitalG, Alphabet's growth fund, led the round. LangChain was valued at $1.25 billion in October 2025 and has now raised $460 million in all, TechCrunch reports. More than 7,000 organizations, including Nvidia, Toyota and Salesforce, use its LangSmith product, which records what agents do so people can find their mistakes and fix them. The company says Workday cut the time to roll out an agent from five months to less than a day. CEO Harrison Chase wrote: "We believe agents will transform the economy." LangChain plans to show new LangSmith features on Nov. 20. Not investment advice.

[LAUNCH] Launches

The Pentagon offers Rocket Lab a $150 million loan to launch its Neutron rocket more often

The Neutron rocket's Hungry Hippo fairing arriving at Wallops Island, Virginia
The nose cone of Rocket Lab's Neutron rocket, nicknamed Hungry Hippo, arriving at Wallops Island, Virginia, in January 2026. Rocket Lab

The Pentagon's A Pentagon office that lends money to companies building technology the military needs. In the Glossary, which lends money to companies whose technology matters for defense, offered Rocket Lab a $150 million A loan that is promised but only paid out once the borrower meets set requirements, such as raising matching money. In the Glossary, Air & Space Forces Magazine reports. Conditional means Rocket Lab gets the money only after meeting financial, legal and technical terms. The loan is meant to help Rocket Lab launch Neutron, its new medium-sized rocket, more often once it starts flying, and the Pentagon said it "would reduce turnaround time between launches." Neutron's first flight slipped to 2027. It is built to carry 25 times as much as Rocket Lab's small Electron rocket, which has flown 18 times in 2026, and its first 16 missions are already booked. This is the office's third $150 million space loan in about three weeks.

[ORBIT] Satellites and Orbit

Commerce picks four companies to test a new permit for unusual space missions

Illustration of a satellite above the Moon with a green checkmark
A small satellite with a glowing green checkmark in orbit above the Moon. Illustration: Singularity Nightly (AI-generated)

The Commerce Department's Office of Space Commerce chose four companies to be the first to try its new Space Commerce Certification, the office announced. The certification is meant to give a clear legal path to approval for space missions that no existing rule covers, under Executive Order 14335. The four are Cowboy Space Corp. of San Carlos, California; Portal Space Systems of Bothell, Washington; SpaceMD, part of Redwire, of Chantilly, Virginia; and Starcloud of Redmond, Washington. They were picked from nearly 40 applicants with missions from The region of space from about 160 to 2,000 kilometers (100 to 1,200 miles) above Earth, where the International Space Station and most satellites fly. In the Glossary to the surface of the Moon and beyond, Via Satellite reports. The office plans to widen the program to repairing satellites in orbit, A building full of computers that store data and run online services. Data centers for AI use large amounts of electricity. In the Glossary in space and work on the Moon, with a public comment period to follow. Assistant Secretary of Commerce Taylor Jordan said: "We are ready to get their innovative capabilities to 'yes.'"

[AIR] Air Mobility

Eve's air traffic software runs more than 100 helicopter flights in a day at the São Paulo Grand Prix

Eve's electric air taxi prototype in a test flight in Brazil
Eve's electric air taxi prototype during a test flight in Brazil in July 2026, from the company's press images. Eve Air Mobility

Eve Air Mobility, the Embraer company building an electric A 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, said its Vector software managed helicopter traffic at a temporary helipad during the Formula 1 race weekend in São Paulo, Brazil, in a release published by Vertical. Vector handles Handing out takeoff and landing times so aircraft do not crowd the same place. In the Glossary, which means handing out takeoff and landing times so aircraft do not crowd the same pad. On Sunday, Nov. 8, it handled more than 100 flights, its busiest day at the event. Eve says it has orders for more than 2,700 aircraft from 28 customers in 10 countries, and its prototype has made more than 73 test flights. It plans to build six more aircraft for certification flying in 2027, and its factory in Taubaté can start at 120 aircraft a year. CEO Johann Bordais said it "demonstrates the full maturity of our solutions."

[MED] Medicine

The FDA approves Imfinzi with Padcev around bladder cancer surgery for patients who cannot take a common chemo

Illustration of two medicine drops beside a softly lit organ
Two glowing medicine drops guarding a softly lit organ shaped like a balloon. Illustration: Singularity Nightly (AI-generated)

The FDA approved AstraZeneca's Imfinzi, also called durvalumab, together with Padcev, also called enfortumab vedotin, for adults with Bladder cancer that has grown into the muscle wall of the bladder, which makes it more likely to spread. In the Glossary, cancer that has grown into the bladder's muscle wall, AstraZeneca announced on Friday. The approval is for patients who cannot take, or do not want, A strong, widely used chemotherapy drug that can harm the kidneys and hearing, so some patients cannot take it. In the Glossary, a strong chemotherapy that is hard on the kidneys. Patients get both drugs for three rounds before surgery to remove the bladder, then Imfinzi alone for up to nine rounds after. In the The 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 VOLGA trial of 695 patients at 182 hospitals in 25 countries, the risk of the cancer returning or getting worse fell 49%, and the risk of death fell 42%, CancerNetwork reports. After two years, 78% of patients on the new treatment were alive, against 69% on the comparison treatment. Serious side effects were more common, 64% against 44%. Another drug pair, Padcev with Keytruda, was already approved for these patients, so this adds a second choice. Dr. Jonathan Rosenberg of Memorial Sloan Kettering called it potentially "a new standard of care."

[DEF] Defense

The B-21 Raider stealth bomber releases its first weapon in a test flight

The B-21 Raider stealth bomber
The B-21 Raider, the Air Force's new stealth bomber, from Northrop Grumman's release on the start of weapons testing. U.S. Air Force

A B-21 Raider test aircraft flying from Edwards Air Force Base, California, released a conventional, meaning non-nuclear, weapon in flight last week, Northrop Grumman announced on Friday. The B-21 is the Air Force's newest A large military plane shaped and coated to be very hard for radar to see. In the Glossary, a plane built to be very hard for radar to see. The Air Force did not say what weapon was dropped or the exact date, DefenseScoop reports. It said the test followed thousands of hours of practice on a A detailed computer copy of a real machine or system, used to test it without risk. In the Glossary, a detailed computer copy of the aircraft. The first bombers are due at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota, in 2027, and Northrop says it finished Bending and loading a structure over and over to see how it holds up over years of use. In the Glossary, which checks how the airframe holds up over years of flying, months early. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ken Wilsbach said the test "proves the B-21 program is excelling."

[POLICY] Law and Policy

Congress sets December hearings on how AI chips reached China, and the Commerce Secretary agrees to testify

A Senate committee hearing room in the Dirksen Senate Office Building
A Senate committee hearing room in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, where the Senate Banking Committee meets. Architect of the Capitol

Senate Banking Committee The person who leads a company's board of directors, the group that oversees the CEO. In the Glossary Tim Scott asked former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to appear at a public hearing on Dec. 3 and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Dec. 10, and said the committee could use A legal order that forces someone to testify or hand over documents. In the Glossary, legal orders to appear, Decrypt reports. Lutnick agreed on Thursday night to appear voluntarily, NBC News reported. In the House, three committee chairs sent a second letter asking Huang for a closed-door interview on Dec. 1 and Nvidia's top lawyer for Dec. 2, and gave them until 8:00 PM ET Friday to agree in writing or face a subpoena. The Commerce Department official in charge of A government rule that requires a license before certain goods or technology can be shipped to another country. In the Glossary, the rules that limit which technology can be sold abroad, was invited to a hearing on Dec. 3. Separately, Reuters found more than $3.2 billion of Chinese data center projects whose paperwork names Nvidia A tiny slice of material, usually silicon, carved with billions of switches that let a device compute and store information. Chips run everything from phones to AI data centers. In the Glossary that cannot legally be sold to China, AI Weekly reports, though paperwork does not prove the chips were installed. And a former OpenAI researcher found traces in public Chinese A 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 suggesting they were trained on banned Nvidia Blackwell chips, possibly in data centers outside China, TechCrunch reports. Scott wrote: "The American people deserve answers."

[TOKEN] Tokenized Assets

Three central banks show tokenized and ordinary payment systems can settle currency trades together

Illustration of two ledgers joined by a bright thread
Two glowing ledgers joined by a bright thread, with coins crossing between them at the same moment. Illustration: Singularity Nightly (AI-generated)

The Bank of England, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Bank of Thailand published the results of Project Meridian FX, a test of settling foreign currency trades across different kinds of payment systems, the Bank of England announced on Friday. In a currency trade, one bank sends pounds and the other sends baht, and the danger is that one side pays and the other does not. The test used A way to settle a currency trade where both sides pay at the same moment, or neither does. In the Glossary, a method where both sides settle at the same moment or neither does, across central bank systems and tokenized ones built on blockchain-style ledgers, The Block reports. Partior, a bank-owned payments company, built the piece that keeps both systems in step. The central banks of Australia and the Philippines watched. The policy report lists open questions on legal finality, who is liable when something breaks, and sharing data across borders, and the Bank of England plans a live link in 2028. Tom Mutton of the Bank of England said "innovation has the greatest impact when it addresses real world challenges." Not investment advice.

[WILD] Wildcard

Statkraft switches on its first grid-forming battery in Scotland

Statkraft's Neilston Greener Grid Park in Scotland
At Statkraft's Neilston Greener Grid Park in Scotland, home of its first grid-forming battery, from the company's press images. Statkraft

Statkraft, Norway's state-owned power company, said its first A battery that can help set the steady rhythm of the power grid instead of only following it. In the Glossary is now running at Neilston Greener Grid Park near Glasgow, Scotland, in a release on Friday. Most batteries follow the rhythm of the power grid. A grid-forming battery can help set that rhythm, the steady 50 beats a second of Britain's electricity, a job that used to need big spinning machines in coal and gas plants. That matters as wind and solar replace those plants. Statkraft says it has more than 2 One billion watts, roughly the electricity a mid-size city uses. In the Glossary of battery and grid-steadying projects in Britain and Ireland, and renewables recently reached a record 55.8% of Britain's electricity. The release did not give the battery's size. Barbara Flesche, who leads Statkraft in Europe, said it shows "what the next phase of the energy transition looks like."

Watch

Play video: Matthew Berman (Nov. 9), in case you missed it: a hands-on look at Anthropic's Claude Fable 5.2 and how it does on hard tasks (opinion).
Matthew Berman (Nov. 9), in case you missed it: a hands-on look at Anthropic's Claude Fable 5.2 and how it does on hard tasks (opinion). Watch on YouTube
Play video: Moonshots with Peter Diamandis, live episode: the hosts talk about Jensen Huang leaving Nvidia (opinion).
Moonshots with Peter Diamandis, live episode: the hosts talk about Jensen Huang leaving Nvidia (opinion). Watch on YouTube

Disclosure: Singularity Nightly is drafted with help from Anthropic's Claude. We cover Anthropic like any other company.

Voices

  • Dr. Alexander Wissner-Gross, on Nvidia's leadership change: "The point where human and machine intelligence converge, and together set off advances so fast and so large that nobody can picture what comes after. Ray Kurzweil, who popularized the idea, frames it as people merging with the intelligence they build. In the Glossary just deposed its own arms dealer." source (opinion)
  • Elon Musk, on Friday morning before Flight 15: "Starship 42 preparing for launch." source (opinion)

By the Numbers

  • 26: Starlink satellites aboard Starship Flight 15, which reached orbit. Spaceflight Now
  • 264: orbital launch attempts worldwide in 2026, counting Starship Flight 15. Launch Library 2
  • 42%: lower risk of death with Imfinzi and Padcev in the VOLGA trial. CancerNetwork
  • 695: patients in the VOLGA trial. AstraZeneca
  • $300 million: LangChain's new round, at a $3 billion value. LangChain Not investment advice.
  • $150 million: the loan offered to Rocket Lab for Neutron. Air & Space Forces
  • 100+: helicopter flights Eve's software handled in one day. Vertical
  • $3.2 billion: Chinese data center projects whose paperwork names restricted Nvidia chips. AI Weekly
  • 55.8%: record share of Britain's electricity from renewables. Statkraft
  • $39.77 billion: tokenized In 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, excluding A 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. RWA.xyz Not investment advice.

Tomorrow's Watchlist

  • Fri Nov. 13: the House deadline for Jensen Huang and Nvidia to agree in writing to interviews, 8:00 PM ET; a Russian Soyuz launches the Kinosputnik satellite, about 8:16 PM ET.
  • Sat Nov. 14: Rocket Lab's Electron launches a radar satellite for iQPS, 12:30 AM ET; ULA's Vulcan returns to flight with 40 Amazon Leo satellites, 12:32 PM ET; Starship's Ship 42 tries its tower catch, about 4:17 PM ET, if it stays healthy in orbit; FDA decision due on Summit's lung cancer drug ivonescimab; ObesityWeek opens in Washington, D.C.
  • Sun Nov. 15: China's comment period on export controls for AI models closes; the SC26 supercomputing conference opens.
  • Tue Nov. 17: Nvidia reports quarterly results at about 4:20 PM ET; a Falcon 9 launches USSF-317 from Vandenberg, 10:14 PM ET.
  • Wed Nov. 18: Anthropic's The first time a private company sells its shares to the public on a stock exchange. After it, anyone with a brokerage account can buy a piece of the company. In the Glossary is expected to price; Modine holds its investor day.
  • Fri Nov. 20: LangChain shows new LangSmith features.