New spaceX investor 1: -Look, SpaceX is launching the ultimate d2c satellites, a whole stack of them ON NEXT LAUNCH! New spaceX investor 2: -Great! I knew it. v2, right? New spaceX investor 1: -No. Block2, they’re called Block2. $ASTS

fcc.gov/ecfs/document/106130… The representatives described the process Grain would initiate, in which Grain would seek to make its 800 MHz spectrum available for rapid deployment of direct-to-device (“D2D”) service throughout the US. $ASTS HT: @no_privacy

$ASTS: Rakuten may have sold 1/2 their stake in ASTS to fund J-LEO. “J-LEO is a competitive bid with government subsidy (up to half the cost; winner matches the rest via private investment).” In addition: “Only consortia with proven DTC capability for high-bandwidth video calls to unmodified phones by 2029 are realistic contenders.” According to Grok: I foresee Rakuten Mobile AST SpaceMobile winning (or a structure heavily favoring their consortium). The project’s explicit focus on Japanese autonomy/sovereignty, combined with AST’s superior demonstrated broadband DTC performance on unmodified phones and Rakuten’s local anchoring/spectrum fit, outweighs Starlink’s scale advantages for this sovereign national initiative. NFA

Source: Seeking Alpha share.google/DILwO9X9Gz0Ehh0…

$ASTS - AST SpaceMobile could be awarded $1 billion this month 👀 "one operator is expected to be selected around the end of June" The J-LEO Project is a massive Japanese government initiative aimed at building an autonomous, domestic satellite network to allow smartphone-to-satellite connectivity. Backed by a substantial $1 billion budget through the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), the program focuses on: * Providing direct-to-smartphone communication (DTC).Ensuring that vital satellite ground infrastructure is physically located in Japan for national security and autonomy. * Guaranteeing free emergency services (SMS, data, and voice) during national disasters. Currently, two major consortiums are competing for the project: Rakuten Mobile partnering with AST SpaceMobile KDDI partnering with SpaceX. Exciting times.

Newly released satellite imagery confirm the destruction of a U.S. AN/TPS-59 air and missile defense early warning radar as a result of the Iranian attack on the Jabal al Dukhan Radar Site in Bahrain on June 11, 2026.

Trust in autonomy isn't built all at once, it’s earned over time through certifiable, measurable performance. Autopilot and fly-by-wire were both questioned initially, and today, they’re standard. Merlin is taking the same incremental approach. When @CNN's @petemuntean, a pilot and self-described control freak, climbed into the cockpit at our Quonset facility, Merlin Pilot executed a fully automated takeoff, took natural language commands in coordination with the Quonset tower, flew the route, and brought the aircraft back to an automated landing. That instinct to stay in control is the same one that has kept aviation safe for a century. We understand it, and it's also why we're building Merlin Pilot as a safety-enhancing system alongside the pilot: taking on workload, improving consistency, and acting as a constant cross-check. People won’t trust autonomy because we tell them to. They’ll trust it because it performs. Read our latest blog post. merlinlabs.com/news/hands-of…

$ASTS There are almost 0 available shares to short on IBKR currently. For reference, there were 1,029,352 at open today.

$ASTS market will connect the dots, eventually

$ASTS there is no world where $ASTS should be at this support level on SpaceX IPO day This is where you take advantage.

$MRLN trying to push off support. If it holds this can try to push back up towards $10 in the short term and form a stronger base *NFA

$ASTS a scheduled launch date is exciting. But what will be more exciting for me is if a second batch is shipped before the end of the month. I would see that as proof that their production is ramped up and efficient. I want there to be a hoard of bluebirds ready to get launched, so as soon as a seat opens up, they can fill it.

$MRLN Most folks underestimate the capability to work in GPS denied enviroment. If that is really one of the features on Merlin Pilot then I am saying again, what I have said before. The implications are bigger than you think. Contracts are probably right around the corner.

$MRLN alpha most people can’t see: the flight log. Merlin’s entire job is certifying cockpit autonomy. The verification stage of that (SOI 3) can only be cleared by flying the test campaign. So the real tell isn’t press releases. It’s sorties. We track every cert-candidate tail on ADS-B. The signal: → Nov–Mar: ~0.5–1 sortie/day. Quiet. → April: jumps to 1.9/day, exactly as management cleared SOI 1 2 and flew its first automated takeoffs. → May: 2.1/day. → June (first 8 days): 3.3/day. 58% over May. The verification campaign isn’t plateauing. It’s accelerating, and it’s NZ-led out of Kerikeri, the exact site they’re guiding for 2027 commercial launch. Test flying is the leading indicator for SOI 3, and SOI 3 is the last gate before final compliance sign-off. This is what “approaching the final phases” looks like in raw data, weeks before it ever hits a filing. Watch the sortie rate. Not advice.

RT @MerlinAero: In 2022, we built our facility in Kerikeri, New Zealand with a clear goal: to be the first company to fly a traditionally c…

What if the greatest opportunity in aviation isn't a new airframe but a smarter cockpit? Merlin CTO Tim Burns explores that question in @FortuneMagazine. Tim makes the case that autonomy isn't about replacing pilots. It's about giving them a new kind of crew member: one embedded within the aircraft itself that doesn't get tired, can't have a bad day, and can absorb the repetitive, cognitively demanding tasks that pull crews away from what matters most. The opportunity extends beyond efficiency. As adversaries rapidly scale autonomous systems of their own, integrating trusted autonomy into defense operations is becoming a national security imperative. Read the full piece in Fortune here. fortune.com/2026/06/09/auton…

AST SpaceMobile Announces Launch Date for BlueBird Satellites 8, 9, and 10 businesswire.com/news/home/2…

$MRLN this morning: shorts ate ~330k of borrow in 90 minutes and paid up from ~45% to 110% to do it. Fee’s now ~140%, highest the ticker’s ever printed. June 18 OI is stacked nearly 10:1 calls: 6,955 open at the $10 strike vs 1,177 puts at $7.5. Stock’s pinned at $8 - right on the put wall, call wall at $10 overhead. Something gives before the 18th.

Erin Staine-Pyne, Merlin's General Manager of Mobility, spent 27 years in the Air Force flying the C-130 and C-17. In her latest blog post, she makes the case for why the C-130J is one of the most ideal platforms in the world for autonomy. As she shares, the aircraft executes clandestine missions for Special Operations Forces, lands on dirt strips blacked out at night, and pivots from combat logistics to humanitarian relief, all within the same airframe. Few aircraft experience the same level of operational variability, complexity, and crew workload. We believe that autonomy's greatest near-term value on a platform like this is reducing workload, increasing situational awareness, and improving safety when it matters most so crews can focus on the mission and come home safely. Read the blog post here. merlinlabs.com/news/why-the-…

JP MORGAN HAS RAISED IT’S TESLA PRICE TRAGET TO $475 FROM $145 THIS IS AFTER THE BANK WAS CHOSEN BY ELON MUSK TO BE PART OF THE SPACX AND EARN 100’S OF MILLIONS IN FEES I HOPE PEOPLE CAN SEE THRU THIS BS $TSLA