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Elon Musk's SpaceX launch could trigger sonic booms across Southern California, officials warn

Elon Musk's SpaceX launch could trigger sonic booms across Southern California, officials warn

Time of Indiaa day ago
Officials have issued a warning that residents in California's Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties may hear one or more sonic booms roughly eight minutes after
SpaceX
's Falcon 9 launch on Tuesday, July 22, 2025. The loud, thunder-like sounds are expected as the rocket's first stage makes its high-speed return to Earth and attempts a landing at SpaceX's Landing Zone 4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base. While potentially startling, the booms are harmless and a routine feature of SpaceX's reusable rocket system. The launch, scheduled for 11:13 a.m. PDT, will carry NASA's TRACERS mission and three additional payloads into orbit during a 57-minute launch window.
SpaceX to launch NASA's TRACERS mission aboard Falcon 9 from Vandenberg
The upcoming mission will launch from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base. Falcon 9 will carry NASA's TRACERS satellites (Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites), designed to study the interaction between solar wind and Earth's magnetosphere. This data is expected to improve scientific understanding of space weather and its effects on satellite communications and Earth's atmosphere. Alongside TRACERS, three smaller research satellites will also hitch a ride into orbit.
Why Falcon 9's return causes sonic booms
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Sonic booms occur when a vehicle travels faster than the speed of sound, creating shock waves that reach the ground as loud, abrupt noises. In SpaceX launches, the Falcon 9 booster separates from the upper stage shortly after liftoff and performs a controlled descent back to Earth. As it slows down and lands vertically at Landing Zone 4, it breaks the sound barrier, resulting in one or more sonic booms. These booms may vary in intensity depending on weather conditions and flight trajectory.
Residents advised not to panic
Officials have emphasized that these sounds are expected and are no cause for concern. The booms are not harmful and are a byproduct of SpaceX's innovative reusable rocket technology, which has become a standard part of its missions. Past launches have triggered similar public alerts to avoid alarm when sonic booms occur.
How to follow the launch of TRACERS mission
NASA and SpaceX will provide live coverage of the launch event on their respective websites and social media platforms. Local authorities may also issue real-time updates or reminders to residents in affected areas. In the event of a delay, a backup launch window is available on Wednesday, July 23, at the same time.
As Southern California braces for a brief rumble from above, the mission marks yet another step forward in understanding the space environment that surrounds our planet.
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Has the pecking order changed for the IT majors? Kumar Rakesh explains
Has the pecking order changed for the IT majors? Kumar Rakesh explains

Time of India

time41 minutes ago

  • Time of India

Has the pecking order changed for the IT majors? Kumar Rakesh explains

Kumar Rakesh , Associate Director- Equity Research, BNP Paribas , highlights the Indian IT sector's resilience over three decades. Despite challenges like the dotcom bubble and Covid, it has consistently grown. While Gen AI presents opportunities, its impact will vary across companies. Infosys and Persistent Systems are early leaders, leveraging partnerships and AI capabilities. With respect to Infosys, what are you building in and with respect to the commentary, which are going to be the key monitorables for you? Kumar Rakesh: For Infosys we are building relatively stronger growth. In the context of the rest of the IT services, we think Infosys will outperform the larger pack. We are building more than 2% sequential constant currency growth for the company this quarter, which will be partly helped by the acquisition they have done. About 40 bps of growth is coming in from that. But even excluding that, on an organic basis, we are expecting them to report a healthy 1.6-1.7% sequential growth and that is partly on a very low base of the last quarter. The fourth quarter for Infosys was quite weak and hence coming from a low base, it should see a pick-up in growth. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category MBA Management Digital Marketing Design Thinking Project Management Technology Degree others Product Management Others Finance Artificial Intelligence healthcare Healthcare Public Policy MCA Data Science Data Science Leadership Cybersecurity Operations Management CXO Data Analytics PGDM Skills you'll gain: Financial Management Team Leadership & Collaboration Financial Reporting & Analysis Advocacy Strategies for Leadership Duration: 18 Months UMass Global Master of Business Administration (MBA) Starts on May 13, 2024 Get Details Skills you'll gain: Analytical Skills Financial Literacy Leadership and Management Skills Strategic Thinking Duration: 24 Months Vellore Institute of Technology VIT Online MBA Starts on Aug 14, 2024 Get Details by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like When the Camera Clicked at the Worst Possible Time Read More Undo From the management commentary perspective, this earning season started with TCS results and sparked off the debate on whether the IT services demand has started seeing a material hit and the possibility of Indian IT services companies seeing a bigger impact compared to some of the larger peers because the commentary which was coming in from the global peers was far more stable demand environment. Through the earning season we have seen that the commentary largely converges towards a stable demand environment. and we would look out for a similar commentary from Infosys as well, that the demand environment continues to be stable. Obviously the guidance as well built in the commentary and the guidance the company is going to give will be the key focus. What is the pecking order right now from the earnings that have come by? It was always TCS up there and then Infosys and then the rest? Has it changed at all after TCS and Wipro's earnings? Kumar Rakesh: At the start of this month as with our preview, we had shifted our preference to Infosys over TCS. Part of the reason was that we do see that TCS has some of the client specific issues that they will have a more lumpy performance. That being said, TCS valuation continues to look very attractive and hence there is a downside support in the TCS valuation. That being said, from an outperformance perspective, Infosys could be a preferred pick partly because of valuation, but more importantly because of the growth outperformance that the company can deliver compared to most of the other largecaps peers in the sector. Live Events You Might Also Like: IT companies tighten belt as AI, macro headwinds squeeze biz margins The margin also seems to be relatively more stable. We will have to watch out how that goes out today as they report, but our expectation would be that Infosys earnings growth will be among the highest this year compared to most of the other largecaps. In terms of the verdict that we have seen across the board from largecap IT companies , so far we have either seen a miss versus estimates or inline, nothing positive. When do you see this trend reversing because of the guidance that some of the companies have given? It does say that by the end of FY26, they can expect some improvement in margins. When do you see this turnaround coming about? Kumar Rakesh: You are right as the general performance in this quarter has been quite mixed, largely a disappointment on growth as well as margin for many of the companies. A lot depends on the macro, how the US macroeconomic environment starts shaping up. There is a fair degree of uncertainty. A lot of tariff related deals are yet to be signed and that continues to elevate the uncertainty especially in verticals related to retail, CPG, and manufacturing, especially automotive within manufacturing and hence those verticals could take longer to start showing any recovery. The good news is that the BFSI vertical continues to remain quite resilient. Some of the companies even called out that even discretionary spending in that vertical seems to be there and hence that is one vertical which will continue to drive the growth for the next couple of quarters. Technology services is another vertical which seems to have bottomed out and started showing good results. These are the two verticals which we would expect to start driving growth and as the macro starts improving, the trade deal starts getting signed, and the uncertainty starts coming down, hopefully by the end of this financial year we would expect the rest of the verticals also to start showing recovery. You Might Also Like: Europe revival helps IT survive quarter shocks Once that happens, the FY27 essentially becomes the recovery year which is where investors will start focusing on that this financial year will largely be a low single-digit growth year but can we get to the mid-single-digit sort of a growth in FY27 and if that happens, then the interest will start coming back into IT. The other debate that is going on is with respect to the AI transition because some experts believe that for Indian IT companies they have managed to get hold of the latest in technology and this can hold true yet again as well. Help us analyse your take on how Indian IT companies are expected to win this particular race. Do you believe that Indian companies are well versed to go ahead and adapt this particular technology and also which companies can actually be the early winners over here? Kumar Rakesh: We agree that if you go back over the last two-three decades starting from the mainframe transition, then the digital technologies came, a lot of SaaS players also came in the market. Through all those transitions the expectation was that the Indian IT services industry will take a hit but that did not happen. Over the last three decades, we have never seen Indian IT services industry's revenue to decline on a year-on-year basis, and so that is quite a resilient performance and during this period of time we have seen the dotcom bubble, the global financial crisis, multiple macroeconomic challenges in Europe and US and the Covid. Through all these phases, the Indian IT services industry has shown quite a strong resilience in its performance. We also believe it is a quite resilient industry. That being said, while we believe that on the Gen AI side, it would be net neutral to net positive for the industry, there would be some, who would be a bigger beneficiary and there could be some companies that could see a negative impact as well. It's a little too early to start calling out who would be negatively impacted but there are some companies who have started taking some initial lead in terms of building capability on Gen AI and also participating in clients' transformation on the Gen AI journey. Infosys is one of those companies. They have done a fair bit of work. Their partnership with some of the global Gen AI leading hardware companies as well as their own capability on the small language model which they are building seems to be quite promising. The other company which stands out is Persistent Systems that is doing a fair degree of work on Gen AI and some degree of that decoupling between the employee growth and revenue growth is already visible in that company. So, these are a couple of companies which have already started showing some initial signs of leadership outperformance from the Gen AI side and we are closely tracking that.

Infosys Q1 Results: Profit rises 9% YoY to Rs 6,921 crore, revenue up 8%
Infosys Q1 Results: Profit rises 9% YoY to Rs 6,921 crore, revenue up 8%

Time of India

timean hour ago

  • Time of India

Infosys Q1 Results: Profit rises 9% YoY to Rs 6,921 crore, revenue up 8%

India's second largest IT services exporter Infosys reported 9% year-on-year (YoY) growth in its consolidated net profit at Rs 6,921 crore for the first quarter ended June. Revenue from operations rose 8% YoY to Rs 42,279 crore. The Bengaluru-based company has upped its lower end of revenue growth guidance, which is pegged at 1-3% in constant currency for FY26. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Artificial Intelligence Design Thinking Digital Marketing PGDM Data Analytics Project Management MBA Finance Cybersecurity others MCA Public Policy CXO Healthcare Technology healthcare Others Management Degree Data Science Product Management Data Science Leadership Operations Management Skills you'll gain: Duration: 7 Months S P Jain Institute of Management and Research CERT-SPJIMR Exec Cert Prog in AI for Biz India Starts on undefined Get Details by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Victoria Principal Is Almost 75, See Her Now Reportingly Undo "Our performance in Q1 demonstrates the strength of our enterprise AI capabilities, the success in client consolidation decisions, and the dedication of our over 300,000 employees," said Salil Parekh, CEO and MD, Infosys. Revenues in constant currency (CC) terms grew by 3.8% YoY and by 2.6% QoQ in the first quarter. The company had won deals worth $3.8 billion in the said period. "Our large deal wins reflect our distinct competitive positioning and deep client relationships," Parekh said. Live Events More to come...

Jeff Bezos could sideline Elon Musk for $175 billion Golden Dome project: Why Donald Trump is looking for alternatives to SpaceX
Jeff Bezos could sideline Elon Musk for $175 billion Golden Dome project: Why Donald Trump is looking for alternatives to SpaceX

Time of India

timean hour ago

  • Time of India

Jeff Bezos could sideline Elon Musk for $175 billion Golden Dome project: Why Donald Trump is looking for alternatives to SpaceX

The Trump administration is actively seeking alternatives to Elon Musk 's SpaceX for the ambitious Golden Dome missile defence system, a project envisioned to cost around $175 billion. This shift is largely driven by a deteriorating relationship between former President Trump and Musk, culminating in a public fallout in June. While SpaceX was initially a top contender, the administration is now broadening its search for partners, including Jeff Bezos 's Amazon Project Kuiper , to reduce reliance on a single entity for such a critical national defence initiative. Deteriorating relationship between Donald Trump and Elon Musk The core reason for the search for alternatives stems from a significant souring of relations between Donald Trump and Elon Musk. This public dispute, which occurred on June 5, prompted the administration to reassess its strategy for the Golden Dome project . While the exact details of the fallout are not fully disclosed, the tension has clearly impacted SpaceX's previously strong position as a leading partner for the missile shield. Reducing over-reliance on a single partner Even before the recent public spat, officials within the Pentagon and the White House had begun exploring alternatives to SpaceX. There was a growing concern about being overly dependent on a single company, no matter how capable, for large portions of an ambitious and vital space-based defense system. Diversifying partners is a strategic move to ensure greater security and resilience for the Golden Dome project. The rise of Project Kuiper as an alternative Jeff Bezos's Amazon Project Kuiper is now being actively courted by the Pentagon to join the Golden Dome effort. Kuiper aims to deploy a constellation of 3,000 low-Earth orbit satellites, and while primarily commercial, Bezos has acknowledged its potential defense applications, such as aiding missile tracking and communications. This signals the administration's willingness to integrate commercial technology firms into national defense infrastructure, moving beyond traditional defense contractors. Other contenders and strategic diversification Beyond Project Kuiper, the Trump administration is also engaging with traditional defense giants, including Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and L3Harris, to support the Golden Dome. These companies are being considered for their expertise in areas like missile warning and tracking technologies, as well as space-based interceptors. Newer, nimbler Silicon Valley firms like Palantir and Anduril, which have ties to Trump, were also considered early frontrunners before the Musk-Trump feud reshaped the competitive landscape. SpaceX's continued role and Musk's stance Despite the tensions, SpaceX's extensive track record of launching over 9,000 Starlink satellites and its experience in government procurement mean it still holds an "inside track" for significant portions of the Golden Dome, particularly launch contracts. However, Elon Musk himself has stated that SpaceX has "not tried to bid for any contract in this regard" and that the company's "strong preference would be to stay focused on taking humanity to Mars." This indicates a potential lack of interest from SpaceX in the Golden Dome project, further prompting the administration to seek other viable partners.

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