Real life Iron Man, Elon Musk has been featured a lot in the news recently for launching one of the world’s most powerful rockets, Falcon Heavy. SpaceX’ latest rocket blasted off its first test flight carrying a red Tesla roadster along with it. If you have not been able to follow the news or the launch of this iconic rocket, here are 10 facts to bring you up to speed.
1. On February 6, 2018, SpaceX launched it’s Falcon Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, into an orbit that stretches into the asteroid belt.
2. Elon Musk was not sure if the launch would be a success. The launch of the rocket was delayed by three hours citing high winds.
3. After a successful launch, two of Falcon’s rocket cores successfully touched down back on Earth after takeoff. However, the middle core of SpaceX’s huge rocket missed the drone ship where it was supposed to land. Relighting one of the three engines necessary to land, the center core landed in the Atlantic Ocean.
A graphic showing the path of the Falcon Heavy rocket
4. Falcon Heavy is considered to be the most powerful rocket ever created, since the Shuttle System and second only to the Saturn V rockets, which carried men to the moon during the Apollo era.
5. The Tesla Roadster has the message “Don’t panic!” stamped on the dashboard and David Bowie playing on the speakers. The $100,000 car will cruise through high energy radiation belts, Van Allen belts, that circuit Earth towards deep space.
6. The Tesla cruised through space for a good six hours which was also live streamed by SpaceX. The car was then pushed out towards its elliptical orbit around Mars, once the upper stage’s systems survived being bombarded with all the radiation, firing and pushing the car forward for one last time.
Third burn successful. Exceeded Mars orbit and kept going to the Asteroid Belt. pic.twitter.com/bKhRN73WHF
7. Experts along with Elon Musk are still unclear about what will happen to the car. Planetary scientists have been asking about the details regarding the car’s exact orbit to calculate the Tesla’s odds of collision and how long it will actually last in deep space.
8. The successful launch of the Falcon Heavy rocket along with its capabilities of putting objects into deep space and landing back on Earth demonstrates the possibility of creating low production cost rockets and ability to reuse them in the future.
9. The success of this launch makes it easier for governments and businesses to lift massive projects into space or set off deep space missions, marking a major step toward cheaper, more frequent spaceflight programs.
10. Falcon Heavy’s capabilities of putting objects into deep space also opens up avenues for space companies, like Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries to send their spacecrafts into the asteroid belt. Currently, both the space companies are working on technologies to mine water from asteroids in the near future.
Watch the Elon Musk’s dummy astronaut orbiting Earth in a Tesla in this time lapse video.
Adopt AI, a San Jose and Bengaluru-based agentic AI startup, has raised $6 million in seed funding led by Elevation Capital, with participation from Foster Ventures, Powerhouse Ventures, Darkmode Ventures, and angel investors. The funding will be used to expand the company’s engineering and product teams and to scale enterprise deployments of its automation platform.
Founded by Deepak Anchala, Rahul Bhattacharya, and Anirudh Badam, Adopt AI offers a platform that lets businesses automate workflows and execute complex actions using natural language commands, without needing to rebuild existing systems. Its core products include a no-code Agent Builder, which allows companies to quickly create and deploy AI-driven conversational interfaces, and Agentic Experience, which replaces traditional user interfaces with text-based commands. The startup’s technology is aimed at SaaS and B2C companies in sectors like banking and healthcare, helping them rapidly integrate intelligent agent capabilities into their applications. Adopt AI’s team includes engineers from Microsoft and Google, with Chief AI Officer Anirudh Badam bringing over a decade of AI experience from Microsoft.
The company has also launched an Early Access Program to let businesses pilot its automation solution and collaborate on new use cases.
PayU India, owned by Prosus, has received final approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as an online payment aggregator, a year after getting in-principle approval in April 2024. This authorization allows PayU to onboard new merchants and offer digital payment solutions, joining other major players like Razorpay, CCAvenue, and BillDesk.
The RBI’s nod comes as PayU prepares for its planned IPO in the second half of 2025, following a delay from its original 2024 timeline due to market conditions. The company, which serves over 450,000 merchants, reported $319 million in revenue from its core payments and credit business in the first half of FY25.
PayU stated that the approval will help it build a resilient, compliant, and innovation-driven institution, supporting merchants of all sizes and advancing the Digital India vision. The company has also strengthened its risk management and expanded its presence in real-time payments through a strategic stake in Mindgate Solutions.
AI infrastructure startup Flam has raised $14 million in a Series A round led by RTP Global, with participation from Dovetail and existing investors, bringing its total funding to $22 million. Founded in 2021, Flam enables brands to create and deliver high-fidelity mixed reality (MR) and generative AI experiences without the need for app downloads, allowing consumers to access immersive content via QR codes or links in under 300 milliseconds.
Flam’s platform is already used by over 100 global brands-including Google, Samsung, and Netflix-reaching more than 380 million users. The new funding will accelerate product innovation, expand operations in North America, Europe, and Asia, and launch a full-stack enterprise suite for MR and GenAI-driven marketing. The company currently has over 120 employees and plans to grow to 180 by the end of 2025, aiming to transform every brand touchpoint into an interactive digital experience.