Samsung Electronics’ R&D spending for the first half of this year amounted to $9.19 billion compared to $8.3 billion a year earlier.

Despite this, the investment-to-revenue ratio fell to 7.9%. Moreover, the figure has been steadily declining since 2021. Before that, it was actively growing, increasing from 7.4% in 2018 to 9.8% in 2020.

During the same period, Samsung’s investments in factories and facilities amounted to $15.2 billion, with about 80% of this amount spent on everything related to the company’s semiconductor business, which has been Samsung’s most important in recent years. At the same time, these investments are $2.5 billion less than what the company invested in its facilities in the first half of 2021.

NASA has placed SLS rockets on the launch pad for launch as part of the Artemis 1 mission.

The launch is scheduled for August 29th. The Artemis 1 mission involves testing the Orion spacecraft and launching it to the moon. The mission will last from 39 to 42 days. Among other things, one of the most important moments of the mission will be the return of the ship to Earth. Orion will not just return, but will enter the upper atmosphere twice. The first entry will be partial with a further return to a higher orbit, after which a full re-entry and landing will follow. Thus, NASA will test the ship for strength.

As for the rocket, once launched, the SLS will be the most powerful rocket currently in use. It is capable of launching up to 95 tons of cargo into the reference orbit, and in the future, after modifications, the figure can be increased to 130 tons. It is capable of delivering 27 tons to the moon.

NASA expects that the upcoming launch will attract a huge number of people to the beach near the spaceport. Cocoa Beach city officials estimate that between 100,000 and 200,000 people will come to watch the launch.

SpaceX has won one of its first Starship launch contracts. Despite the fact that she has not yet had a single full-fledged launch, the mission in question is scheduled for 2024.

Japanese company SKY Perfect JSAT Holdings has chosen Starship to launch its Superbird-9 communications satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit.

There is no other data on cooperation with SpaceX in the corresponding press release. Including the unknown amount of the contract. As for the satellite, we are talking about the HTS class (High Throughput Satellites) – these are communication satellites with high bandwidth. The company says that the satellite configuration can be flexibly adjusted to the needs of a particular customer.