SpaceX: Colossus 2 power gap; Starshield launch due 3 Nov

xAI in March. The NAACP's gas turbine lawsuit is still going, and power permits are a hard constraint on compute delivery from Q4 through 2027. Musk also said that by the end of 2028 the monthly addition to orbital compute will exceed that on the ground (a flow, not a stock). So far there is only a single-satellite demonstration, Google's Suncatcher, and with nothing to verify the 2028 timetable it is a vision at best. Starshield defence work is being delivered on schedule. USSF-432 is targeted to launch from Vandenberg at 01:42 UTC on 3 Nov. It is the sixth launch for the Space Force's space-based sensing and targeting programme since mid-August (six in four months). It follows the $4.16 billion space-based air moving target indicator contract the Space Force awarded on 29 May. The launch cadence is close to that of Starlink commercial deployment, and revenue visibility is high without relying on AI customers. The final text of the FCC 26-72 800 MHz drone order, published on 30 Oct, has one more footnote than the draft, footnote 29. It names SpaceX's 9 Oct application to take over Grain's 817-824/862-869 MHz licences (formerly T-Mobile's), and says the Commission expects drones to coexist with mobile and/or satellite direct-to-phone services. So the rules have already made room before the spectrum purchase is approved. On the competitive side, ULA's Vulcan returns to flight in mid-November with 40 Amazon Leo satellites (Spaceflight Now, 28 Oct), and whether it flies on time decides whether Amazon can meet its FCC deployment deadline. Russia's second Rassvet satellite re-entered and burned up on 30 Oct, having never fired its thrusters to change orbit in over three months in orbit. Russia has lost two this year. There have been no new SEC EDGAR filings since the 8-K of 26 Oct.