Sunday☕️

06 Apr 2025 — 4 min read

Economics & Markets:

Geopolitics & Military Activity:

Environment & Weather:

Yesterday, April 5th, a tornado touched down in Missouri amidst the ongoing weather system that has been sweeping across the Midwestern and Southern United States. This recent touchdown adds to a series of severe weather events that have impacted the region over the past several days, including confirmed tornadoes in Potosi and Nevada, Missouri, and others earlier in the week. Several counties in Missouri remained under tornado watches and severe thunderstorm warnings as emergency services monitored conditions and responded to localized damage.

Social media users across Missouri and neighboring states reported vivid footage of rotating clouds, funnel formations, and storm damage, suggesting additional tornado activity that has yet to be officially confirmed. The National Weather Service continues to issue updated alerts as forecasters track the movement of the system, which remains volatile.

Space:

Yesterday, April 5, 2025, at 11:07 PM EST, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, placing 28 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) as part of the Starlink Group 6-72 mission. The rocket, standing 70.0 meters tall with a liftoff thrust of 7,607 kN, used the first stage booster B1078 on its 19th flight, which had a 22-day interval since its last use. After deploying the payload, the booster landed on the droneship "Just Read the Instructions" in the Atlantic Ocean, completing the 445th recovery attempt and 430th successful recovery for Falcon boosters, part of a sequence including 87 consecutive successful landings and 13 in this specific run.

The mission involved 28 Starlink V2 Mini satellites, intended for a low Earth orbit to support SpaceX’s internet constellation, operating in the Group 6 shell. The Falcon 9, with a payload capacity of 22,800 kg to LEO and a fairing diameter of 5.2 meters, recorded its 457th flight and 453rd success, within a streak of 102 consecutive successful Falcon 9 missions. The deployment adds to the ongoing development of the Starlink network, though specific performance or coverage impacts of these satellites remain subject to further observation, reflecting SpaceX’s continued activity in satellite launches and booster reuse.

Science & Technology:

Yesterday, April 5, 2025, Meta announced Llama 4, a new group of open-source AI models, launching with Llama 4 Scout and Llama 4 Maverick, while Llama 4 Reasoning and Llama 4 Behemoth are expected later. These models utilize a mixture-of-experts (MoE) design for managing computational tasks and can handle inputs like text and images. Llama 4 Scout features a 10 million token context window suited for large datasets, and Maverick is tailored for activities such as writing and coding. Developed with over 100,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs, the models are part of Meta AI, which supports billions of monthly users on platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram, though regulatory restrictions limit its use in the EU.

The Llama 4 models are openly accessible, with their code and weights available, though companies with over 700 million monthly users need a specific license. Llama 4 Behemoth is described as having nearly two trillion parameters, while the initial releases focus on practical functions. The announcement included references to performance and comparisons with other AI systems, ranking among the top AI models in the world.

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