Hackaday Links: July 19, 2026

Per this week's Hackaday Links, India's Skyroot Aerospace successfully launched the country's first privately developed orbital rocket yesterday, joining only the US and China in having private companies capable of orbital spaceflight. The Vikram-1 booster stands 79 feet tall with a four-stage arrangement — the first three solid-fueled, the final one liquid for precise orbital insertion. In contrast, SpaceX's Starship prototype executed a dramatic last-second launch abort on Thursday after its 33 Raptor engines were already ignited — the first time the 408-foot rocket was scrubbed at that point in the sequence. The hardware market is showing strain: Honda, Volkswagen, Nissan, and Hyundai are withdrawing 2026 EV models from the US, Polestar exited the market due to new restrictions on Chinese tech, and Tesla is discontinuing the Model X and S. Action camera maker GoPro is reportedly facing financial pressure that could threaten the company's survival by year's end, despite NASA still trusting its cameras for the Artemis Two mission. OnePlus, too, is ceasing new phone sales in North America and Europe, though existing customers retain software support.

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