Axios

SpaceX, the commercial space company led by Elon Musk, has launched a $750 million leveraged loan led by BofA Merrill Lynch. A meeting with prospective lenders is set for this morning, according to LevFin Insights.

Why it matters: This would be SpaceX's first foray into the institutional debt market, and could result in some of the company's financials becoming public.

Ever since it was first spotted in 2017, the interstellar asteroid known as Oumuamua, meaning "scout" or "messenger" in Hawaiian, has garnered much interest among astronomers and the public. Its origins, composition and shape have grabbed peoples' imaginations. Now a forthcoming study from Harvard University researchers make the bold claim that the object is actually an alien spacecraft — or a "light sail" of alien origin — tumbling away from Earth.

The big picture: This study is not the first, nor is it likely the last time that an alien-origin hypothesis has been raised about Oumuamua. However, in science, the most outlandish claims are not usually the most likely, and they require rigorous examination by outside researchers before they can be accepted.