Connect with us

News

SpaceX to close out February with Starlink launches on Monday and Friday [updated]

(Richard Angle/SpaceX)

Published

on

Update: SpaceX has delayed Starlink 4-8 from February 20th to no earlier than (NET) 9:44 am EST (14:44 UTC), Monday, February 21st in the hopes of better “recovery weather.” The mission will be Falcon 9 booster B1058’s 11th launch overall and second launch in less than 40 days.

Up next, Starlink 4-11 – SpaceX’s second West Coast launch this year – is now firmly scheduled to lift off around 7:30-8 am PST (15:30-16:00 UTC) on Friday, February 25th from Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB). Finally, launch photographer Ben Cooper reports that a third Starlink mission – likely Starlink 4-9 – is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A as soon as March 3rd. SpaceX has at least one more Starlink mission and a private astronaut launch tentatively scheduled for March.

Continuing the company’s busiest planned year yet, SpaceX has dispatched a drone ship for the first of two more Falcon 9 Starlink launches scheduled before the end of the month.

While there were signs a few weeks ago that SpaceX had as many as four Starlink launches planned this month, that appears to have shrunk to three. In theory, SpaceX could have finished refurbishing both of its East Coast launch pads – LC-40 and LC-39A – earlier this week after supporting launches on January 31st and February 3rd. SpaceX may be taking an extra week to better understand a space weather anomaly that recently destroyed more than three-dozen Starlink satellites, to conduct deeper pad maintenance, to refurbish well-worn Falcon rockets, or to simply give its launch workforce a bit of respite but either way, the company’s next Falcon 9 launch appears to be scheduled no earlier than (NET) 9:54 am EST (14:54 UTC), Sunday, February 20th.

Drone ship A Shortfall Of Gravitas (ASOG) departed Port Canaveral on February 16th and is headed about 636 kilometers (395 mi) downrange to support Starlink 4-8’s Falcon 9 booster landing. The mission will be the new drone ship’s fourth consecutive recovery – an unintentional situation that was forced upon it when drone ship Just Read The Instructions (JRTI) suffered damage during SpaceX’s last booster recovery of 2021. On top of almost sliding off the deck, Falcon 9 booster B1069 suffered significant damage to most or all of its nine Merlin 1D engines when JRTI’s ‘Octagrabber’ robot effectively dropped the booster on its head during recovery operations.

Advertisement

Only through the heroics of the human recovery crew was B1069 able to be secured to drone ship JRTI’s deck and returned to dry land in (more or less) one piece. Based on new aerial images from local photographer Julia Bergeron, it appears that JRTI did require deck repairs after the ordeal. Equally importantly, the ship’s Octagrabber robot – which took the brunt of B1069’s fall – appears to have been fully repaired and was being tested on deck as of February 15th. Oddly, though drone ship ASOG has done an excellent job filling in, SpaceX has yet to have a fully nominal booster recovery since B1069’s anomaly.

With any luck, that will end later this month and the company’s three Octagrabbers will restart routine recovery operations. Following Starlink 4-8’s launch from Cape Canaveral, SpaceX has plans for at least one more Starlink mission – this time from the West Coast. SpaceX last launched from its Vandenberg SLC-4E pad on February 2nd and set a record turnaround time of 24 days late last year, implying that the Starlink mission is likely scheduled within the last few days of February.

If successful, SpaceX will have launched eight times in the first two months of 2022 and 13 times in the last three months, demonstrating a cadence of up to 48-52 launches per year if the company can sustain the pace. SpaceX’s official goal for 2022 is 52 Falcon launches.

Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

Advertisement
Comments

Investor's Corner

Tesla needs to confront these concerns as its ‘wartime CEO’ returns: Wedbush

Tesla will report earnings for Q2 tomorrow. Here’s what Wedbush expects.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is set to report its earnings for the second quarter of 2025 tomorrow, and although Wall Street firm Wedbush is bullish as the company appears to have its “wartime CEO” back, it is looking for answers to a few concerns investors could have moving forward.

The firm’s lead analyst on Tesla, Dan Ives, has kept a bullish sentiment regarding the stock, even as Musk’s focus seemed to be more on politics and less on the company.

However, Musk has recently returned to his past attitude, which is being completely devoted and dedicated to his companies. He even said he would be sleeping in his office and working seven days a week:


Nevertheless, Ives has continued to push suggestions forward about what Tesla should do, what its potential valuation could be in the coming years with autonomy, and how it will deal with the loss of the EV tax credit.

Tesla preps to expand Robotaxi geofence once again, answering Waymo

These questions are at the forefront of what Ives suggests Tesla should confront on tomorrow’s call, he wrote in a note to investors that was released on Tuesday morning:

“Clearly, losing the EV tax credits with the recent Beltway Bill will be a headwind to Tesla and competitors in the EV landscape looking ahead, and this cash cow will become less of the story (and FCF) in 2026. We would expect some directional guidance on this topic during the conference call. Importantly, we anticipate deliveries globally to rebound in 2H led by some improvement on the key China front with the Model Y refresh a catalyst.”

Ives and Wedbush believe the autonomy could be worth $1 trillion for Tesla, especially as it continues to expand throughout Austin and eventually to other territories.

In the near term, Ives expects Tesla to continue its path of returning to growth:

“While the company has seen significant weakness in China in previous quarters given the rising competitive landscape across EVs, Tesla saw a rebound in June with sales increasing for the first time in eight months reflecting higher demand for its updated Model Y as deliveries in the region are starting to slowly turn a corner with China representing the heart and lungs of the TSLA growth story. Despite seeing more low-cost models enter the market from Chinese OEMs like BYD, Nio, Xpeng, and others, the company’s recent updates to the Model Y spurred increased demand while the accelerated production ramp-up in Shanghai for this refresh cycle reflected TSLA’s ability to meet rising demand in the marquee region. If Musk continues to lead and remain in the driver’s seat at this pace, we believe Tesla is on a path to an accelerated growth path over the coming years with deliveries expected to ramp in the back-half of 2025 following the Model Y refresh cycle.”

Tesla will report earnings tomorrow at market close. Wedbush maintained its ‘Outperform’ rating and held its $500 price target.

Continue Reading

Investor's Corner

Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2025 earnings call: What investors want to know

Published

on

Credit: Tesla Asia/X

Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) is set to report its second-quarter 2025 financial results on Wednesday, July 23, after markets close. With this in mind, Tesla investors have aggregated their top questions for the company at its upcoming Q&A session.

The upcoming earnings report follows a mixed delivery quarter. Tesla produced over 410,000 vehicles and delivered more than 384,000 units globally. In the energy segment, Tesla deployed 9.6 GWh of storage products, continuing momentum for its Megapack business. Tesla’s vehicle sales are currently down year-over-year, though a good part of this was due to the Model Y changeover in the first quarter.

Following are Tesla investors’ top questions for management, as aggregated in Say.

  1. Can you give us some insight (into) how robotaxis have been performing so far and what rate you expect to expand in terms of vehicles, geofence, cities, and supervisors?
  2. What are the key technical and regulatory hurdles still remaining for unsupervised FSD to be available for personal use? Timeline?
  3. What specific factory tasks is Optimus currently performing, and what is the expected timeline for scaling production to enable external sales? How does Tesla envision Optimus contributing to revenue in the next 2–3 years?
  4. Can you provide an update on the development and production timeline for Tesla’s more affordable models? How will these models balance cost reduction with profitability, and what impact do you expect on demand in the current economic climate?
  5. When do you anticipate customer vehicles to receive unsupervised FSD?
  6. Are there any news for HW3 users getting retrofits or upgrades? Will they get HW4 or some future version of HW5?
  7. Have any meaningful Optimus milestones changed for this year or next, and will thousands of Optimus be performing tasks in Tesla factories by year-end?
  8. Will there be a new AI day to explain the advancements the Autopilot, Optimus, and Dojo/chip teams have made over the past several years? We still do not know much about HW4.
  9. Cybertruck ramp is now a year in, but sales have lagged other models. How are you thinking through boosting sales of such an incredible product?
  10. When will there be a new CEO compensation package presented and considered for the next stage of the company’s growth?

Tesla will release its Q2 update letter on its Investor Relations website after markets close on Wednesday. A live Q&A webcast with management will then follow at 4:30 p.m. CT (5:30 p.m. ET) to discuss the company’s performance and outlook.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla Model Y becomes dual champ in China’s vehicle sales rankings

The Model Y’s recent accomplishments suggest that Tesla really has created something special with the all-electric crossover.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla Asia/X

The Tesla Model Y was recently deemed a double champion in China, with the all-electric crossover topping two notable sales charts in the country’s automotive sector. 

The Model Y’s recent accomplishments suggest that Tesla really has created something special with the all-electric crossover, as it has continued to outsell even vehicles that are newer and more affordable. 

Tesla China’s announcement

In a post on Weibo, Tesla China VP Grace Tao highlighted that the Model Y topped China’s sales of SUVs, as well as vehicles that are priced in the 200,000-400,000 yuan range. This is quite remarkable, as the Model Y is one of the more costly entries in both lists. She also invited everyone to try out the vehicle for themselves. “You will know the champion strength after a try,” the Tesla VP wrote.

For the first half of the year, the Tesla Model Y sold 171,491 units domestically in China. This number was enough to make it the country’s best-selling SUV and vehicle priced in the 200,000-400,000 yuan range, but it could still easily be higher in the second half of 2025.

This was because Tesla initiated a changeover in Gigafactory Shanghai to shift the facility’s Model Y line to the vehicle’s new iteration. Had Tesla sold the Model Y in full force during the first half of 2025 in China, the vehicle’s domestic sales figures would have been even more impressive.

Model Y L coming

Tesla China’s Model Y sales could see a notable boost in the second half of the year due to the addition of the Model Y L, an extended wheelbase version of the all-electric crossover. Tesla is yet to announce the details for the Model Y L, though the vehicle was listed in the MIIT regulatory catalog as a six-seater. This is game-changing, as the Model Y’s previous seven-seat configurations have caught criticism for being far too cramped and unusable for adults.

Advertisement

With the six-seat Model Y in the company’s lineup, Tesla would be able to compete with popular vehicles from rivals like BYD, which have made it a point to release spacious three-row vehicles that are designed to carry the whole family. Provided that the Model Y L is priced correctly, it could very well raise Tesla’s vehicle sales this year.

Continue Reading

Trending