Connect with us

News

SpaceX ramps South Texas activity to prepare for 2019 BFR spaceship testing

Published

on

At the same time as the hardware for SpaceX’s first BFR spaceship is entering the early stages of manufacturing, the company’s South Texas test facility is slowly taking shape after more than 18 months of what can be fairly described as hibernation.

The likeliest location for a near-future spaceship test stand or pad has also experienced a comparatively vast influx of construction workers and general activity that began earlier this month September, nearly two and half years after SpaceX began preparing the unstable coastal wetland with the addition of several hundred tons of soil.

It may not look like much, but ~5 contractors and a few pieces of heavy machinery truly is an explosion of SpaceX activity in South Texas. The hill in the background is the soil surcharging mound. (Maria Pointer, 09/19/2018)

According to a number of posts from local Texans that are also members of a small SpaceX fan group on Facebook, activity around the company’s Boca Chica, Texas facilities has exploded in recent months, and even more so over the last several weeks. SpaceX’s ground tracking facility has harbored the vast majority of attention for some time, particularly following the relatively recent arrival of a massive crane, construction of a shelter for said crane, and the appearance of two massive vacuum-insulated tanks for liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid methane/natural gas (LNG).

Presently sat beside two large antennae on the Crew Dragon tracking facility’s plot, those propellant tanks are certainly both eye-catching and definitive evidence that something huge and nearby will soon need large quantities of liquid propellant. In the case of the LOX tank, a back-the-envelope estimate suggests that it can hold an obscene 400 metric tons (~900,000 lbs) of liquid oxygen, while the much smaller LNG tank (assumed, not guaranteed) would be capable of holding less than 25,000 kg of liquid methane, thanks mainly to the fact that liquid methane is roughly three times less dense than LOX.

Advertisement

Thankfully, SpaceX’s BFR Raptor engines will nominally burn oxygen and methane at a ratio of approximately 3.8 to 1, meaning that every 1 kg of methane exiting the rocket will be accompanied by 3.8 kg of oxygen. The fact that this ratio is actually larger than the density ratio of LOX and LNG means that the propellant tanks can be almost the same size

Most notably, as described above, is the abrupt return of construction and site preparation activities at what once was expected to be a Falcon 9 and Heavy launch pad. Over the last 24+ months, SpaceX has simply let the lot sit, although in this case, that sitting was rather productive. Known as soil surcharging, the site was essentially leveled, loaded with hundreds of tons of soil, plumbed with drainage pipes, and then left alone up to this point to let gravity do the rest of the work. Put simply, the unsteady soil of coastal Texas was aggressively drained and compacted into something stable enough to build expensive, long-term facilities on.

 

The hundreds of truckloads it took to bring in the soil will have to be repeated in reverse, removing most of the same soil to leave a level field ready for foundation-laying and series construction. Heavy machinery and construction contractors began arriving earlier this month, indicating that that process is about to begin, after which construction of the facilities that will eventually support Grasshopper-style spaceship testing can begin in earnest. Those BFR hop tests are scheduled to begin no earlier than late 2019.


For prompt updates, on-the-ground perspectives, and unique glimpses of SpaceX’s rocket recovery fleet check out our brand new LaunchPad and LandingZone newsletters!

Advertisement

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

News

Tesla Model Y has become the most common vehicle in Norway

The Tesla Model Y passed more than 70,000 registrations recently.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

The Tesla Model Y has become the most common car on Norwegian roads. This is a remarkable achievement for the all-electric crossover, which has also commanded the top spot in Norway’s vehicle sales rankings for several years running.

Model Y Domination

As per vehicle registration figures tracked by the Norwegian Road Traffic Information Council (OFV), there were 68,378 Model Ys with Norwegian license plates at the end of March/beginning of April 2025. In recent weeks, the Model Y passed more than 70,000 registrations, as per a report from Elbil24.

With the Model Y now becoming the most common car in Norway, the Toyota Rav4 now stands in second place, followed by the Nissan Leaf, the Volkswagen Golf, and the Toyota Yaris. The Model Y also topped the country’s vehicle registration rankings for the last three years, and it set a record for selling the most vehicles in a year in 2023, breaking the Volkswagen Beetle’s record that has stood since 1969.

Possibly More Momentum

It is undeniable that the Tesla Model Y has helped Norway push its electric vehicle transition. As of date, electric vehicles now account for 28% of the Norwegian car fleet, a notable portion of which is comprised of the all-electric crossover.

While the Model Y’s achievements in Norway have been impressive, the vehicle could expand its reach into the country even more this year. Tesla, after all, has been aggressively pushing the new Model Y to consumers, with the company offering a zero percent interest promotion for the vehicle. These efforts, as well as the new Model Y’s improved features, should make the vehicle even more compelling to Norwegian car buyers this year.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Tesla Board Chair slams Wall Street Journal over alleged CEO search report

Denholm’s comments were posted by Tesla on its official account on social media platform X.

Published

on

robyn-m-denholm-tesla
CeBIT Australia, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Tesla Board Chair Robyn Denholm has issued a stern correction to The Wall Street Journal after the publication posted a report alleging that the electric vehicle maker’s Board of Directors opened a search for a new CEO to replace Elon Musk.

Denholm’s comments were posted by Tesla on its official account on social media platform X. 

The WSJ’s Allegations

Citing people reportedly familiar with the discussions, the WSJ alleged that Tesla Board members reached out to several executive search firms to work on a formal process for finding Elon Musk’s successor. The publication also alleged that tensions had been mounting at Tesla due to the company’s dropping sales and profits, as well as the time Musk has been spending with DOGE.

The publication also alleged that Elon Musk had met with the Tesla Board about the matter, and that members told the CEO that he needed to spend more time on Tesla. Musk was reportedly instructed to state his intentions publicly as well. The CEO did not push back against the Board, the WSJ claimed. 

Elon Musk did announce that he is stepping back from his day-to-day role at the Department of Government Efficiency during the Tesla Q1 2025 earnings call. Musk’s announcement was embraced by Tesla investors and analysts, many of whom felt that the CEO’s renewed focus on the EV maker could push the company to greater heights. 

Advertisement

Tesla and Musk’s Response

In response to The Wall Street Journal’s report, Tesla’s official account on X shared a comment from its Board Chair. In her comment, Denham noted that the WSJ‘s report was “absolutely false.” She also highlighted that Tesla had communicated this fact to the publication before the report was published, but the Journal ran the story anyway.

“Earlier today, there was a media report erroneously claiming that the Tesla Board had contacted recruitment firms to initiate a CEO search at the company. This is absolutely false (and this was communicated to the media before the report was published). The CEO of Tesla is Elon Musk and the Board is highly confident in his ability to continue executing on the exciting growth plan ahead,” Denholm stated.

Elon Musk himself commented on the matter, stating that the publication showed an “extremely bad breach of ethics” since the report did not even include the Tesla Board of Directors’ denial of the allegations. “It is an EXTREMELY BAD BREACH OF ETHICS that the WSJ would publish a DELIBERATELY FALSE ARTICLE and fail to include an unequivocal denial beforehand by the Tesla board of directors!” Musk wrote in a post on X.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Elon Musk is now a remote DOGE worker: White House Chief of Staff

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is no longer working from the West Wing.

Published

on

Credit: Elon Musk/X

In a conversation with the New York Post, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles stated that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is no longer working from the West Wing.

As per the Chief of Staff, Musk is still working for DOGE—as a remote worker, at least.

Remote Musk

In her conversation with the publication, Wiles stated that she still talks with Musk. And while the CEO is now working remotely, his contributions still have the same net effect. 

“Instead of meeting with him in person, I’m talking to him on the phone, but it’s the same net effect,” Wiles stated, adding that “it really doesn’t matter much” that the CEO “hasn’t been here physically.” She also noted that Musk’s team will not be leaving.

“He’s not out of it altogether. He’s just not physically present as much as he was. The people that are doing this work are here doing good things and paying attention to the details. He’ll be stepping back a little, but he’s certainly not abandoning it. And his people are definitely not,” Wiles stated.

Advertisement

Back to Tesla

Musk has been a frequent presence in the White House during the Trump administration’s first 100 days in office. But during the Q1 2025 Tesla earnings call, Musk stated that he would be spending substantially less time with DOGE and substantially more time with Tesla. Musk did emphasize, however, that DOGE’s work is extremely valuable and critical.

“I think I’ll continue to spend a day or two per week on government matters for as long as the President would like me to do so and as long as it is useful. But starting next month, I’ll be allocating probably more of my time to Tesla and now that the major work of establishing the Department of Government Efficiency is done,” Musk stated.

Continue Reading

Trending