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Blue Origin teases first New Glenn rocket prototype at Blue Moon lander event
In May 2019, Blue Origin unveiled plans to build and launch “Blue Moon” lunar landers. Five months later, founder Jeff Bezos has announced a proposal for NASA’s Artemis Moon lander program that would augment Blue Moon with hardware from aerospace stalwarts Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Draper to land astronauts on the Moon in the 2020s.
On top of that, Bezos also revealed the first unequivocal confirmation that Blue Origin has begun building full-scale prototype hardware for its ambitious New Glenn orbital launch vehicle – in this case, half of a massive carbon fiber payload fairing.
In a press release posted to the company’s website, Blue Origin’s Chief Executive Officer, Bob Smith, stated that “national challenges call for a national response. We are humbled and inspired to lead this deeply committed team that will land NASA astronauts on the Moon.” The national team will be managed with Blue Origin as the principal contractor and “[combine] our partners’ heritage with our advance work on the Blue Moon lunar lander and its BE-7 engine.”
Solving the lunar landing equation
Each company was selected based on a demonstrated area of expertise that solves a very specific piece of the equation that is landing astronauts on the moon. Blue Origin will serve as the primary contractor leading mission engineering and assurance, as well as providing the lunar Descent Element, Blue Moon. Lockheed Martin will provide the reusable Ascent Element vehicle and lead the operations and flight training of the crew, while Northrop Grumman provides the Transfer Element vehicle to deliver Blue Moon to the lunar surface.
Draper’s contribution is integral to mission success. It will provide a navigation system “designed to give crewed missions precise location and navigation data needed for safe and accurate lunar and planetary landings” as outlined in a NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate statement earlier this month. The Draper navigation system is expected to debut during a launch of Blue Origin’s suborbital rocket, New Shepard as proof of concept by year’s end.
Debuting super-heavy rocket hardware
During his IAC presentation, Bezos revealed a video of what is almost certainly the first full-scale prototype hardware of Blue Origin’s reusable New Glenn rocket. In the clip, a massive carbon-composite payload fairing half is moved inside an even larger curing oven located on Blue Origin’s Cape Canaveral, FL campus, offering an incredibly rare glimpse inside the company’s purported New Glenn factory.
New Glenn’s payload fairing will measure 7m (23 ft) wide and roughly 22m (72 ft) tall, dwarfing the 5ish-meter options currently used by SpaceX and ULA. As of now, New Glenn’s payload fairing will be the largest expendable fairing on Earth when it debuts in 2021 or 2022.
Aside from a Blue Moon lander mockup, Blue Origin also brought an entire BE-4 engine to IAC 2019. Seven BE-4s will power New Glenn’s reusable first stage and the United Launch Alliance (ULA) has also selected BE-4 to power its Vulcan booster. Capable of producing roughly 550,000 lbf (2400 kN) of thrust, Blue Origin is slowly but surely qualifying BE-4 for flight and recently began its first full-thrust static fires at the company’s Van Horn, Texas test facilities.
While Bezos’s presentation provided the briefest of views inside Blue Origin’s rocket factory, Space Coast local Julia Bergeron posted a photo on Twitter showing an impressive fleet of cranes hard at work building Blue Origin’s LC-36 New Glenn launch pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Blue Origin is notoriously hesitant to share much of anything about its next-generation New Glenn rocket, so it’s a pleasant surprise to receive even the briefest of glimpses behind the scenes. Combined with Blue’s undeniable rocket propulsion expertise and shrewdly political (albeit unsavory) approach to industry collaboration, the company is clearly here to stay and is certainly doing everything it can to give NASA an offer it simply can’t refuse.
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Tesla extends FSD Supervised ride-alongs in Europe by three months
Needless to say, it does appear that FSD fever is starting to catch in Europe.
Tesla appears to be doubling down on its European Full Self-Driving (Supervised) push, with the company extending its demo ride-along program by three months until the end of March 2026. The update seems to have been implemented due to overwhelming demand.
Needless to say, it does appear that FSD fever is starting to catch in Europe.
Extended FSD demonstrations
Tesla EU Policy and Business Development Manager Ivan Komušanac shared on LinkedIn that the company is offering ride-along experiences in Germany, France and Italy while working toward FSD (Supervised) approval in Europe.
He noted that this provides a great feedback opportunity from the general public, encouraging participants to record and share their experiences. For those unable to book in December, Komušanac teased more slots as “Christmas presents.”
Tesla watcher Sawyer Merritt highlighted the extension on X, stating that dates now run from December 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, in multiple cities including Stuttgart-Weinstadt, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf in Germany. This suggests that the FSD ride-along program in Europe has officially been extended until the end of the first quarter of 2026.
Building momentum for European approval
Replies to Merritt’s posts buzzed with excitement, with users like @AuzyMale noting that Cologne and Düsseldorf are already fully booked. This sentiment was echoed by numerous other Tesla enthusiasts on social media. Calls for the program’s expansion to other European territories have also started gaining steam, with some X users suggesting Switzerland and Finland as the next locations for FSD ride-alongs.
Ultimately, the Tesla EU Policy and Business Development Manager’s post aligns with the company’s broader FSD efforts in Europe. As per recent reports, Tesla recently demonstrated FSD’s capabilities for Rome officials. Reporters from media outlets in France and Germany have also published positive reviews of FSD’s capabilities on real-world roads.
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Tesla’s six-seat extended wheelbase Model Y L sold out for January 2026
Estimated delivery dates for new Tesla Model Y L orders now extend all the way into February 2026.
The Tesla Model Y L seems to be in high demand in China, with estimated delivery dates for new orders now extending all the way into February 2026.
This suggests that the Model Y L has been officially sold out from the rest of 2025 to January 2026.
Model Y L estimated delivery dates
The Model Y L’s updated delivery dates mark an extension from the vehicle’s previous 4-8 week estimated wait time. A detailed chart shared by Tesla data tracker @Tslachan on X shows the progressions of the Model Y L’s estimated delivery dates since its launch earlier this year.
Following its launch in September, the vehicle was given an initial October 2025 estimated delivery date. The wait times for the vehicle were continually updated over the years, until the middle of November, when the Model Y L had an estimated delivery date of 4-8 weeks. This remained until now, when Tesla China simply listed February 2026 as the estimated delivery date for new Model Y L orders.
Model Y demand in China
Tesla Model Y demand in China seems to be very healthy, even beyond the Model Y L. New delivery dates show the company has already sold out its allocation of the all-electric crossover for 2025. The Model Y has been the most popular vehicle in the world in both of the last two years, outpacing incredibly popular vehicles like the Toyota RAV4. In China, the EV market is substantially more saturated, with more competitors than in any other market.
Tesla has been particularly kind to the Chinese market, as it has launched trim levels for the Model Y in the country that are not available anywhere else, such as the Model Y L. Demand has been strong for the Model Y in China, with the vehicle ranking among the country’s top 5 New Energy Vehicles. Interestingly enough, vehicles that beat the Model Y in volume like the BYD Seagull are notably more affordable. Compared to vehicles that are comparably priced, the Model Y remains a strong seller in China.
Elon Musk
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang commends Tesla’s Elon Musk for early belief
“And when I announced DGX-1, nobody in the world wanted it. I had no purchase orders, not one. Nobody wanted to buy it. Nobody wanted to be part of it, except for Elon.”
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast on Wednesday and commended Tesla CEO Elon Musk for his early belief in what is now the most valuable company in the world.
Huang and Musk are widely regarded as two of the greatest tech entrepreneurs of the modern era, with the two working in conjunction as NVIDIA’s chips are present in Tesla vehicles, particularly utilized for self-driving technology and data collection.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang regrets not investing more in Elon Musk’s xAI
Both CEOs defied all odds and created companies from virtually nothing. Musk joined Tesla in the early 2000s before the company had even established any plans to build a vehicle. Jensen created NVIDIA in the booth of a Denny’s restaurant, which has been memorialized with a plaque.
On the JRE episode, Rogan asked about Jensen’s relationship with Elon, to which the NVIDIA CEO said that Musk was there when nobody else was:
“I was lucky because I had known Elon Musk, and I helped him build the first computer for Model 3, the Model S, and when he wanted to start working on an autonomous vehicle. I helped him build the computer that went into the Model S AV system, his full self-driving system. We were basically the FSD computer version 1, and so we were already working together.
And when I announced DGX-1, nobody in the world wanted it. I had no purchase orders, not one. Nobody wanted to buy it. Nobody wanted to be part of it, except for Elon.
He goes ‘You know what, I have a company that could really use this.’ I said, Wow, my first customer. And he goes, it’s an AI company, and it’s a nonprofit and and we could really use one of these supercomputers. I boxed one up, I drove it up to San Francisco, and I delivered it to the Elon in 2016.”
The first DGX-1 AI supercomputer was delivered personally to Musk when he was with OpenAI, which provided crucial early compute power for AI research, accelerating breakthroughs in machine learning that underpin modern tools like ChatGPT.
Tesla’s Nvidia purchases could reach $4 billion this year: Musk
The long-term alliance between NVIDIA and Tesla has driven over $2 trillion in the company’s market value since 2016.
Tesla extends FSD Supervised ride-alongs in Europe by three months
Tesla’s six-seat extended wheelbase Model Y L sold out for January 2026
