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India could become the fourth country ever to soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon next week
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is perhaps just a few weeks (maybe days) away from attempting to place the country in the history books, hopefully setting India up to become the fourth nation on Earth – after the Soviet Union, United States, and China – to successfully soft-land on the Moon.
Known as Chandrayaan-2, the mission seeks to simultaneously launch a lunar orbiter, lander, and rover, altogether weighing nearly 3900 kg (8600 lb) at liftoff. If successful, the trio of spacecraft will remain integrated for about two months as the orbiter slowly raises its Earth orbit to eventually intercept and begin orbiting the Moon. Although originally expected to launch on Sunday, July 14th (July 15th local time), a bug with the Indian-built launch vehicle’s upper stage has pushed Chandrayaan-2 outside its original launch window, which ended today (July 16th). Depending on the complexity of the mission profile ISRO is using, the delay should be no more than a few days to a few weeks before the next launch window opens.
Editor’s note: Following ISRO’s July 15th scrub, the Chandrayaan-2 Moon lander mission has been rescheduled for launch no earlier than (NET) 2:43 pm local time, July 22nd (2:13 am PDT/9:13 UTC, July 23rd).
Fourth to the Moon (in one piece)
- All the way back in 1966, the Soviet Union (USSR) became the first to successfully soft-land an uncrewed spacecraft on the Moon with a mission known as Luna-9. Some four months after the momentous achievement, the United States became the second, safely landing Surveyor-1 on the Moon in June 1966.
- At the height of the space race, huge amounts of money was being funneled into these milestones, permitting the companies, institutions, and space agencies building, launching, and operating the individual missions to almost throw hardware at the metaphorical wall until something stuck. With the Soviet space program, this involved 17 failures, two successes, and one partial success in the first 7 years of the Luna initiative, culminating in Luna 9’s successful landing in February 1966.
- The US had three major separate programs known as Ranger, Lunar Orbiter, and Surveyor, the former of which was meant to simply fly past or impact the Moon to acquire detailed photos of its surface. Ranger suffered five consecutive failures and one partial failure before three full successes, while Orbiter was a complete success (5/5) and Surveyor failed only 2 of 7 attempts.
- Ultimately, this little snippet of history is simply meant to emphasize the utterly different approaches of those pathfinder programs relative to modern exploration efforts. In the case of ISRO’s Chandrayaan-2, failure would likely mean several years of delays before the next possible attempt – there is no concurrent (verging on mass-) production of multiple spacecraft like there was with Surveyor and Luna.
- Just shy of 50 years after the back-to-back first and second soft landings of Luna-9 and Surveyor-1, China became the third nation on Earth to successfully soft-land on the Moon with its 2013 Chang’e-3 mission, featuring a lander and rover. This was followed by Chang’e-4 in 2018, which continues to successfully operate 8 months after achieving the first successful soft-landing on the far side of the Moon.
- Finally, just several months ago, private company SpaceIL – supported by Israeli aerospace company IAI – attempted (albeit unsuccessfully) to make Israel the fourth country to land on the Moon.
Indian spacecraft, Indian rocket
- This finally brings us to Chandrayaan-2, what can only be described as a continuation of a recent resurgence in interest and serious robotic exploration of the Moon. Once it launches, the mission will take roughly 56 days to get into position for an attempted soft-landing. Prior to landing, the orbiter – in a circular, 100-km (62 mi) lunar orbit – will actively scout the intended landing site with a high-resolution ~0.3m/pixel camera to help the lander avoid any dangerous terrain.
- Once complete, the lander – carrying a tiny, ~27 kg (60 lb) rover – will begin its deorbit and landing maneuvers, hopefully culminating in a successful, gentle landing near the Moon’s South pole.
- Sadly, the Vikram lander and Pragyaan rover have an expected life of just one lunar day after landing, translating to ~14 Earth days or ~340 hours. This is a strong indicator that the Chandrayaan-2 landing component was not designed to survive the ultra-cold and harsh lunar night, also ~14 Earth days long.
- This isn’t much of a surprise, as surviving the lunar night is a whole different challenge that is rarely worth the hardware, effort, and funding required until the first prerequisite – a soft landing on the Moon – has been successfully demonstrated.
- A follow-up mission known as Chandrayaan-2 has already been proposed and would likely permit far lengthier exploration of the lunar south pole if India and launch partner Japan choose to move forward with it.
- Chandrayaan-2 will be launched on an Indian-built Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mk III-D2 rocket, the most powerful rocket in India’s arsenal. Although GSLV Mk III weighs significantly more than SpaceX’s
- Falcon 9 when fully fueled (640 metric tons to F9’s 550), the rocket is almost a third less capable to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) – 8000 kg to F9’s ~23,000 kg.
- However, thanks to the development of an efficient liquid hydrogen/oxygen (hydrolox) upper stage and engine, the rocket comes into its own when dealing with its namesake – geostationary (i.e. high-altitude) satellite launches. To GTO, GSLV Mk III is reportedly capable of launching at least 4000 kg, almost half of Falcon 9’s expendable performance and almost 75% as much as Falcon 9 with booster landing.
- Even more impressive is the cost: ISRO purchased a block of 10 GSLV Mk III rockets in 2018 for roughly $630M, translating to ~$63M per rocket, nearly equivalent to Falcon 9’s own list price of $62M. This places GSLV Mk III around the same level as Russia’s Proton-M rocket in terms of a cost-to-performance ratio, still second to Falcon 9 in most cases. GSLV Mk III has only launched three times (all successful) since its 2014 debut and Chandrayaan-2 will be its fourth launch.
Tesla received a price target boost from Morgan Stanley, according to a new note on Monday morning, but there is some considerable caution also being communicated over the next year or so.
Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew Percoco took over Tesla coverage for the firm from longtime bull Adam Jonas, who appears to be focusing on embodied AI stocks and no longer automotive.
Percoco took over and immediately adjusted the price target for Tesla from $410 to $425, and changed its rating on shares from ‘Overweight’ to ‘Equal Weight.’
Percoco said he believes Tesla is the leading company in terms of electric vehicles, manufacturing, renewable energy, and real-world AI, so it deserves a premium valuation. However, he admits the high expectations for the company could provide for a “choppy trading environment” for the next year.
He wrote:
“However, high expectations on the latter have brought the stock closer to fair valuation. While it is well understood that Tesla is more than an auto manufacturer, we expect a choppy trading environment for the TSLA shares over the next 12 months, as we see downside to estimates, while the catalysts for its non-auto businesses appear priced at current levels.”
Percoco also added that if market cap hurdles are achieved, Morgan Stanley would reduce its price target by 7 percent.
Perhaps the biggest change with Percoco taking over the analysis for Jonas is how he will determine the value of each individual project. For example, he believes Optimus is worth about $60 per share of equity value.
He went on to describe the potential value of Full Self-Driving, highlighting its importance to the Tesla valuation:
“Full Self Driving (FSD) is the crown jewel of Tesla’s auto business; we believe that its leading-edge personal autonomous driving offering is a real game changer, and will remain a significant competitive advantage over its EV and non-EV peers. As Tesla continues to improve its platform with increased levels of autonomy (i.e., hands-off, eyes-off), it will revolutionize the personal driving experience. It remains to be seen if others will be able to keep pace.”
Additionally, Percoco outlined both bear and bull cases for the stock. He believes $860 per share, “which could be in play in the next 12 months if Tesla manages through the EV-downturn,” while also scaling Robotaxi, executing on unsupervised FSD, and scaling Optimus, is in play for the bull case.
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Meanwhile, the bear case is placed at $145 per share, and “assumes greater competition and margin pressure across all business lines, embedding zero value for humanoids, slowing the growth curve for Tesla’s robotaxi fleet to reflect regulatory challenges in scaling a vision-only perception stack, and lowering market share and margin profile for the autos and energy businesses.”
Currently, Tesla shares are trading at around $441.
News
Tesla Optimus dramatically collapses after teleoperator mishap
It seemed blatantly obvious that whoever was controlling the Optimus robot from behind the scenes did not disconnect their ability to manipulate its movements
Tesla Optimus dramatically collapsed after a teleoperator mishap at the company’s “Future of Autonomy Visualized” event in Miami this past weekend.
It seemed blatantly obvious that whoever was controlling the Optimus robot from behind the scenes did not disconnect their ability to manipulate its movements, then left the controls, causing Optimus to collapse.
A video captured at the event shows Optimus doing a movement similar to taking a headset off, likely what the teleoperator uses to hear guest requests and communicate with other staff:
🚨 Tesla Optimus mishap at the Miami event
To be fair, don’t we all want to do this around the Holidays? pic.twitter.com/EJ5QKenqQd
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) December 8, 2025
After the headset removal motion was completed, Optimus simply collapsed backward, making for an interesting bit of conversation. While it was a mishap, it was actually pretty funny to watch because of the drama displayed by the robot in the situation.
This was obviously a mistake made by the teleoperator, and does not appear to be a spot where we can put any sort of blame on Optimus. It would have likely just stood there and waited for controls to resume if the teleoperator had disconnected from the robot correctly.
However, details are pretty slim, and Tesla has not announced anything explaining the situation, likely because it seems to be a pretty face-value event.
Tesla Optimus shows off its newest capability as progress accelerates
The Tesla Optimus program has been among the most hyped projects that the company has been working on, as CEO Elon Musk has extremely high hopes for what it could do for people on Earth. He has said on several occasions that Optimus should be the most popular product of all time, considering its capabilities.
Obviously, the project is still a work in progress, and growing pains are going to be part of the development of Optimus.
In its development of Optimus Gen 3, Tesla has been working on refining the forearm, hand, and fingers of Optimus, something that Musk said is extremely difficult. However, it’s a necessary step, especially if its capabilities will not be limited by hardware.
All in all, Optimus has still been a very successful project for Tesla, especially in the early stages. The company has done an excellent job of keeping Optimus busy, as it helps with serving customers at events and the Tesla Diner, and is also performing tasks across the company’s manufacturing plants.
Tesla has finally announced the features for the 2025 Holiday Update, which includes a wide variety of new inclusions that are both functional and just for fun.
The new features are plentiful, but there were a handful of things we were expecting to see based on what we know. We don’t want to sound ungrateful, because there are a lot of great new things on the way with this update.
Here’s what was included:
Grok with Navigation Commands (Beta)
Grok will now have the ability to add and edit navigation destinations, which is a drastic improvement considering Tesla owners had to use their standard voice commands for this in the past.
The utilization of Grok will likely improve the navigation experience by offering some insight into your destination, including reviews and other points of interest nearby.
It will be enabled by using Grok’s “Assistant” personality.
Tesla Photobooth
“Turn your car into a photobooth! Take selfies from inside your Tesla & give yourself a makeover with fun filters, stickers, and emojis. Share with others right from the Tesla app.”
This feature will be available within the Toybox.
Dog Mode Live Activity
When using Dog Mode to keep your four-legged friend comfortable in the car, you’ll now be able to check in on them as it will share periodic snapshots of the cabin, along with live updates on temperature, battery, and climate conditions.
Dashcam Viewer Update
Dashcam clips are awesome, but they’re void of a lot of information, which could be useful in some instances, especially if there is an accident.
Now, there will be additional details included on each Dashcam clip, like speed, steering wheel angle, and Self-Driving state.
Santa Mode
New graphics, trees, and a lock chime are now available.
Light Show Update
A new Light Show, called Jingle Rush, will be available.
Custom Wraps and License Plates in Colorizer
Colorizer will now be known as “Paint Shop” in the Toybox. You will now be able to personalize your Tesla Avatar with window tints, custom wraps, and license plates. Preloaded designs will be available, but owners will be able to use their USB Flash Drives to create one that suits their style.
Navigation Improvements
Changing the order of your destinations will be easier through a new “Favorites” tab, and Home and Work can now be set by dropping a pin.
There will also be “Suggested Destinations,” which will be determined through recent trips and habits while parked.
Supercharger Site Map
Perhaps the most significant feature of the Holiday Update, Tesla is adding a 3D view of select Tesla Superchargers by tapping “View Site Map.”
When navigating to a location with this capability, the site layout, live occupancy, and nearby amenities will be available. Drivers will also be able to choose which stall to Supercharge.
This is only available at a handful of locations currently, but it will expand to more Superchargers as it becomes more robust.
Automatic Carpool Lane Routing
Navigation will include an option to utilize carpool lanes. Your route will automatically choose the carpool lane when eligible.
Phone Left Behind Chime
If the in-car occupant detection system does not see anyone in the car and there is a phone key, or if a phone is left inside the cabin, your Tesla will chime a few seconds after the doors close.
Charge Limit Per Location
You can now save a charge limit for the current location while parked and it will be applied automatically the next time you charge there.
ISS Docking Simulator
In a SpaceX collaboration, Tesla has added this game to its in-car Arcade:
“Become an astronaut and prove your skills by docking with the International Space Station. Control & guide the rocket in this 3D docking simulator game using a set of controls based on actual interfaces used by NASA astronauts.”
Additional Improvements
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Enable or disable wireless phone charging pads in Controls > Charging (S3XY) or Controls > Outlets & Mods (Cybertruck)
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Add Spotify tracks to your queue right from the search screen & scroll through large Spotify playlists, albums, podcasts, audiobooks & your library seamlessly, without paging
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Take the vibes up another level with rainbow colors during Rave Cave. Accent lights color will change along with the beats of your music. App Launcher > Toybox > Light Sync
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Lock Sound now includes Light Cycle from Tron Mode. Toybox > Boombox > Lock Sound
What’s Missing
There are a handful of features we expected to see with the Holiday Update, but were not included.
Banish Feature
Tesla has been teasing the Banish functionality for quite a few years, but evidently, it is not quite there yet.
Banish will allow owners to get out of their vehicle at the entrance of their destination, and the car will go find a spot and park itself. Some refer to it as “Reverse Summon.”
Apple CarPlay
With all of the rumors regarding Apple CarPlay and then the evidence that Tesla was working to bring CarPlay to vehicles, we really expected it to come with the Holiday Update.
We’re not upset it’s not here, though. Tesla’s in-car UI is significantly better, at least in our opinion.
Parking Spot Selection
One of the biggest gripes about the new Arrival Features with Full Self-Driving v14 is that choosing a set parking spot is not available. This is especially frustrating for Tesla owners who rent or live in townhouse neighborhoods or apartment complexes with assigned parking.
Tesla seems to be working on this based on the release notes for v14.2, where it said future capabilities would include Parking Spot Selection.
Tesla gets price target boost, but it’s not all sunshine and rainbows
Tesla Optimus dramatically collapses after teleoperator mishap
