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Answering Elon Musk’s call for help to build Thailand’s cave rescue pod in 24 hours

[Credit: Giovanna Castro Salas/Wing Inflatables via Mad River Union]

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8 years ago

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On the morning of Friday, July 6, Andrew Branagh received a call that would put his company’s 30-year experience in the field to the test. Branagh, who serves as the CEO of Arcata-based Wing Inflatables, had been asked by Elon Musk’s engineering team from SpaceX to construct an inflatable escape pod for the 12 children and their coach who are currently stranded in an air pocket inside the sprawling Tham Luang Nang Non cave complex in Thailand. Knowing that time is of the essence, Branagh and his team got to work.

The stranded members of the Wild Boar Soccer Team have been stranded in the caves since June 23, after a casual excursion into the underground caverns turned into a pitch-black ordeal due to flash floods. The group of 13, comprised of boys aged 11-16 and their 25-year-old coach, were missing until this past Monday, when they were located by two UK divers. The children and their coach have been given food and survival supplies, and on Tuesday, a doctor and a nurse spent the night with them. While the group is safe for now, however, retrieving them is not easy, considering that they are located 2.5 miles away from the entrance to the caves. Parts of the cave systems are also underwater, which would force the children to dive into murky waters during their retrieval.

Wing Inflatables’ rescue pods under construction. [Credit: Giovanna Castro Salas/Wing Inflatables via Mad River Union]

In a tweet on Friday, Elon Musk posted a brief update on Twitter stating that SpaceX and Boring Co. engineers are headed to Thailand in order to see if they can be helpful to the government’s rescue efforts. That was the same day that Branagh woke up to a text and call from the SpaceX team. Branagh notes that the message was brief, but the request was clear.

“Elon has an idea, or our team does.”

Musk’s initial idea to rescue the trapped children is to use an inflatable tube. Considering Wing’s experience in the field, Branagh and his team went to work refining the idea. The result was a submersible “torpedo,” which could hold a person with an air tank and a breathing apparatus. The torpedo is designed to be towed by its front and back, and be sleek enough to be guided through the cave system’s trickiest sections. Branagh opted to utilize 30% of his company’s workforce for the fast-track effort, reducing his business’ usual output by half. The CEO’s gambit worked, and by 9:30 a.m. on Friday, a prototype was ready. Branagh noted that the first rescue pod, which is 7-feet-long, sealed with velcro, and inflatable with the passenger’s exhaled air, was a finished product. There were no throw-away units or re-dos. There was just not enough time.

By 1:00 p.m., Wing’s rescue pod was tested on the Arcata Community Pool, with a certified dive instructor and two individuals who do not know how to swim. The tests were encouraging, with both test individuals being able to breathe comfortably inside the rescue pod. Branagh had also been speaking with Musk and his engineering staff in a conference call.

“He (Elon) was very direct and clear on supporting getting a solution in place,” Branagh said.

By 5:15 p.m., the first set of Wing Inflatables rescue pods were ready to be transported from Arcata-Eureka airport in Northern CA.

Apart from the inflatable pods that the engineers from SpaceX and The Boring Company transported to Thailand on Friday, Musk and his team at LA are also designing a mini-submarine for the children. In a series of tweets over the weekend, Musk stated that the mini-sub would be small enough to fit through the contours of the cave and its hull will be made of the same material as the oxygen transfer tube of a Falcon rocket, making it extremely durable. The mini-sub would have four handles and hitch points for the front and rear, with two air tanks on both front and rear, allowing up to four tanks to be connected.

Rescue efforts for the stranded children are already underway as of Sunday. For this rescue attempt, the children would have to dive using scuba gear into the waters with two experienced divers. Divers who will be conducting the retrieval of the soccer team are expected to spend 11 hours inside the caves, six hours heading to the children, and five hours going out. It remains unknown for now if the rescuers will be utilizing the rescue pods delivered by the SpaceX and Boring Co. team. Musk’s mini-sub continues testing in LA, just in case it’s needed for the cave rescue efforts.

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Tesla Robotaxi ride-hailing without a Safety Monitor proves to be difficult

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3 hours ago

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January 26, 2026

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Credit: Grok Imagine

Tesla Robotaxi ride-hailing without a Safety Monitor is proving to be a difficult task, according to some riders who made the journey to Austin to attempt to ride in one of its vehicles that has zero supervision.

Last week, Tesla officially removed Safety Monitors from some — not all — of its Robotaxi vehicles in Austin, Texas, answering skeptics who said the vehicles still needed supervision to operate safely and efficiently.

BREAKING: Tesla launches public Robotaxi rides in Austin with no Safety Monitor

Tesla aimed to remove Safety Monitors before the end of 2025, and it did, but only to company employees. It made the move last week to open the rides to the public, just a couple of weeks late to its original goal, but the accomplishment was impressive, nonetheless.

However, the small number of Robotaxis that are operating without Safety Monitors has proven difficult to hail for a ride. David Moss, who has gained notoriety recently as the person who has traveled over 10,000 miles in his Tesla on Full Self-Driving v14 without any interventions, made it to Austin last week.

He has tried to get a ride in a Safety Monitor-less Robotaxi for the better part of four days, and after 38 attempts, he still has yet to grab one:

Tesla said last week that it was rolling out a controlled test of the Safety Monitor-less Robotaxis. Ashok Elluswamy, who heads the AI program at Tesla, confirmed that the company was “starting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader Robotaxi fleet with Safety Monitors,” and that “the ratio will increase over time.”

This is a good strategy that prioritizes safety and keeps the company’s controlled rollout at the forefront of the Robotaxi rollout.

However, it will be interesting to see how quickly the company can scale these completely monitor-less rides. It has proven to be extremely difficult to get one, but that is understandable considering only a handful of the cars in the entire Austin fleet are operating with no supervision within the vehicle.

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Tesla gives its biggest hint that Full Self-Driving in Europe is imminent

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5 hours ago

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January 26, 2026

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Credit: BLKMDL3 | X

Tesla has given its biggest hint that Full Self-Driving in Europe is imminent, as a new feature seems to show that the company is preparing for frequent border crossings.

Tesla owner and influencer BLKMDL3, also known as Zack, recently took his Tesla to the border of California and Mexico at Tijuana, and at the international crossing, Full Self-Driving showed an interesting message: “Upcoming country border — FSD (Supervised) will become unavailable.”

Due to regulatory approvals, once a Tesla operating on Full Self-Driving enters a new country, it is required to comply with the laws and regulations that are applicable to that territory. Even if legal, it seems Tesla will shut off FSD temporarily, confirming it is in a location where operation is approved.

This is something that will be extremely important in Europe, as crossing borders there is like crossing states in the U.S.; it’s pretty frequent compared to life in America, Canada, and Mexico.

Tesla has been working to get FSD approved in Europe for several years, and it has been getting close to being able to offer it to owners on the continent. However, it is still working through a lot of the red tape that is necessary for European regulators to approve use of the system on their continent.

This feature seems to be one that would be extremely useful in Europe, considering the fact that crossing borders into other countries is much more frequent than here in the U.S., and would cater to an area where approvals would differ.

Tesla has been testing FSD in Spain, France, England, and other European countries, and plans to continue expanding this effort. European owners have been fighting for a very long time to utilize the functionality, but the red tape has been the biggest bottleneck in the process.

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Tesla Europe builds momentum with expanding FSD demos and regional launches

Tesla operates Full Self-Driving in the United States, China, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.

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SpaceX Starship V3 gets launch date update from Elon Musk

The first flight of Starship Version 3 and its new Raptor V3 engines could happen as early as March.

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5 hours ago

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January 26, 2026

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Credit: SpaceX/X

Elon Musk has announced that SpaceX’s next Starship launch, Flight 12, is expected in about six weeks. This suggests that the first flight of Starship Version 3 and its new Raptor V3 engines could happen as early as March.

In a post on X, Elon Musk stated that the next Starship launch is in six weeks. He accompanied his announcement with a photo that seemed to have been taken when Starship’s upper stage was just about to separate from the Super Heavy Booster. Musk did not state whether SpaceX will attempt to catch the Super Heavy Booster during the upcoming flight.

The upcoming flight will mark the debut of Starship V3. The upgraded design includes the new Raptor V3 engine, which is expected to have nearly twice the thrust of the original Raptor 1, at a fraction of the cost and with significantly reduced weight. The Starship V3 platform is also expected to be optimized for manufacturability. 

The Starship V3 Flight 12 launch timeline comes as SpaceX pursues an aggressive development cadence for the fully reusable launch system. Previous iterations of Starship have racked up a mixed but notable string of test flights, including multiple integrated flight tests in 2025.

Interestingly enough, SpaceX has teased an aggressive timeframe for Starship V3’s first flight. Way back in late November, SpaceX noted on X that it will be aiming to launch Starship V3’s maiden flight in the first quarter of 2026. This was despite setbacks like a structural anomaly on the first V3 booster during ground testing.

“Starship’s twelfth flight test remains targeted for the first quarter of 2026,” the company wrote in its post on X. 

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