News
Final Antares flight successfully launches Space Station resupply mission
Antares’ final mission was a 100 percent success as the rocket sent the Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station.
The launch occurred on time at 8:31 p.m. ET (00:31 UTC) from Launch Pad 0 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island in Virginia. Cygnus will arrive at the International Space Station on August 4th and a planned berthing to the station at 5:55 a.m. ET (09:55 UTC).
Liftoff! @NorthropGrumman’s Antares rocket lights up the night sky over @NASA_Wallops. The #CRS19 S.S. Laurel Clark, named after the late astronaut, will deliver science, supplies, and snacks to the @Space_Station. pic.twitter.com/8XK9ZnsIVV
— NASA (@NASA) August 2, 2023
Since the first Cygnus mission, all have been named, and for this mission, it has been named the S.S. Laurel Clark in honor of the NASA astronaut who flew on the STS-107 Space Shuttle Columbia mission.
Following orbital insertion, the Cygnus spacecraft had no issues as it unfurled its two solar arrays that will provide power to the spacecraft on its journey to the Space Station. During the NG-18 mission, one of the solar arrays failed to deploy due to debris being lodged into the separation mechanics during stage separation.
Similar to how older SpaceX Dragon cargo capsules were berthed to the ISS, NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg will use the Canadarm2 to grapple Cygnus and attach it to the Space Station. Once Cygnus is attached, the crew aboard the ISS will begin removing the supplies and experiments from the vehicle.
In addition to the supplies, some of the experiments on board include:
Better water for explorers: This system, Exploration PWD, features advances in water sterilization, and microbial growth reduction, and has the ability to dispense hot water.
Testing gene therapy: Neuronix: will demonstrate the formation of three-dimensional neuronal cell cultures in microgravity and tests a neuron-specific gene therapy. If successful, it could provide the opportunity to test drugs and treatments for neurological disease on the ISS.
Astrobee: A free-flying robot that uses electric fans to navigate, will help astronauts with routine daily activities. The Astrobee system consists of 3 robots named Bumble, Honey, and Queen. The system has been in use off and on since 2018.
Cygnus will depart the ISS in October, carrying with it thousands of pounds of trash and one final experiment that will occur before its fiery re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.
The Spacecraft Fire Experiment-VI, the final in the series, will test flammability at different oxygen levels and demonstrate fire detection, combustion product monitoring, and post-fire cleanup capabilities.
The Saffire experiment in progress during a prior Cygnus mission (Credit NASA)
The next 3 Cygnus spacecraft will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 while Northrop Grumman and Firefly Aerospace work on developing the Antares 330 rocket that is due to launch no earlier than 2025.
Questions or comments? Shoot me an email at rangle@teslarati.com, or Tweet me @RDAnglePhoto.
Elon Musk
Tesla’s Elon Musk: 10 billion miles needed for safe Unsupervised FSD
As per the CEO, roughly 10 billion miles of training data are required due to reality’s “super long tail of complexity.”
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has provided an updated estimate for the training data needed to achieve truly safe unsupervised Full Self-Driving (FSD).
As per the CEO, roughly 10 billion miles of training data are required due to reality’s “super long tail of complexity.”
10 billion miles of training data
Musk comment came as a reply to Apple and Rivian alum Paul Beisel, who posted an analysis on X about the gap between tech demonstrations and real-world products. In his post, Beisel highlighted Tesla’s data-driven lead in autonomy, and he also argued that it would not be easy for rivals to become a legitimate competitor to FSD quickly.
“The notion that someone can ‘catch up’ to this problem primarily through simulation and limited on-road exposure strikes me as deeply naive. This is not a demo problem. It is a scale, data, and iteration problem— and Tesla is already far, far down that road while others are just getting started,” Beisel wrote.
Musk responded to Beisel’s post, stating that “Roughly 10 billion miles of training data is needed to achieve safe unsupervised self-driving. Reality has a super long tail of complexity.” This is quite interesting considering that in his Master Plan Part Deux, Elon Musk estimated that worldwide regulatory approval for autonomous driving would require around 6 billion miles.
FSD’s total training miles
As 2025 came to a close, Tesla community members observed that FSD was already nearing 7 billion miles driven, with over 2.5 billion miles being from inner city roads. The 7-billion-mile mark was passed just a few days later. This suggests that Tesla is likely the company today with the most training data for its autonomous driving program.
The difficulties of achieving autonomy were referenced by Elon Musk recently, when he commented on Nvidia’s Alpamayo program. As per Musk, “they will find that it’s easy to get to 99% and then super hard to solve the long tail of the distribution.” These sentiments were echoed by Tesla VP for AI software Ashok Elluswamy, who also noted on X that “the long tail is sooo long, that most people can’t grasp it.”
News
Tesla earns top honors at MotorTrend’s SDV Innovator Awards
MotorTrend’s SDV Awards were presented during CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
Tesla emerged as one of the most recognized automakers at MotorTrend’s 2026 Software-Defined Vehicle (SDV) Innovator Awards.
As could be seen in a press release from the publication, two key Tesla employees were honored for their work on AI, autonomy, and vehicle software. MotorTrend’s SDV Awards were presented during CES 2026 in Las Vegas.
Tesla leaders and engineers recognized
The fourth annual SDV Innovator Awards celebrate pioneers and experts who are pushing the automotive industry deeper into software-driven development. Among the most notable honorees for this year was Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s Vice President of AI Software, who received a Pioneer Award for his role in advancing artificial intelligence and autonomy across the company’s vehicle lineup.
Tesla also secured recognition in the Expert category, with Lawson Fulton, a staff Autopilot machine learning engineer, honored for his contributions to Tesla’s driver-assistance and autonomous systems.
Tesla’s software-first strategy
While automakers like General Motors, Ford, and Rivian also received recognition, Tesla’s multiple awards stood out given the company’s outsized role in popularizing software-defined vehicles over the past decade. From frequent OTA updates to its data-driven approach to autonomy, Tesla has consistently treated vehicles as evolving software platforms rather than static products.
This has made Tesla’s vehicles very unique in their respective sectors, as they are arguably the only cars that objectively get better over time. This is especially true for vehicles that are loaded with the company’s Full Self-Driving system, which are getting progressively more intelligent and autonomous over time. The majority of Tesla’s updates to its vehicles are free as well, which is very much appreciated by customers worldwide.
Elon Musk
Judge clears path for Elon Musk’s OpenAI lawsuit to go before a jury
The decision maintains Musk’s claims that OpenAI’s shift toward a for-profit structure violated early assurances made to him as a co-founder.
A U.S. judge has ruled that Elon Musk’s lawsuit accusing OpenAI of abandoning its founding nonprofit mission can proceed to a jury trial.
The decision maintains Musk’s claims that OpenAI’s shift toward a for-profit structure violated early assurances made to him as a co-founder. These claims are directly opposed by OpenAI.
Judge says disputed facts warrant a trial
At a hearing in Oakland, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers stated that there was “plenty of evidence” suggesting that OpenAI leaders had promised that the organization’s original nonprofit structure would be maintained. She ruled that those disputed facts should be evaluated by a jury at a trial in March rather than decided by the court at this stage, as noted in a Reuters report.
Musk helped co-found OpenAI in 2015 but left the organization in 2018. In his lawsuit, he argued that he contributed roughly $38 million, or about 60% of OpenAI’s early funding, based on assurances that the company would remain a nonprofit dedicated to the public benefit. He is seeking unspecified monetary damages tied to what he describes as “ill-gotten gains.”
OpenAI, however, has repeatedly rejected Musk’s allegations. The company has stated that Musk’s claims were baseless and part of a pattern of harassment.
Rivalries and Microsoft ties
The case unfolds against the backdrop of intensifying competition in generative artificial intelligence. Musk now runs xAI, whose Grok chatbot competes directly with OpenAI’s flagship ChatGPT. OpenAI has argued that Musk is a frustrated commercial rival who is simply attempting to slow down a market leader.
The lawsuit also names Microsoft as a defendant, citing its multibillion-dollar partnerships with OpenAI. Microsoft has urged the court to dismiss the claims against it, arguing there is no evidence it aided or abetted any alleged misconduct. Lawyers for OpenAI have also pushed for the case to be thrown out, claiming that Musk failed to show sufficient factual basis for claims such as fraud and breach of contract.
Judge Gonzalez Rogers, however, declined to end the case at this stage, noting that a jury would also need to consider whether Musk filed the lawsuit within the applicable statute of limitations. Still, the dispute between Elon Musk and OpenAI is now headed for a high-profile jury trial in the coming months.
Tesla’s Elon Musk: 10 billion miles needed for safe Unsupervised FSD
Tesla earns top honors at MotorTrend’s SDV Innovator Awards
