News
NASA set for upcoming Mars mission to seek signs of ancient life on the red planet
Just three weeks ahead of liftoff, NASA and launch provider United Launch Alliance (ULA) announced that NASA’s Mars 2020 rover, Perseverance, and its Martian helicopter sidekick, Ingenuity, were mated with the Atlas V 541 rocket that will kick off the seven-month journey to the Red Planet. The precious cargo encapsulated inside of a protective payload fairing was carefully hoisted by crane operators to rest atop the Atlas V rocket. The payload joins the Atlas V common core booster, four solid rocket boosters, and the Centaur upper stage to achieve the stack’s final flight configuration height of 197 feet (60 meters).
The United Launch Alliance (ULA) payload fairing with NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover secured inside is positioned on top of the ULA Atlas V rocket inside the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on July 7, 2020. (Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett)
The final stacking procedure was completed inside of the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41). The rocket and payload will remain inside the protective structure and complete final check out tests until it is time quite literally roll to the launchpad. Crane operators first set down the payload for a soft touch to begin final full physical and electrical connection. The spacecraft and rocket will undergo integrated electrical testing as well as a battery of other tests as separate spacecraft and simultaneously as one complete unit.
On Friday (July 10), ULA president and chief executive officer, Tory Bruno, stated on Twitter that the Integrated Systems Test (IST) had been completed successfully. According to a previous mission statement posted to the ULA blog site, the IST is a typical pre-launch run down of the various connected systems between the spacecraft and launch vehicle to “verify proper functionality of launch vehicle systems, (and) conduct a simulated countdown and run through the launch sequence.”
The launch vehicle and integrated payload will remain inside the VIF undergoing mission-specific activities and final system checkouts over the next two weeks. Once all pre-flight activities have been successfully completed, approximately two days ahead of the scheduled launch attempt, the entire stack located on top of the Mobile Launch Platform will make the 1,800ft (550 meters) trip to the SLC-41 launchpad which will take about forty-minutes on a modified railway.
Known as an astrobiology mission and outfitted with seven instruments, the Perseverance rover will conduct new science, sample collection, and test new technology in search of ancient microbial life on the distant planet. The rover will spend the length of one Martian year – two Earth years – exploring the region around its landing site. It will collect and cache samples of the Martian surface to possibly be collected and returned to Earth by future joint missions currently under consideration by NASA and the European Space Agency.
The first interplanetary helicopter, Ingenuity, is a small 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) autonomous solar-powered aircraft that will conduct a series of experimental test flights. Ingenuity is traveling to Mars solely for a demonstrative mission and is not connected to the Perseverance rover by any means other than hitching a ride to the Red Planet. The new technology will demonstrate an ability to create lift in the thin atmosphere and lower gravity environment of Mars to help inform future aerial exploration and science delivery missions.
Currently, NASA and ULA are targeting the launch of the interplanetary mission on July 30th at 7:50 am EDT/4:50 PDT. Should they be necessary, multiple backup launch opportunities are available until the close of the interplanetary launch window on August 15th. Regardless of the launch date, after a seven-month-long, 290 million mile (467 million kilometers) journey – the rover and helicopter will arrive at Mars’s Jezero Crater, the home to an ancient Martian river delta, for a landing attempt on February 18, 2021. The landing date is perhaps even more crucial than the launch date as mission planners must take into account landing site lighting and temperature conditions and the locations of Mars-orbiting satellites required to relay crucial mission-specific information back to Earth.
Should the launch have to abort, and the 2020 window is missed completely, the robots will have to wait until 2022 when Earth’s orbit lines up just right with that of Mars, and the next interplanetary launch window opens up.
Featured
Tesla Cybercab is coming to Asia this month as US service officially begins
Tesla Asia says Cybercab will be on display in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai this month.
Tesla’s Cybercab is heading to Asia. The official Tesla Asia account posted on X Thursday, inviting Cybercab fans to “Come experience the future of autonomy in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing & Shanghai.” The post went up within hours of Tesla’s own Cybercab milestone in Texas, where the company said Thursday it had begun offering rides in across Austin.
Exact dates and venues for the Asia tour haven’t been released yet, though Tesla Hong Kong replied to the announcement with “Cybercab will be on display in Hong Kong soon,” while Tesla Japan’s response pointed fans to a sign up page for updates. Neither post mentions test rides or a service area, and nothing so far suggests Tesla is launching Robotaxi operations in any of the four cities. Based on how Tesla has run past Cybercab tours, in Europe in late 2024 and at US shopping centers that same December, the Asia stops are almost certainly static displays at Tesla stores or public venues as a means to stimulate buzz for its future driverless ride-hailing service in the big cities.
Cybercab will be on display in Asia this month!
Come experience the future of autonomy in Hong Kong, Tokyo, Beijing & Shanghai. pic.twitter.com/wGmmEastfX— Tesla Asia (@Tesla_Asia) September 4, 2026
The timing lines up with Tesla’s only prior Cybercab appearance in the region, a booth at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai last November, which Teslarati covered at the time. At that event, Tesla’s regional general manager for Shanghai framed the car as evidence of the company’s broader mission, a message Tesla has since formalized in its Master Plan Part IV, which states that “autonomous vehicles have the capacity to dramatically improve the affordability, availability and safety of transportation while reducing pollution, particularly in our increasingly dense global cities.” The same document is where Tesla lays out its “sustainable abundance” framing for Cybercab and Optimus alike, describing the two as the hardware behind an AI driven push to cut the cost of transportation and labor at scale.
Whether Cybercab actually operates as a robotaxi anywhere in Asia remains an open question, considering China has already pushed an autonomous ride-hailing market that’s run on homegrown players like Baidu’s Apollo Go and Pony AI. For now, the four city tour reads as a marketing push timed to Austin’s momentum.
Lifestyle
Tesla Cybertruck targets job site crews with new Tailgate Utility Track and Bed Gear Box accessory
Tesla launched a $350 tailgate track and a $985 lockable Bed Gear Box for Cybertruck.
Tesla’s Cybertruck team added two more items to the Tesla Shop, targeting job site crews and owners who use the truck bed for actual work rather than just showing it off. The official Cybertruck X account posted the Tailgate Utility Track and the Bed Gear Box within minutes of each other, part of a five item batch that also included a reflective jacket, a spray paint hat and an updated reflective tee.
The Tailgate Utility Track runs $350 and turns the folded down tailgate into another mounting surface. It’s a single aluminum track with a T-slot for sliding accessories and two L-track attachment points, plus two load stops included in the box. The pitch is straightforward: strap down oversized cargo, like lumber or a cooler, that hangs off the back of the bed without it sliding out mid-drive. It bolts onto the existing tailgate and works on every Cybertruck trim.
Tailgate Utility Trackhttps://t.co/PCAYXlFBvS pic.twitter.com/sCV2NVxf1W
— Cybertruck (@cybertruck) September 3, 2026
The Bed Gear Box costs $985 and is a different kind of accessory. It’s a lockable aluminum storage box, 55.78 inches long, 19.8 inches wide and 7.79 inches tall, that mounts to the bed’s L-track rails and comes with two internal bins for smaller items. According to Tesla, at just over 57 pounds empty, it’s meant to stay in place rather than come in and out with each trip, giving owners a factory-fit alternative to loose totes for tools, recovery gear or emergency supplies. Tesla’s listing notes that Long Range and Dual Motor AWD Cybertrucks need the L-Tracks accessory installed separately before the Gear Box will mount, since L-tracks come standard only on certain configurations.
Tesla Cybertruck bed gear box accessory
Both accessories lean on the idea Tesla has been building toward since Elon Musk first described the Cybertruck’s third-party attachment strategy at the 2023 shareholder meeting, when he said the truck would ship with mounting points so outside companies, and Tesla itself, could keep adding gear without redesigning the bed. That’s the same L-track backbone underneath the tailgate shield and jumpseats Tesla launched last year, and the off-road armor package that arrived through the same X account in 2025.
Owners looking to round out the rest of the L-track ecosystem, cargo dividers, MOLLE panels, bed racks and similar gear, can find a wider range of options through our Cybertruck accessories collection.
Update: Tesla has announced Cybercab will enter the public fleet on Friday, September 4 at 5 p.m. CT. The article and headline have been updated to reflect this.
Tesla Cybercab rides will officially open to the public in Austin, Texas, on Friday, September 4 at 5 p.m. CT, as the company confirmed on Thursday following its launch event that the two-seater would be available in the company’s Robotaxi fleet.
Cybercab is Tesla’s first vehicle completely void of any manual controls. It has no steering wheel and no pedals, and it will utilize Tesla’s Full Self-Driving fleet to operate. The first rides have already happened, as those at the event were able to hail a Cybercab to any location within the company’s geofence in Austin.
Tesla’s $25K car is the Cybercab with no steering wheel or pedals
The addition of Cybercab to the public Robotaxi fleet is a major statement in Tesla’s trek to launch fully autonomous driving. For years, critics have complained about the need for drivers to continuously supervise the vehicle.
With Cybercab, there are no manual controls in the cockpit other than to control the seat, the center screen, and the climate. The vehicle is fully geared toward being a living room on wheels in a sense: equipped with Starlink V5 satellites, CEO Elon Musk said the vehicle would enable 4K live video, gaming, and other entertainment options during travel.
Cybercab is basically a super comfortable lounge on wheels with a great TV and epic sound https://t.co/X1aWKoJdJV
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 3, 2026
Musk noted that Cybercab is “designed and built for maximally efficient autonomous operation.”
Tesla continues to push the envelope on autonomy, and over the next several months, the company could start selling Cybercab units to the public.
The company opened up a public interest form on its website to gauge demand, and many have already submitted requests to purchase a fleet of Cybercab units for their own personal ride-hailing side hustle.
The launch of Cybercab in this area marks a major accomplishment for Tesla, as it also announced that it has reached 1 million unsupervised autonomous miles since launching driverless rides on the Robotaxi fleet.
Things are moving along at a fine pace, and although we have waited for this for some time, the day has finally come when Tesla is offering self-driving rides of some kind to the public.
Tesla Cybercab is coming to Asia this month as US service officially begins
Tesla Cybertruck targets job site crews with new Tailgate Utility Track and Bed Gear Box accessory
