News
NASA Mars rover promises blazing entrance after China, UAE make it to Mars orbit
The month of the robotic invasion of Mars is upon us. Seven months ago, the United States, China, and the United Arab Emirates launched missions on a 300 million mile (480 million kilometer) journey to Mars.
Last week, two of the three missions quietly arrived and inserted themselves into Mars orbit. The final spacecraft to arrive, NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance mission, however, will not go gently into the Martian atmosphere. On Thursday, February 18, NASA’s latest Mars mission destined to uncover evidence of ancient microbial life on the distant planet is set to touchdown following a spectacular display of extremely complex engineering.
Getting to Mars
Launching to the Red Planet is a strategic maneuver that can only be completed once every two years. This is due to the varying speeds and the elliptical shape of the planets’ orbits around the sun. The point at which Earth and Mars are aligned close enough to minimize travel time, called an opposition, occurs only once every two years.

The update that's rolling out to the fleet makes full use of the front and rear steering travel to minimize turning circle. In this case a reduction of 1.6 feet just over the air— Wes (@wmorrill3) April 16, 2024
The most recent opposition occurred in July 2020. Four international Mars missions were intended to leave Earth that summer, however, due to required further certification of parachutes the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover would have to wait for its launch opportunity during the next planetary opposition to occur in 2022. That left three robotic invaders from the United States, the United Arab Emirates, and China to escape Earth’s orbit and become interplanetary superstars.
Hope arrives to Mars
The United Arab Emirates Space Agency’s first-ever interplanetary mission, a spacecraft named Al-Amal, or the Hope Probe, was developed in collaboration between the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder, Arizona State University, and the Space Sciences Lab at the University of California, Berkeley. It was launched on July 19, 2020, from Tanegashima Space Centre in Japan aboard an H2A202 rocket. On Tuesday, February 9, the Hope Probe was the first of the three missions to complete the journey to Mars and successfully insert itself into orbit.
The Hope Probe arrived to near-Mars orbit traveling approximately 75,000 mph (121,000 kph), far too fast to successfully achieve a safe Martian orbital insertion maneuver. In order to slow down to the approximate 11,000mph (18,000 kph) needed to be captured by Mars orbit, the spacecraft had to autonomously fire its main thrusters and perform a Mars Orbit Insertion burn lasting an agonizing 27 minutes. To compensate in the instance of a thruster failure, there was a backup safety protocol that would’ve doubled the length of the burn. After 27 grueling minutes, the Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Center located in Dubai reported that the maneuver was completed successfully and the Hope Probe had arrived at its final destination.

Unlike the American and Chinese missions to Mars which will land rovers on the surface, the United Arab Emirates’ Hope Probe will remain in Mars orbit for the duration of its mission – approximately two Martian years. The spacecraft is equipped with a suite of three instruments, two spectrometers – one infrared and one ultraviolet – to study the Martian atmosphere, and one imager to capture high-resolution images to study the surface from afar.
China’s Tianwen-1 Rover will hang out in orbit before landing in May
The same type of Mars Orbit Insertion maneuver was completed by China’s first interplanetary mission, the Tianwen-1 spacecraft. Launched from China on July 23, 2020, Tianwen-1 arrived at Mars orbit just one day after the Hope Probe on Wednesday, February 10.
The Tianwen-1 spacecraft had to autonomously complete an excruciating 11-minute “braking” burn to slow down which took it behind the planet as it was captured by Mars gravity and entered into orbit.
Like NASA’s Perseverance, the Tianwen-1 mission features a rover that will eventually land on the surface of Mars. The process to get the rover to the surface, however, varies from that of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance mission.
The Tianwen-1 spacecraft is made of two components, an orbiter and a rover. Currently, it is planned that the orbiter will spend some time in Mars orbit for a period of comprehensive observation before attempting a landing of the rover in May. Ideally, the spacecraft will then touch down in a region known as Utopia Planitia.

The update that's rolling out to the fleet makes full use of the front and rear steering travel to minimize turning circle. In this case a reduction of 1.6 feet just over the air— Wes (@wmorrill3) April 16, 2024
Once the rover safely makes it to the surface it will initiate the investigation period of the mission. The rover carries a suite of scientific instruments that will be used to investigate the composition of the Martian surface searching for the potential distribution of water and ice. Similar to China’s Yutu 2 rover which is exploring the Moon, the Tianwen-1 rover also carries a panoramic camera to image the planet.
Perseverance and Ingenuity like no other
The last of the three Mars missions – NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance mission launched on July 30, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. As far as Mars arrivals go, the best has certainly been saved for last. Following the success of the other two missions from China and the United Arab Emirates, the stage is set for Perseverance to make its dramatic entrance.

NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is by far the most ambitious mission to launch to Mars during the 2020 planetary transfer window. NASA is not attempting to land one, but two spacecraft on the surface of Mars. The $2.4 billion Mars 2020 mission is comprised of the Perseverance rover – powered by the heat produced by radioactive decay of Plutonium – and a first of its kind rotary helicopter called Ingenuity. It is scheduled to arrive in dramatic fashion on Thursday, February 18.
Rather than conducting a braking maneuver to slow down and enter Mars orbit, the Perseverance spacecraft will autonomously conduct the entry, descent, and landing (EDL) procedure – essentially going from traveling several thousand miles an hour to descending slowly under a parachute canopy to softly land in mere minutes.
The spacecraft – housed in a protective aeroshell with its robust heat shield facing the planet’s surface – will burst into Mars’ atmosphere traveling nearly 12,500 mph (20,000 kph). Once through, Pesevereance will ditch its heat shield and autonomously begin scanning the Martain terrain to determine its relative location and make adjustments to find an optimal landing spot. Then, a powered descent module will deploy transporting the rover the rest of the way down slowing to less than 2mph (3kph). Finally, the descent module will hover and deploy a complex harness system lowering Perseverance – and its stowaway, the Ingenuity helicopter – to the Martian surface for touchdown.

After seven months of interplanetary travel, it all comes down to the final seven minutes – the length of time the EDL process is expected to take. All spacecraft controllers back on Earth can do is watch and wait for that final telemetry reading indicating that Perseverance has successfully touched down. That is why this process has earned the nickname “seven minutes of terror.”
Beginning around 11:15 am PST (19:15 UTC) on Thursday, February 18th, NASA will provide live coverage of Perseverance’s landing attempt. The agency will carry the coverage on NASA TV and its website, as well as a number of other platforms including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitch, Daily Motion, Theta.TV, and NASA App.
News
Tesla Roadster unveiling nears, and it will fly: The Information
Tesla is nearing its long-awaited unveiling of the all-electric Tesla Roadster, a new report from The Information claims, as the company has said several times this year that the event would take place “soon.”
Now, it appears there is movement on Tesla’s end regarding when it will happen.
The report says that Tesla will unveil the Roadster as soon as this month with a SpaceX version that will utilize cold-gas thrusters to help the vehicle float for a short period of time. This is something CEO Elon Musk has talked about with the Roadster for years.
🚨 The Information is reporting this morning that Tesla is ready to unveil the “flying” Roadster as soon as this month
It’s almost here, folks. pic.twitter.com/IdL4atsucQ
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 14, 2026
Additionally, due to the delays, Tesla explored “a variety of designs” for the Roadster, potentially planning to abandon the design it showed off for the first time in 2017 and adopting an entirely new aesthetic.
According to The Information, Tesla considered utilizing a repurposed Model S Plaid and even wanted to upgrade the look to something like a Lamborghini Countach.
We’ve heard all of these things before, including teases about the date and how “soon” the Roadster will finally be ready to be shown off to the world (for the second time). Musk said that the event would occur in April, then May, then Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen continued to say it would be coming “soon.”
We do expect to see the Roadster by the end of the year, and now with this new report swirling, it appears it could be sooner rather than later.
The wait has been incredibly long, but there is likely a good reason for it. Tesla’s desire to make the Roadster the craziest vehicle on the road was non-negotiable, and it likely took a lot of time and resources to develop and perfect into something that was safe and suitable for a vehicle like this.
Featured
Tesla finally got its Nevada Robotaxi Permit but with a few catches hard to miss
Nevada granted Tesla’s robotaxi permit, but capped the fleet at just ten vehicles for now.
Tesla has received its robotaxi permit in Nevada, more than two months after regulators closed the public comment period on the company’s application. News of the approval surfaced Wednesday night when Tesla investor and longtime company watcher Sawyer Merritt posted a copy of the interim order, and the Nevada Transportation Authority’s own carrier registry now lists the permit, AVNC Permit 002 under Docket 26-05015, as active for Tesla Robotaxi, LLC.
Tesla asked Nevada in June for authority to run up to 5,000 vehicles in Clark County within a year, however the permit the NTA issued is initially capping Tesla at ten fully autonomous vehicles and confines them to a defined geofence along the Las Vegas Strip corridor. Any expansion of that operating area, or any increase to the fleet size, requires the NTA’s approval first.
Tesla has received its Autonomous Vehicle Network Company permit in Nevada.
The Nevada Transportation Authority says that operations are limited to a maximum fleet of 10 fully autonomous vehicles and shall be conducted only within the Authority-approved Operational Design… https://t.co/Cxfd6GIfDk pic.twitter.com/iOO6wSZkHF
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) August 13, 2026
The order also sets rules that look more restrictive than what Tesla runs in Austin. Rides are barred on roads with posted speed limits above 45 miles per hour, pickups are off limits within a quarter mile of Harry Reid International Airport without separate authorization, and every vehicle has to carry visible “Robotaxi” markings while notifying riders before each trip that no one is driving. The order also requires “appropriate human supervision”, language that suggests Nevada isn’t ready to let Tesla offer the rides without a safety monitor that it has run in parts of Austin since January. As with standard protocol with robotaxi services, Tesla must report any accident, system failure, or vehicle that becomes stranded on a Nevada road within five business days.
Tesla is entering a market Nevada already knows well. Zoox, the Amazon owned robotaxi company, has run its own autonomous vehicle permit in the state since last year, building up to roughly 100 vehicles and 350,000 rides along the Strip. That history likely explains why the NTA started Tesla at ten cars rather than the fleet size the company asked for. The agency has a template for scaling a permit up once a company proves out its safety record.
Tesla’s Nevada application first surfaced in June, when the company filed for the permit alongside plans for a maintenance hub in southwest Las Vegas. The company has said it won’t meaningfully scale its robotaxi fleet anywhere until FSD v15 ships, expected in late 2026 or early 2027, which makes the ten vehicle cap less of a constraint today than it might look on paper. For now, Tesla has the legal right to start Nevada rides. Whether it starts before FSD v15 arrives is a separate question the permit doesn’t answer.
Energy
Tesla launches Powerwall Lease for affordable home backup
Tesla Energy has introduced the Powerwall Lease in conjunction with Tesla Electric, making the service available in Texas. This new option delivers whole-home backup power using two Powerwall units for a net monthly cost of $35 after credits, accompanied by a low fixed electricity rate.
Under the lease terms, customers pay a one-time order fee of $100. The base lease payment for the two Powerwalls is approximately $122 per month during the first year, subject to a 3 percent annual escalator thereafter. Enrollment in a qualifying Tesla Electric Backup plan or Virtual Power Plant plan provides an $87 monthly credit.
Powerwall Lease is now available with Tesla Electric in Texas
Whole-home backup for $35/month, with a low fixed electricity rate
– Two Powerwalls, $0 installation
– Storm Watch outage protection
– One app to manage it all pic.twitter.com/oTzqc6K3aF— Tesla Energy (@teslaenergy) August 13, 2026
This credit lowers the effective cost to roughly $35 per month plus applicable tax.
Installation of the standard system carries no additional charge. The package features Storm Watch for outage protection and allows complete management through a single Tesla application. The system supplies continuous whole-home backup capability.
The Powerwall system enables households to maintain electricity during severe storms that disrupt the utility grid. When outages occur, the batteries automatically provide seamless backup power to the home.
Tesla announces 100k Powerwalls are participating in Virtual Power Plants
Tesla Storm Watch monitors weather forecasts and ensures the units are fully charged ahead of anticipated severe weather events so that power remains available throughout the disruption, keeping lights, refrigeration, and other essential systems operating without interruption.
Availability is restricted to select Texas locations where retail electric choice exists. Participants must lease exactly two Powerwall units and maintain continuous enrollment with Tesla Electric. Solar panels cannot be included under this particular lease arrangement.
The monthly credit activates automatically once the system is installed, receives permission to operate, and enrollment is confirmed. To retain the credit, customers are required to stay enrolled in Tesla Electric and fulfill all program conditions.
Nonstandard installations that involve electrical upgrades or special permitting may lead to extra expenses and might impact eligibility for the credit, so be sure to check with either your installer or Tesla to ensure you will still qualify.



