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NASA spacecraft ready for voyage to the Sun on SpaceX competitor’s biggest rocket (Update)
Update: Issues with rocket and ground support hardware ran down the August 11 launch window. ULA scrubbed the attempt and has recycled the launch to August 12, 3:31 am EDT/07:31 UTC. The second attempt will again be streamed by NASA TV.
#DeltaIV Parker #SolarProbe launch is planned for Sunday, Aug. 12, from Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The forecast shows a 60 percent chance of favorable weather conditions for launch. The launch time is 3:31 a.m. ET. https://t.co/IUd13yZFEx
— ULA (@ulalaunch) August 11, 2018
Teslarati photographer Tom Cross is on the ground in Cape Canaveral, Florida ahead of what will most certainly be a spectacular launch of NASA’s sun-bound Parker Solar Probe atop SpaceX competitor ULA’s (United Launch Alliance) Delta IV Heavy, the world’s second most powerful operational rocket.
https://twitter.com/_TomCross_/status/1028082435936997376
Second only to SpaceX’s recently-debuted Falcon Heavy rocket, the Delta IV Heavy (DIVH) is a massive beast of a launch vehicle made up of three single-engine boosters that produce more than 2.1 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. As a side-effect of the rocket’s liquid hydrogen and oxygen fuel choice, DIVH’s booster bodies are a solid 5 meters in diameter (40% wider than Falcon 9) to account for the fact that hydrogen is far less energy-dense than kerosene (Falcon 9’s fuel of choice).
The launch of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe (PSP) will be Delta Heavy’s 10th launch since it first debuted in 2004, giving a taste for how infrequently the rocket typically launches – averaging less than once a year. The target of Parker Solar Probe’s mission happens to be the Sun itself, more specifically the dispersed aura of plasma (superheated gas) – known as the solar corona – that surrounds it.
In pursuit of “touching the surface of the sun”, PSP will wind up becoming the fastest human-made object in history, reaching velocities upwards of 200 km/s (120 mi/s) at a distance from the sun of just 6 million km (3.7 million mi). At that unfathomable speed, Parker Solar Probe would travel from Los Angeles to Manhattan in 20 seconds.
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- Delta IV Heavy seen launching a classified NRO payload in 2013. (ULA)
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- The first stage of Parker Solar Probe’s Delta IV Heavy rocket prepares to be lifted vertical. (ULA)
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- Parker Solar Probe is encapsulated inside Delta IV Heavy’s payload fairing ahead of launch. (NASA)
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- Encapsulated in its payload fairing, Parker Solar Probe is craned atop Delta IV Heavy in a process known as vertical integration. (NASA)
That close to the sun, the temperatures PSP will be subjected to are extraordinary, thanks to the fact that sunlight will be a full 500 times more powerful than the light that reaches us humans on and around Earth. To survive temperatures as high as high as 1,377℃ (2,500°F) and keep its highly-sensitive scientific instruments and spacecraft bits at a more reasonable 29.4℃ (85°F), PSP will bring along a heat shield just big enough for the craft to hide behind.
ULA’s Delta IV Heavy is currently scheduled to launch NASA’s Parker Solar Probe from Cape Canaveral at 12:33 am PDT/3:33 am EDT/07:33 UTC. Follow along in real-time with NASA TV’s live coverage of the launch and stay tuned for photos from Teslarati photographer Tom Cross’ remote cameras.
For prompt updates, on-the-ground perspectives, and unique glimpses of SpaceX’s rocket recovery fleet (including fairing catcher Mr Steven) check out our brand new LaunchPad and LandingZone newsletters!
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NVIDIA Director of Robotics: Tesla FSD v14 is the first AI to pass the “Physical Turing Test”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine.
NVIDIA Director of Robotics Jim Fan has praised Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14 as the first AI to pass what he described as a “Physical Turing Test.”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine. And just like smartphones today, removing it now would “actively hurt.”
Jim Fan’s hands-on FSD v14 impressions
Fan, a leading researcher in embodied AI who is currently solving Physical AI at NVIDIA and spearheading the company’s Project GR00T initiative, noted that he actually was late to the Tesla game. He was, however, one of the first to try out FSD v14.
“I was very late to own a Tesla but among the earliest to try out FSD v14. It’s perhaps the first time I experience an AI that passes the Physical Turing Test: after a long day at work, you press a button, lay back, and couldn’t tell if a neural net or a human drove you home,” Fan wrote in a post on X.
Fan added: “Despite knowing exactly how robot learning works, I still find it magical watching the steering wheel turn by itself. First it feels surreal, next it becomes routine. Then, like the smartphone, taking it away actively hurts. This is how humanity gets rewired and glued to god-like technologies.”
The Physical Turing Test
The original Turing Test was conceived by Alan Turing in 1950, and it was aimed at determining if a machine could exhibit behavior that is equivalent to or indistinguishable from a human. By focusing on text-based conversations, the original Turing Test set a high bar for natural language processing and machine learning.
This test has been passed by today’s large language models. However, the capability to converse in a humanlike manner is a completely different challenge from performing real-world problem-solving or physical interactions. Thus, Fan introduced the Physical Turing Test, which challenges AI systems to demonstrate intelligence through physical actions.
Based on Fan’s comments, Tesla has demonstrated these intelligent physical actions with FSD v14. Elon Musk agreed with the NVIDIA executive, stating in a post on X that with FSD v14, “you can sense the sentience maturing.” Musk also praised Tesla AI, calling it the best “real-world AI” today.
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Tesla AI team burns the Christmas midnight oil by releasing FSD v14.2.2.1
The update was released just a day after FSD v14.2.2 started rolling out to customers.
Tesla is burning the midnight oil this Christmas, with the Tesla AI team quietly rolling out Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.2.2.1 just a day after FSD v14.2.2 started rolling out to customers.
Tesla owner shares insights on FSD v14.2.2.1
Longtime Tesla owner and FSD tester @BLKMDL3 shared some insights following several drives with FSD v14.2.2.1 in rainy Los Angeles conditions with standing water and faded lane lines. He reported zero steering hesitation or stutter, confident lane changes, and maneuvers executed with precision that evoked the performance of Tesla’s driverless Robotaxis in Austin.
Parking performance impressed, with most spots nailed perfectly, including tight, sharp turns, in single attempts without shaky steering. One minor offset happened only due to another vehicle that was parked over the line, which FSD accommodated by a few extra inches. In rain that typically erases road markings, FSD visualized lanes and turn lines better than humans, positioning itself flawlessly when entering new streets as well.
“Took it up a dark, wet, and twisty canyon road up and down the hill tonight and it went very well as to be expected. Stayed centered in the lane, kept speed well and gives a confidence inspiring steering feel where it handles these curvy roads better than the majority of human drivers,” the Tesla owner wrote in a post on X.
Tesla’s FSD v14.2.2 update
Just a day before FSD v14.2.2.1’s release, Tesla rolled out FSD v14.2.2, which was focused on smoother real-world performance, better obstacle awareness, and precise end-of-trip routing. According to the update’s release notes, FSD v14.2.2 upgrades the vision encoder neural network with higher resolution features, enhancing detection of emergency vehicles, road obstacles, and human gestures.
New Arrival Options also allowed users to select preferred drop-off styles, such as Parking Lot, Street, Driveway, Parking Garage, or Curbside, with the navigation pin automatically adjusting to the ideal spot. Other refinements include pulling over for emergency vehicles, real-time vision-based detours for blocked roads, improved gate and debris handling, and Speed Profiles for customized driving styles.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s Grok records lowest hallucination rate in AI reliability study
Grok achieved an 8% hallucination rate, 4.5 customer rating, 3.5 consistency, and 0.07% downtime, resulting in an overall risk score of just 6.
A December 2025 study by casino games aggregator Relum has identified Elon Musk’s Grok as one of the most reliable AI chatbots for workplace use, boasting the lowest hallucination rate at just 8% among the 10 major models tested.
In comparison, market leader ChatGPT registered one of the highest hallucination rates at 35%, just behind Google’s Gemini, which registered a high hallucination rate of 38%. The findings highlight Grok’s factual prowess despite the AI model’s lower market visibility.
Grok tops hallucination metric
The research evaluated chatbots on hallucination rate, customer ratings, response consistency, and downtime rate. The chatbots were then assigned a reliability risk score from 0 to 99, with higher scores indicating bigger problems.
Grok achieved an 8% hallucination rate, 4.5 customer rating, 3.5 consistency, and 0.07% downtime, resulting in an overall risk score of just 6. DeepSeek followed closely with 14% hallucinations and zero downtime for a stellar risk score of 4. ChatGPT’s high hallucination and downtime rates gave it the top risk score of 99, followed by Claude and Meta AI, which earned reliability risk scores of 75 and 70, respectively.
Why low hallucinations matter
Relum Chief Product Officer Razvan-Lucian Haiduc shared his thoughts about the study’s findings. “About 65% of US companies now use AI chatbots in their daily work, and nearly 45% of employees admit they’ve shared sensitive company information with these tools. These numbers show well how important chatbots have become in everyday work.
“Dependence on AI tools will likely increase even more, so companies should choose their chatbots based on how reliable and fit they are for their specific business needs. A chatbot that everyone uses isn’t necessarily the one that works best for your industry or gives accurate answers for your tasks.”
In a way, the study reveals a notable gap between AI chatbots’ popularity and performance, with Grok’s low hallucination rate positioning it as a strong choice for accuracy-critical applications. This was despite the fact that Grok is not used as much by users, at least compared to more mainstream AI applications such as ChatGPT.
NVIDIA Director of Robotics: Tesla FSD v14 is the first AI to pass the “Physical Turing Test”
Tesla AI team burns the Christmas midnight oil by releasing FSD v14.2.2.1
