News
Northrup Grumman’s Antares set for its swan song launch
Later this evening at 8:31 p.m. ET (00:31 UTC on the 2nd), the Northrup Grumman Antares 230+ rocket is scheduled to launch its final resupply mission to the International Space Station.
The rocket will lift off from Launch Pad 0 at the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island in Virginia, carrying the Cygnus cargo vehicle. Cygnus will be loaded with 8,200 lbs (3,719 kg) of supplies and experiments for the orbiting outpost.
The Ukrainian-built Antares launch vehicle has only been used to launch resupply missions to the ISS since its debut launch in April 2013, then owned by Orbital Sciences. Since its debut, it has had one failure and, as a result, underwent its first upgrade.
The first version of the rocket used NK-33 engines built by the Soviet Union in the 1970s, the engines were then bought by Aerojet-Rocketdyne and modified for use on the Antares rocket. The engines were renamed the AJ-26.
Antares explodes shortly after lift-off on 5th flight (Credit: NASA)
On the rocket’s 5th mission, one of those engines failed in spectacular fashion when a liquid oxygen turbopump with manufacturing defects failed 6 seconds after liftoff, causing Antares to fall back down onto the launch pad and explode.
This set off a chain of events for U.S. launch providers as the United States banned further purchasing of Russian-made engines in December 2014, a decision that was altered just a year later to accommodate United Launch Alliance, whose Atlas V rocket uses Russian-made RD-180 engines.
Following the failure, Antares was switched over to using the RD-181 engines and thus creating the next Antares variant, the 230 series of the rocket. This version would go on to launch 12 more times before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the resulting sanctions against Russia forced Northrup Grumman to end its reliability on the Ukrainian-built first stage and Russian engines.
In August 2022, Northrup Grumman announced they had contracted Firefly Aerospace to produce a new medium-lift rocket for the company that will be called the Antares 330. The 330 series will use 7 Miranda engines from the company. The 330 series upper stage will be the Castor 30XL solid-fueled rocket motor, with later versions using a vacuum-optimized Miranda engine to provide extra performance.
Miranda rocket engine test (Credit Firefly Aerospace)
While the Antares 330 rocket is being designed and built, Northrup Grumman has contracted SpaceX to launch 3 Cygnus resupply missions in order to fulfill their contract with NASA.
Northrup Grumman has said they expect to be able to launch the Antares 330 by Summer 2025.
The current weather outlook shows an 80% chance of acceptable conditions at lift-off. NASA will host a live stream of the launch on its YouTube page.
Questions or comments? Shoot me an email at rangle@teslarati.com, or Tweet me @RDAnglePhoto.
News
Tesla gathers Cybercab fleet in Gigafactory Texas
Images and video of the Cybercab fleet were shared by longtime Giga Texas observer Joe Tegtmeyer in posts on social media platform X.
Tesla appears to be assembling a growing number of Cybercabs at Gigafactory Texas as preparations continue for the vehicle’s mass production. Recent footage shared online has shown over 30 Cybercabs being transported by trucks or staged near testing areas at the facility.
The images and video were shared by longtime Giga Texas observer and drone operator Joe Tegtmeyer in posts on social media platform X.
Interestingly enough, Tegtmeyer noted that many of the Cybercabs being loaded onto transport trucks were still equipped with steering wheels. This suggests that the vehicles are likely testing units rather than the final driverless configuration expected for the company’s Robotaxi service.
The vehicles could potentially be headed to testing sites across the United States as Tesla prepares to expand its Robotaxi fleet.
Additional footage captured at Gigafactory Texas also showed the Cybercab’s side and rear camera washer system operating as vehicles were being loaded onto transport trucks.
The growing number of Cybercabs at Giga Texas comes amidst the company’s announcement that the first production Cybercab has been produced at the facility. Full Cybercab production is expected to begin in April.
The vehicle is expected to play a central role in Tesla’s Robotaxi ambitions as the company looks to expand autonomous ride-hailing operations beyond its early deployments using Model Y vehicles.
Tesla has also linked Cybercab production to its proposed Unboxed manufacturing process, which assembles large vehicle modules separately before integrating them. The approach is intended to reduce production costs and accelerate output.
Musk has also noted that the Cybercab’s ramp will likely begin slowly due to the number of new components and manufacturing steps involved. However, he stated that once the process matures, Cybercab production could scale quickly.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s xAI, creator of Grok and Grokipedia, celebrates its third birthday
xAI Memphis highlighted several of its milestones over the years in its celebratory post.
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup xAI has marked its third anniversary. The update was shared in a post from the xAI Memphis account on social media platform X.
xAI Memphis highlighted several of its milestones over the years in its celebratory post.
As per xAI, it has built three massive data centers in the city, launched a coherent cluster of 330,000 GBs, created over 3,000 jobs, and paid over $30 million in taxes to local communities.
xAI’s Memphis operation has become a key part of the company’s infrastructure as the company works to train and deploy its Grok artificial intelligence models. Elon Musk has been quite optimistic about Grok’s potential, noting in the past that the large language model might have a shot at achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI).
xAI’s Memphis’ crown jewel is its Colossus supercomputer cluster. The project was announced in 2024 and has since become the home of one of the world’s largest AI compute facilities. The first phase of Colossus reached its initial 100,000 GPU operational milestone in just 122 days, or just about four months.
Industry figures such as Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang have praised the facility, noting that projects of similar scale typically take two to four years to complete.
xAI has cited Memphis’ central location, skilled workforce, and industrial infrastructure as key reasons for selecting the city as the home of its AI training operations. The company has also emphasized plans to expand the site further as it scales compute capacity for Grok and future AI models.
News
Tesla Sweden’s Megapack Supercharger near Arlanda continues to aggravate IF Metall union
The charging site, located in Arlandastad outside Stockholm, appears to be operating despite ongoing union blockade measures tied to Tesla’s labor dispute in the country.
Tesla Sweden’s Megapack-powered Supercharger station near Arlanda Airport has continued to aggravate Swedish labor union IF Metall. The charging site, located in Arlandastad outside Stockholm, appears to be operating despite ongoing union blockade measures tied to Tesla’s labor dispute in the country.
Comments about the site were shared by IF Metall representatives in remarks to Swedish publication CarUp.
The Arlandastad location includes eight Tesla Superchargers powered by a Megapack battery system. Unlike traditional charging stations that rely on direct grid connections, the site uses a large battery installation to store electricity and power the chargers.
According to the Swedish publication, the setup allowed the station to come online despite sympathy measures from Sweden’s electricians’ union, which has attempted to prevent companies from cooperating with Tesla as part of the broader labor conflict.
IF Metall press manager Jesper Pettersson indicated that the union was not aware that the Superchargers had already been connected and activated.
“We do not know the details around this. But it is further proof of how Tesla systematically finds loopholes to circumvent the sympathy measures through active strikebreaking. Every time this happens it gives us reason to sharpen our conflict measures,” Pettersson said.
Union representatives also noted that the Megapack appears to be charged using electrical cables routed through nearby terrain, though the exact power source remains under review.
The Megapack-powered site has then prompted questions from Swedish labor unions about how electricity is being supplied to the system.
IF Metall has submitted a report to Sweden’s Energy Market Inspectorate asking the regulator to review whether the electricity supply arrangement complies with national regulations. The Megapack is reportedly charged using electricity from a local company, though the provider has not been publicly identified.
Peter Lydell, an ombudsman at IF Metall, previously stated that Swedish law limits electricity trading to companies with proper authorization.
“The legislation states that only companies that engage in electricity trading may supply electricity to other parties. You may not supply electricity without a permit, then you are engaging in illegal electricity trading. That is why we have reported this…
“This is about a company that helps Tesla circumvent the conflict measures that exist. It is clear that it is troublesome and it can also have consequences,” Lydell said.
IF Metall and Tesla Sweden’s conflict has been going on for over two years now.
Tesla gathers Cybercab fleet in Gigafactory Texas
Elon Musk’s xAI, creator of Grok and Grokipedia, celebrates its third birthday
