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Relativity Space reveals plans to rapidly upgrade 3D-printed Terran 1 rocket
Relativity Space has announced that it will only launch the first version of its small Terran 1 rocket a handful of times before upgrading the vehicle in ways that will aid work on a much larger, fully reusable rocket.
Relativity co-founder and CEO Tim Ellis revealed the news in a recent interview, explaining that while the original Terran 1 rocket is still an integral part of the company’s vision and success, it will mainly serve as a bridge to the larger and more capable Terran R – a rare rocket with the potential to compete head-to-head with SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
“We’ve always envisioned Terran 1 being a development platform,” stated Ellis in an interview with Ars Technica. The Terran 1 rocket, which is thrust into orbit using nine proprietary Aeon-1 engines is designed to carry payloads into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The first launch of Terran 1 is anticipated to take place by the end of 2022, with Ellis stating that Relativity is “definitely launching this year.” Terran 1’s first launch won’t carry payloads, indicating its experimental nature, but it will be serving as the startup’s first orbital launch attempt.
Assuming the rocket’s debut is mostly successful, Terran 1’s second mission will carry a “Venture Class Launch Services” small satellite payload for NASA. The third and final mission for the first version of Terran 1 will also carry payloads, though Relativity has yet to reveal its customer(s).
Once completed, Ellis says Relativity will shift its focus away from the Aeon-1 engine setup on Terran 1’s booster. Instead, they will remove the nine Aeon-1 engines from the vehicle and replace them with a single 135-ton-thrust (~300,000 lbf) Aeon-R engine – seven of which will eventually power Terran R’s reusable booster.
When asked why the startup didn’t simply start with the Aeon-R engine, Ellis noted that developing a booster with nine smaller Aeon-1 engines was “definitely not the optimum choice in hindsight to get to orbit as simply and quickly as possible for the Terran 1 program.” He added, “But it’s been part of our plans to do a much larger reusable rocket for a long time. So we chose to do liquid oxygen and liquid methane engines, as well as the nine-engine configuration on Terran 1 so that we could learn as a company how to do something that complex early on before we had to go build this 20,000-kilogram payload-to-orbit vehicle.”
There are many benefits that come from using the single Aeon-R engine on Terran 1, including reduced cost, processes, and more capable rockets. By scaling down the number of engines from nine Aeon-1s to one Aeon-Rs, they are also scaling down the number of turbopumps, which will reduce labor and cost. The Aeon-R engine, seven of which will power the Terran R rocket, will also produce nearly ~300,000 pounds of thrust. This will provide the company with more capable small launch vehicles.
Ultimately, Relativity’s goal is to launch Terran R, a much larger, more powerful, and (in theory) fully-reusable rocket. Ellis stated that both the first and second stages of Terran R will be reusable, potentially allowing the rocket to directly compete with Falcon 9 – and maybe even the company’s fully-reusable Starship. SpaceX’s workhorse rocket has successfully launched 142 times and the company appears to be more confident in it than ever before. In 2022 alone, SpaceX hopes to launch an average of one Falcon rocket per week.
Despite the fact that SpaceX successfully landed its first Falcon booster in 2015 and reused a booster on a commercial launch in 2017, traditional competitors like Arianespace and ULA have done little to respond and continue to develop new rockets – Vulcan Centaur and Ariane 6 – that are fully expendable, substantially more expensive than SpaceX’s offerings, and still without a clear path to reusability. Alongside Blue Origin’s New Glenn vehicle and Rocket Lab’s Neutron, Relativity’s Terran R rocket may actually be able to compete with Falcon 9.
Ellis further revealed that Terran R already has at least one signed customer, with many others expressing interest behind the scenes. Though the company’s official timeline is incredibly ambitious, Relativity says Terran R could launch as early as 2024, giving the company less than three years to develop the giant rocket from scratch.
It is still unclear how either stage of Terran R will be recovered, nor how the rocket will integrate into the already existing launch facilities being built for Terran 1 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s (CCSFS) LC-16 pad. Nonetheless, Ellis and the entire Relativity team seem determined to deliver on their promises. Ellis didn’t shy away from bold and undeniable claims, either, stating that “we are definitely launching this year.” “I have no doubt about that…at this point, barring an act of nature or something going seriously wrong in stage testing.”
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Tesla surges Robotaxi fleet ahead of Cybercab launch event
Tesla’s unsupervised robotaxi fleet quietly grew sevenfold in three weeks just before Cybercab Day arrives.
Tesla’s unsupervised Robotaxi fleet has grown far faster than the public numbers suggested, and the timing lines up with the company’s biggest autonomy showcase yet. According to data compiled by the crowdsourced Robotaxi Tracker, Tesla now has nearly 200 vehicles operating without a safety monitor across Austin, Dallas and Houston, yielding a roughly 7X increase in about three weeks.
The jump lands four days before this week’s Tesla Cybercab launch event in Austin, where the company plans to show off its purpose-built, two-seat robotaxi with no steering wheel or pedals in a live commercial setting for the first time. Stick with us on X and Facebook for live reporting from the event.
The strategic logic is straightforward. Tesla has spent the past year scaling Robotaxi in small, deliberate steps, first widening geofences, then extending operating hours, then quietly growing fleet size, usually with little advance notice. Ashok Elluswamy told investors on the Q2 earnings call that the program had logged more than 380,000 unsupervised miles with zero notable incidents, a safety record the company has leaned on to justify moving slowly. Critics have used the flip side of that caution, a fleet that appeared stuck around two dozen vehicles for months, as evidence that Tesla’s driverless ambitions were outrunning its actual deployment.
A fleet quietly scaling to nearly 200 vehicles right before Cybercab Day undercuts that argument without Tesla having to say anything about it directly. It also sets up the event to do double duty. Rather than simply introducing new hardware, Tesla can point to an operating base of unsupervised Model Ys already running at meaningful scale, then argue the Cybercab, which uses the same underlying Full Self-Driving stack according to earlier coverage of the fleet’s software upgrades, is a natural next steps. Tesla has separately been registering the two-seat Cybercabs with Texas regulators this week, with the count climbing from seven to 45 in a matter of days.
The two ramps, one in software-driven Model Y deployment and one in physical Cybercab registrations, are happening in parallel rather than in sequence. That suggests Tesla wants Thursday’s event to land as proof that the robotaxi business is already running at scale, not just a reveal of a new vehicle shape. Whether the unsupervised numbers hold up once Cybercabs start mixing into the same fleet is the detail worth watching once the event wraps.
Tesla is lowering the monthly price of its Cybertruck Windshield Protection Plan from $35 to $25. The new rate will apply to the first payment on or after October 1, 2026. Tesla has told subscribers that all other benefits stay the same.
The plan covers unlimited repairs for chips and minor cracks on the front windshield. It also includes one full replacement every 12 months at no extra charge. Additional replacements in the same year carry a $100 deductible. Service is performed with Tesla glass and camera calibration, which matters because Autopilot and Full Self-Driving rely on those lenses behind the windshield.
Looks like Tesla is decreasing the Cybertruck windshield protection plan price from $35 to $25
Awesome https://t.co/MRlTU1XTbf pic.twitter.com/PWkMZt1H7G
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 28, 2026
There is no long-term contract. Coverage applies only to the front glass and does not include collision, vandalism, or weather damage.
The Cybertruck’s large, complex windshield has been more expensive to replace than glass on Tesla’s cars, which is why the pickup started at a higher subscription price. The $10 monthly cut reduces the annual cost from $420 to $300. Tesla has not publicly explained the change. The timing coincides with a year of claims data after the plan was extended to the Cybertruck.
Tesla sells several related protection products as monthly subscriptions through the Tesla app. The Windshield Protection Plan is also offered on other models. Model 3 and Model Y currently cost $16 a month. Those passenger-car rates are unchanged in the latest Cybertruck notice.
The Wheel and Tire Protection Plan covers road-hazard damage such as potholes, nails, and debris. Repairs are unlimited. Each wheel or tire replacement appointment has a $25 deductible. Pricing varies by model and whether the vehicle is a Performance version. Tesla is raising some of those rates on the same October 1 date.
Reported examples include Model 3 Performance moving from $16 to $24 and Model Y Performance from $20 to $24. Cybertruck wheel-and-tire coverage has been listed at $20 a month for the standard configuration.
A separate Luxe Package bundles four years of windshield coverage, wheel-and-tire coverage, and recommended maintenance on certain new Model S, Model X, and Cyberbeast orders, although the Model S and X are now defunct.
Tesla also offers an Extended Service Agreement after the basic vehicle warranty ends. That product covers many Tesla-manufactured parts rather than glass or tires. Together, the plans give owners a menu of targeted, cancel-anytime coverage instead of relying only on auto insurance.
UPDATE: The number has now been updated to 45 units, up from 7!
Here we go! Tesla has just added another 38 Cybercabs to its Robotaxi fleet, bringing the total up to 45, according to the Texas DMV.
Robots on robots on robots! This Thursday’s launch event is gonna be awesome🤖🤖🤖 pic.twitter.com/3HF24rHK4T
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) August 31, 2026
Tesla is bolstering its Cybercab fleet with the State of Texas’s regulatory bodies ahead of the planned launch of the all-electric ride-hailing vehicle this Thursday.
Seven purpose-built Tesla Cybercabs have been added to Texas’s official automated vehicle registry, appearing in the Texas Motor Carrier Credentialing System (TxMCCS) public lookup just three days before Tesla’s invite-only Cybercab launch event in Austin on September 3.
The records, visible through TxDMV’s Motor Carrier and Automated Motor Vehicle Operator Lookup, list seven 2026 Tesla Cybercabs under Tesla Robotaxi, LLC. Their VINs begin with the 5YJA prefix, distinct from the 7SAYG Model Y robotaxis that already dominate Tesla’s Texas fleet.
Community trackers that scrape the same public database recorded the new entries on August 31, bringing Tesla’s authorized Texas robotaxi total to 276 vehicles: 269 Model Ys and the seven Cybercabs:
🚨 There are now SEVEN Tesla Cybercabs registered with the state of Texas
We are just three days from Cybercab! pic.twitter.com/ndwhuFYsep
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 31, 2026
Texas Senate Bill 2807, which took effect in late May 2026, created a self-certification framework for commercial Level 4 operations. Operators file through TxMCCS, attest to SAE Level 4 capability, maintain insurance, and keep an active vehicle list.
Tesla completed that process months earlier for its existing Model Y Robotaxi service, which has carried paying passengers in Austin, Dallas, Houston and other markets. Adding the Cybercabs to the same authorization means the new two-seat, steering-wheel-free vehicles are now legally recognized for commercial use on Texas roads.
The timing is deliberate as Tesla scheduled the September 3 event at its Austin campus after sending invitations to selected Robotaxi riders and other guests. The company has described the evening as a chance to “experience the future of full autonomy” and plans to livestream it.
Production Cybercabs, which lack pedals and a steering wheel, have been rolling off the Giga Texas line for months; some earlier examples still carried temporary driver controls for data collection. Registering a small fleet of the finished design immediately before the public event signals that Tesla intends to move the purpose-built vehicle from factory and test tracks into the same Robotaxi app already used by Model Y passengers.
The seven units remain a tiny fraction of Tesla’s overall Texas authorization and far smaller than competing fleets. Registration does not automatically equal unsupervised public rides; it is the legal prerequisite.
Still, the sudden appearance of Cybercab VINs in the state’s lookup system, after a year of Model Y-only listings, is the clearest official confirmation yet that Tesla’s dedicated robotaxi hardware is entering the regulatory pipeline at the same moment the company is preparing to show it to invited guests and a global livestream audience.
Whether those seven vehicles appear at the September 3 event or begin carrying passengers shortly afterward, their presence in TxMCCS marks a concrete regulatory step that has been anticipated since the Cybercab concept was first revealed.
Tesla surges Robotaxi fleet ahead of Cybercab launch event
Tesla Cybertruck windshield protection just got cheaper
