News
Rocket Lab to launch classified payload for the NRO
Rocket Lab is gearing up for its next mission, Live & Let Fly, no earlier than Thursday, March 21st.
The mission will take place from Launch Complex 2 at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. This will be Rocket Lab’s fourth launch from its Virginia pad, previously launching HASTE, a suborbital variant of Electron.
? LAUNCH UPDATE ?
The launch date for #NROL123 ‘Live & Let Fly’ for @NatReconOfc has been adjusted one day to the right!
We are now targeting no earlier than March 21st for lift-off from @NASAWallops at @Virginia_Space Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. pic.twitter.com/jTeYuCbVLT
— Rocket Lab (@RocketLab) March 15, 2024
The customer for this mission is the National Reconnaissance Office, which is utilizing Rocket Lab’s U.S. launch pad for the first time. The mission, named NROL-123, will remain classified, but satellite watchers are usually able to track down the payloads within days of launch to determine the orbits in which these secret payloads are placed.
This will be Rocket Lab’s fourth launch of the year. The company most recently launched the ‘Owl Night Long’ mission for Synspective on March 12th. The company looks to continue its recent successes and mark its fifth flight in a row after a mishap during its ‘We Will Never Desert You’ mission in September 2023.
Overall, Rocket Lab has attempted launching 45 times so far, with 41 successes. After each mishap, the company has come back stronger and is now well into its first-stage recovery program. It has reflown its Rutherford engines multiple times and recovered multiple first stages as it gets closer to reflying an entire Electron for the first time.
45 and counting. pic.twitter.com/BQiwIvMDcs
— Rocket Lab (@RocketLab) March 14, 2024
During Rocket Lab’s Q3 results, the company revealed that it will attempt recoveries at least nine times out of the 22 missions planned for 2024. Of course, Rocket Lab could still change this and attempt to recover more first stages, as it did last year.
While Rocket Lab is increasing its Electron launch cadence, it is also continuing work on its Neutron rocket, which will be capable of lifting much larger payloads to orbit and is intended to be re-usable beginning with its first flight. Peter Beck, CEO and Founder, said during the Q4 earnings call that they aimed to complete their Stennis test stand by the end of March and test fire their new Archimedes engine soon after.
Beck also mentioned they could launch Neutron by the end of the year if all testing goes smoothly.
Disclosure: Richard Angle is not an RKLB shareholder.
Questions or comments? How do you think Rocket Lab will do in 2024? Shoot me an email at rangle@teslarati.com, or Tweet me @RDAnglePhoto.
Elon Musk
Starlink achieves major milestones in 2025 progress report
Starlink wrapped up 2025 with impressive growth, adding more than 4.6 million new active customers and expanding service to 35 additional countries, territories, and markets.
Starlink wrapped up 2025 with impressive growth, adding more than 4.6 million new active customers and expanding service to 35 additional countries, territories, and markets. The company also completed deployment of its first-generation Direct to Cell constellation, launching over 650 satellites in just 18 months to enable cellular connectivity.
SpaceX highlighted Starlink’s impressive 2025 progress in an extensive report.
Key achievements from Starlink’s 2025 Progress
Starlink connected over 4.6 million new customers with high-speed internet while bringing service to 35 more regions worldwide in 2025. Starlink is now connecting 9.2 million people worldwide. The service achieved this just weeks after hitting its 8 million customer milestone.
Starlink is now available in 155 markets, including areas that are unreachable by traditional ISPs. As per SpaceX, Starlink has also provided over 21 million airline passengers and 20 million cruise passengers with reliable high-speed internet connectivity during their travels.
Starlink Direct to Cell
Starlink’s Direct to Cell constellation, more than 650 satellites strong, has already connected over 12 million people at least once, marking a breakthrough in global mobile coverage.
Starlink Direct to Cell is currently rolled out to 22 countries and 6 continents, with over 6 million monthly customers. Starlink Direct to Cell also has 27 MNO partners to date.
“This year, SpaceX completed deployment of the first generation of the Starlink Direct to Cell constellation, with more than 650 satellites launched to low-Earth orbit in just 18 months. Starlink Direct to Cell has connected more than 12 million people, and counting, at least once, providing life-saving connectivity when people need it most,” SpaceX wrote.
News
Tesla Giga Nevada celebrates production of 6 millionth drive unit
To celebrate the milestone, the Giga Nevada team gathered for a celebratory group photo.
Tesla’s Giga Nevada has reached an impressive milestone, producing its 6 millionth drive unit as 2925 came to a close.
To celebrate the milestone, the Giga Nevada team gathered for a celebratory group photo.
6 million drive units
The achievement was shared by the official Tesla Manufacturing account on social media platform X. “Congratulations to the Giga Nevada team for producing their 6 millionth Drive Unit!” Tesla wrote.
The photo showed numerous factory workers assembled on the production floor, proudly holding golden balloons that spelled out “6000000″ in front of drive unit assembly stations. Elon Musk gave credit to the Giga Nevada team, writing, “Congrats on 6M drive units!” in a post on X.
Giga Nevada’s essential role
Giga Nevada produces drive units, battery packs, and energy products. The facility has been a cornerstone of Tesla’s scaling since opening, and it was the crucial facility that ultimately enabled Tesla to ramp the Model 3 and Model Y. Even today, it serves as Tesla’s core hub for battery and drivetrain components for vehicles that are produced in the United States.
Giga Nevada is expected to support Tesla’s ambitious 2026 targets, including the launch of vehicles like the Tesla Semi and the Cybercab. Tesla will have a very busy 2026, and based on Giga Nevada’s activities so far, it appears that the facility will be equally busy as well.
News
Tesla Supercharger network delivers record 6.7 TWh in 2025
The network now exceeds 75,000 stalls globally, and it supports even non-Tesla vehicles across several key markets.
Tesla’s Supercharger Network had its biggest year ever in 2025, delivering a record 6.7 TWh of electricity to vehicles worldwide.
To celebrate its busy year, the official @TeslaCharging account shared an infographic showing the Supercharger Network’s growth from near-zero in 2012 to this year’s impressive milestone.
Record 6.7 TWh delivered in 2025
The bar chart shows steady Supercharger energy delivery increases since 2012. Based on the graphic, the Supercharger Network started small in the mid-2010s and accelerated sharply after 2019, when the Model 3 was going mainstream.
Each year from 2020 onward showed significantly more energy delivery, with 2025’s four quarters combining for the highest total yet at 6.7 TWh.
This energy powered millions of charging sessions across Tesla’s growing fleet of vehicles worldwide. The network now exceeds 75,000 stalls globally, and it supports even non-Tesla vehicles across several key markets. This makes the Supercharger Network loved not just by Tesla owners but EV drivers as a whole.
Resilience after Supercharger team changes
2025’s record energy delivery comes despite earlier 2024 layoffs on the Supercharger team, which sparked concerns about the system’s expansion pace. Max de Zegher, Tesla Director of Charging North America, also highlighted that “Outside China, Superchargers delivered more energy than all other fast chargers combined.”
Longtime Tesla owner and FSD tester Whole Mars Catalog noted the achievement as proof of continued momentum post-layoffs. At the time of the Supercharger team’s layoffs in 2024, numerous critics were claiming that Elon Musk was halting the network’s expansion altogether, and that the team only remained because the adults in the room convinced the juvenile CEO to relent.
Such a scenario, at least based on the graphic posted by the Tesla Charging team on X, seems highly implausible.
Starlink achieves major milestones in 2025 progress report
Tesla Giga Nevada celebrates production of 6 millionth drive unit
