News
Scrubtober strikes again: faulty SpaceX rocket camera aborts Starlink-14 launch
Update: SpaceX’s next Starlink-14 launch attempt appears to be scheduled no earlier than (NET) 11:31 am EDT (15:31 UTC), Saturday, October 24th, ending the possibility of Falcon 9 booster B1060 setting a new turnaround record. If successful, the mission will still mark the first time SpaceX has complete three Starlink launches in one month.
CEO Elon Musk says that a faulty camera on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket’s new upper stage lead the company to abort its October 22nd Starlink-14 launch attempt around 15 minutes before liftoff.
The abort continues what has been less than affectionately termed “Scrubtober” after a relentless string of delays that actually began closer to mid September or even late August. Multiple delays for ULA’s Delta IV Heavy NROL-44 launch quickly snowballed into several SpaceX Falcon 9 launch delays, follower by additional weather-related SpaceX launch delays in September. Then, once again, additional ULA NROL-44 delays caused additional Falcon 9 delays, followed by two rare technical delays for the same SpaceX missions.
The Starlink mission in question finally launched on October 5th, while SpaceX’s third US military GPS III satellite launch was indefinitely scrubbed when an issue with several booster engines triggered a last-second abort. Thankfully, SpaceX was able to launch another Starlink mission – Starlink V1 L13 or Starlink-13 on October 18th – albeit only after more than a week of delays. Now, already delayed by 24 hours for unknown reasons, SpaceX’s Starlink-14 mission suffered its own launch abort just ~15 minutes before liftoff, continuing the plague that is Scrubtober.
Set to deliver another ~16 metric ton (~35,000 lb) batch of 60 Starlink v1.0 satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO), Starlink-14 will be SpaceX’s 14th operational Starlink launch and 15th overall, as well as the 13th Starlink launch in 2020 alone.
As usual, the mission will use SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, a two-stage, 70m (~230 ft) tall launch vehicle powered by liquid oxygen and refined kerosene (RP-1) propellant. Weighing more than 550 metric tons (1.2 million lb) fully fueled, the first stage (booster) produces more than 7600 kilonewtons of thrust (1.7 million lbf) at liftoff with nine Merlin 1D engines. On the global stage, Falcon 9 is the most reliable operational launch vehicle in the world, having consecutively completed 67 successful missions since January 2017.
Continuing to demonstrate the ironic fact that SpaceX’s flight-proven rockets have begun to be more reliable than new hardware, Falcon 9 booster B1060 – onto its third launch and landing – apparently remains ready for launch despite issues with a camera on Starlink-14’s new expendable upper stage. As previously discussed on Teslarati, B1060 was on track to set a new world record for orbital-class rocket turnaround, launching twice in 49 days if Starlink-14 had avoided today’s abort. Set by another Falcon 9 booster just three months ago, SpaceX could still break its own 51-day turnaround record if it can inspect and recycle the rocket for another Starlink-14 launch attempt on October 23rd.
News
Tesla leases new 108k-sq ft R&D facility near Fremont Factory
The lease adds to Tesla’s presence near its primary California manufacturing hub as the company continues investing in autonomy and artificial intelligence.
Tesla has expanded its footprint near its Fremont Factory by leasing a 108,000-square-foot R&D facility in the East Bay.
The lease adds to Tesla’s presence near its primary California manufacturing hub as the company continues investing in autonomy and artificial intelligence.
A new Fremont lease
Tesla will occupy the entire building at 45401 Research Ave. in Fremont, as per real estate services firm Colliers. The transaction stands as the second-largest R&D lease of the fourth quarter, trailing only a roughly 115,000-square-foot transaction by Figure AI in San Jose.
As noted in a Silicon Valley Business Journal report, Tesla’s new Fremont lease was completed with landlord Lincoln Property Co., which owns the facility. Colliers stated that Tesla’s Fremont expansion reflects continued demand from established technology companies that are seeking space for engineering, testing, and specialized manufacturing.
Tesla has not disclosed which of its business units will be occupying the building, though Colliers has described the property as suitable for office and R&D functions. Tesla has not issued a comment about its new Fremont lease as of writing.
AI investments
Silicon Valley remains a key region for automakers as vehicles increasingly rely on software, artificial intelligence, and advanced electronics. Erin Keating, senior director of economics and industry insights at Cox Automotive, has stated that Tesla is among the most aggressive auto companies when it comes to software-driven vehicle development.
Other automakers have also expanded their presence in the area. Rivian operates an autonomy and core technology hub in Palo Alto, while GM maintains an AI center of excellence in Mountain View. Toyota is also relocating its software and autonomy unit to a newly upgraded property in Santa Clara.
Despite these expansions, Colliers has noted that Silicon Valley posted nearly 444,000 square feet of net occupancy losses in Q4 2025, pushing overall vacancy to 11.2%.
In Pennsylvania, we got between 10 and 12 inches of snow over the weekend as a nasty Winter storm ripped through a large portion of the country, bringing snow to some areas and nasty ice storms to others.
I have had a Model Y Performance for the week courtesy of Tesla, which got the car to me last Monday. Today was my last full day with it before I take it back to my local showroom, and with all the accumulation on it, I decided to run a cool little experiment: How long would it take for Tesla’s Defrost feature to melt 8 inches of snow?
Tesla’s Defrost feature is one of the best and most underrated that the car has in its arsenal. While every car out there has a defrost setting, Tesla’s can be activated through the Smartphone App and is one of the better-performing systems in my opinion.
It has come in handy a lot through the Fall and Winter, helping clear up my windshield more efficiently while also clearing up more of the front glass than other cars I’ve owned.
The test was simple: don’t touch any of the ice or snow with my ice scraper, and let the car do all the work, no matter how long it took. Of course, it would be quicker to just clear the ice off manually, but I really wanted to see how long it would take.
Tesla Model Y heat pump takes on Model S resistive heating in defrosting showdown
Observations
I started this test at around 10:30 a.m. It was still pretty cloudy and cold out, and I knew the latter portion of the test would get some help from the Sun as it was expected to come out around noon, maybe a little bit after.
I cranked it up and set my iPhone up on a tripod, and activated the Time Lapse feature in the Camera settings.
The rest of the test was sitting and waiting.
It didn’t take long to see some difference. In fact, by the 20-minute mark, there was some notable melting of snow and ice along the sides of the windshield near the A Pillar.
However, this test was not one that was “efficient” in any manner; it took about three hours and 40 minutes to get the snow to a point where I would feel comfortable driving out in public. In no way would I do this normally; I simply wanted to see how it would do with a massive accumulation of snow.
It did well, but in the future, I’ll stick to clearing it off manually and using the Defrost setting for clearing up some ice before the gym in the morning.
Check out the video of the test below:
❄️ How long will it take for the Tesla Model Y Performance to defrost and melt ONE FOOT of snow after a blizzard?
Let’s find out: pic.twitter.com/Zmfeveap1x
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 26, 2026
Tesla Robotaxi ride-hailing without a Safety Monitor is proving to be a difficult task, according to some riders who made the journey to Austin to attempt to ride in one of its vehicles that has zero supervision.
Last week, Tesla officially removed Safety Monitors from some — not all — of its Robotaxi vehicles in Austin, Texas, answering skeptics who said the vehicles still needed supervision to operate safely and efficiently.
BREAKING: Tesla launches public Robotaxi rides in Austin with no Safety Monitor
Tesla aimed to remove Safety Monitors before the end of 2025, and it did, but only to company employees. It made the move last week to open the rides to the public, just a couple of weeks late to its original goal, but the accomplishment was impressive, nonetheless.
However, the small number of Robotaxis that are operating without Safety Monitors has proven difficult to hail for a ride. David Moss, who has gained notoriety recently as the person who has traveled over 10,000 miles in his Tesla on Full Self-Driving v14 without any interventions, made it to Austin last week.
He has tried to get a ride in a Safety Monitor-less Robotaxi for the better part of four days, and after 38 attempts, he still has yet to grab one:
Wow just wow!
It’s 8:30PM, 29° out ice storm hailing & Tesla Robotaxi service has turned back on!
Waymo is offline & vast majority of humans are home in the storm
Ride 38 was still supervised but by far most impressive yet pic.twitter.com/1aUnJkcYm8
— David Moss (@DavidMoss) January 25, 2026
Tesla said last week that it was rolling out a controlled test of the Safety Monitor-less Robotaxis. Ashok Elluswamy, who heads the AI program at Tesla, confirmed that the company was “starting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader Robotaxi fleet with Safety Monitors,” and that “the ratio will increase over time.”
This is a good strategy that prioritizes safety and keeps the company’s controlled rollout at the forefront of the Robotaxi rollout.
However, it will be interesting to see how quickly the company can scale these completely monitor-less rides. It has proven to be extremely difficult to get one, but that is understandable considering only a handful of the cars in the entire Austin fleet are operating with no supervision within the vehicle.
Tesla leases new 108k-sq ft R&D facility near Fremont Factory
Tesla winter weather test: How long does it take to melt 8 inches of snow?
