Connect with us
Merlin 1D's kerolox exhaust is a blindingly bright, opaque yellow-orange. (Tom Cross) Merlin 1D's kerolox exhaust is a blindingly bright, opaque yellow-orange. (Tom Cross)

News

SpaceX tracks towards first launch of 2019 with flight-proven Falcon 9 static fire

Pictured here during its debut launch, Falcon 9 B1049 will support SpaceX's final Iridium launch in January 2019. (Tom Cross)

Published

7 years ago

on

SpaceX has completed a Falcon 9 static fire test ahead of the company’s first launch of 2019, kicking off what is looking to be a truly jam-packed year for Falcon 9 and BFR. Most important, of course, is SpaceX’s primary business and main sources of revenue – safely and reliably launching customer satellites, payloads, and – soon – astronauts into orbit.

Previously tasked with launching heavy communications satellite Telstar 18V in September 2018, Falcon 9 B1049 is now set to launch an arguably historic mission for both SpaceX and customer Iridium, the eighth and final contracted launch of the upgraded Iridium NEXT satellite communications constellation.

Struck all the way back in June 2010, Iridium’s decision to award the full NEXT constellation launch contract to SpaceX less than two weeks after Falcon 9’s first and only launch may well be the greatest calculated leap of faith in the history of commercial spaceflight. SpaceX did admittedly offer an unbeatable price ($492M for eight launches, $61.5M per launch) that may have allowed Iridium to afford a new constellation in the first place, but the risk Iridium took was truly immense at the time.

Advertisement
-->

Originally launched between 1997 and 1998, the first Iridium constellation became and still remains the only satellite communications constellation in history to offer global and persistent coverage anywhere on Earth, allowing those with Iridium devices to guarantee connectivity no matter where they are. To some extent, the original constellation has become a subtle but omnipresent backbone of a huge variety of ventures, companies, and services, ranging from marine vessel tracking and emergency response to the go-to solution for those heading far off the beaten path. As just one small example, SpaceX’s large fleet of sea-going vessels and its cross-country transport infrastructure both rely on Iridium for streamlined company-wide movement tracking, making life considerably easier for logistics and planning teams.

Iridium’s decision to use SpaceX for its NEXT constellation likely also gave SpaceX a massive stature boost, taking it from the company with just a handful of commercial contracts that had failed three of its last five launches to the company that secured what was at the time the largest single commercial launch contract in history. Alongside NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transport Services (COTS) and Resupply Services (CRS) commitments (~14 launches as of 2010), Iridium NEXT raised SpaceX’s commercial manifest from perhaps 2 missions to ~10 while also taking the value of those contracts from an almost negligible sum to well over half a billion dollars.

Although SpaceX and Iridium originally planned for launches to take place over a roughly 24-month period stretch from 2015 to 2017, unplanned technical delays and a duo of catastrophic Falcon 9 failures (CRS-7 and Amos-6) in 2015 and 2016 ultimately pushed Iridium NEXT’s launch debut back several years. Despite those immense hurdles and a range of smaller issues, SpaceX and Iridium were finally able to begin launching satellites in January 2017 and have continued to consistently do so every 3-4 months since then. Aside from one partial NASA rideshare mission that featured five NEXT satellites in May 2018, all seven launches have placed ten NEXT satellites (weighing approx. 10,000 kg or 22,000 lb total) in a variety of low polar orbits without a single known hitch.

Advertisement
-->

Falcon 9 enters the era of reusability

Closely following SES, NASA, and SSL (BulgariaSat), Iridium also became the fourth commercial entity to launch on a flight-proven Falcon 9 rocket for the launch vehicle’s fourth flight-proven mission ever. Iridium-8 will become the fourth constellation launch to fly aboard a sooty Falcon 9 rocket, meaning that a full 50% of the next-gen satellites will have launched on reused rockets, easily one of the coolest bragging rights ever. Currently standing at 65 NEXT satellites in orbit and rapidly nearing operational status, Falcon 9 B1049 and a fresh upper stage will (fingers crossed) place the last ten satellites in orbit to complete the constellation’s last plane and seal the last gap in its perfect global coverage.

Although NEXT would have been valuable for the sole reason that its predecessor satellites are now 5-10 years past their designed lifespans, NEXT will also serve to dramatically increase Iridium’s overall bandwidth, slash concurrent user bottlenecks, and provide a platform for new services like Aireon, which hopes to become the first operator of a truly commercial aircraft tracking service with global satellite-based coverage.

 

All things considered, it will be hugely bittersweet to watch Iridium and SpaceX’s direct relationship come to a close with the launch of Iridium-8. Aside from nine additional on-orbit spares once all 75 are launched, Iridium will also have a complement of six more spares that will be kept in storage on the ground until they are required in orbit. If or when those times come, SpaceX will be able to compete with other launch providers for the opportunity to carry maybe one or two Iridium satellites – likely as rideshare payloads – into orbit sometime in the future.

In the meantime, stay tuned for Iridium-8’s official launch time and date, likely to be announced by SpaceX sometime within the next 24-48 hours.

For prompt updates, on-the-ground perspectives, and unique glimpses of SpaceX’s rocket recovery fleet check out our brand new LaunchPad and LandingZone newsletters!

Related Topics:

Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

Advertisement
Comments

News

Tesla gamifies Supercharging with new ‘Charging Passport’

It will also include things like badges for special charging spots, among other metrics that will show all of the different places people have traveled to plug in for range.

Published

2 hours ago

on

December 8, 2025

By

Credit: MarcoRP | X

Tesla is gamifying its Supercharging experience by offering a new “Charging Passport,” hoping to add a new layer to the ownership experience.

While it is not part of the Holiday Update, it is rolling out around the same time and offers a handful of cool new features.

Tesla’s Charging Passport will be available within the smartphone app and will give a yearly summary of your charging experience, helping encapsulate your travel for that year.

It will also include things like badges for special charging spots, among other metrics that will show all of the different places people have traveled to plug in for range.

Tesla will include the following metrics within the new Charging Passport option within the Tesla app:

  • Charging badges: Iconic charging badges for visiting places like the Tesla Diner, Oasis Supercharger, etc., Explorer Badge, and more
  • Total Unique Superchargers Visited
  • Total Charging Sessions
  • Total Miles Added during Charging Sessions
  • Top Charging Day
  • Longest Trip
  • Favorite Charging Locations

This will give people a unique way to see their travels throughout the year, and although it is not necessarily something that is needed or adds any genuine value, it is something that many owners will like to look back on. After all, things like Spotify Wrapped and Apple Music Replay have been a great way for people to see what music they listened to throughout the year.

This is essentially Tesla’s version of that.

With a handful of unique Superchargers already active, Tesla is also building some new ones, like a UFO-inspired location in New Mexico, near Roswell.

Advertisement
-->

Tesla is building a new UFO-inspired Supercharger in the heart of Alien country

Continue Reading

News

Tesla launches its coolest gift idea ever just a few weeks after it was announced

“Gift one month of Full Self-Driving (Supervised), which allows the vehicle to drive itself almost anywhere with minimal intervention.”

Published

4 hours ago

on

December 8, 2025

By

Credit: Tesla

Tesla has launched its coolest gift idea ever, just a few weeks after it was announced.

Tesla is now giving owners the opportunity to gift Full Self-Driving for one month to friends or family through a new gifting program that was suggested to the company last month.

The program will enable people to send a fellow Tesla owner one month of the company’s semi-autonomous driving software, helping them to experience the Full Self-Driving suite and potentially help Tesla gain them as a subscriber of the program, or even an outright purchase.

Tesla has officially launched the program on its Shop. Sending one month of Full Self-Driving costs $112:

“Gift one month of Full Self-Driving (Supervised), which allows the vehicle to drive itself almost anywhere with minimal intervention. All sales are final. Can only be purchased and redeemed in the U.S. This gift card is valued at $112.00 and is intended to cover the price of one month of FSD (Supervised), including up to 13% sales tax. It is not guaranteed to cover the full monthly price if pricing or tax rates change. This gift card can be stored in Tesla Wallet and redeemed toward FSD (Supervised) or any other Tesla product or service that accepts gift card payments.”

Tesla has done a great job of expanding Full Self-Driving access over the past few years, especially by offering things like the Subscription program, free trials through referrals, and now this gift card program.

Gifting Full Self-Driving is another iteration of Tesla’s “butts in seats” strategy, which is its belief that it can flip consumers to its vehicles and products by simply letting people experience them.

Advertisement
-->

There is also a reason behind pushing Full Self-Driving so hard, and it has to do with CEO Elon Musk’s compensation package. One tranche requires Musk to achieve a certain number of active paid Full Self-Driving subscriptions.

More people who try the suite are likely to pay for it over the long term.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla expands Robotaxi app access once again, this time on a global scale

Tesla said recently it plans to launch Robotaxi in Miami, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Dallas.

Published

5 hours ago

on

December 8, 2025

By

Credit: Grok

Tesla has expanded Robotaxi app access once again, but this time, it’s on a much broader scale as the company is offering the opportunity for those outside of North America to download the app.

Tesla Robotaxi is the company’s early-stage ride-hailing platform that is active in Texas, California, and Arizona, with more expansion within the United States planned for the near future.

Tesla said recently it plans to launch Robotaxi in Miami, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Dallas.

The platform has massive potential, and Tesla is leaning on it to be a major contributor to even more disruption in the passenger transportation industry. So far, it has driven over 550,000 miles in total, with the vast majority of this coming from the Bay Area and Austin.

First Look at Tesla’s Robotaxi App: features, design, and more

Advertisement
-->

However, Tesla is focusing primarily on rapid expansion, but most of this is reliant on the company’s ability to gain regulatory permission to operate the platform in various regions. The expansion plans go well outside of the U.S., as the company expanded the ability to download the app to more regions this past weekend.

So far, these are the areas it is available to download in:

  • Japan
  • Thailand
  • Hong Kong
  • South Korea
  • Australia
  • Taiwan
  • Macau
  • New Zealand
  • Mexico
  • U.S.
  • Canada

Right now, while Tesla is focusing primarily on expansion, it is also working on other goals that have to do with making it more widely available to customers who want to grab a ride from a driverless vehicle.

One of the biggest goals it has is to eliminate safety monitors from its vehicles, which it currently utilizes in Austin in the passenger’s seat and in the driver’s seat in the Bay Area.

A few weeks ago, Tesla started implementing a new in-cabin data-sharing system, which will help support teams assist riders without anyone in the front of the car.

Tesla takes a step towards removal of Robotaxi service’s safety drivers

Advertisement
-->

As Robotaxi expands into more regions, Tesla stands to gain tremendously through the deployment of the Full Self-Driving suite for personal cars, as well as driverless Robotaxis for those who are just hailing rides.

Things have gone well for Tesla in the early stages of the Robotaxi program, but expansion will truly be the test of how things operate going forward. Navigating local traffic laws and gaining approval from a regulatory standpoint will be the biggest hurdle to jump.

Continue Reading