Connect with us

News

SpaceX’s 23rd launch of the year carries Egyptian satellite into orbit

(Richard Angle)

Published

on

SpaceX has successfully completed its 23rd rocket launch and landing of 2022, delivering an Egyptian communications satellite to a nominal geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).

Despite a report of a possible technical “issue” just a few minutes before liftoff, SpaceX’s launch team was able to either rapidly rectify the problem or determine it was within an acceptable range of performance, and Falcon 9 ultimately lifted off without issue at 5:04 pm EDT (21:04 UTC), Wednesday, June 8th. Flying for the seventh time overall and sixth time in less than a year, Falcon 9 booster B1062 carried the rocket’s ~100-ton (~220,000 lb) upper stage, payload fairing, and 4-ton (~9,000 lb) Nilesat 301 payload most of the way out of Earth’s atmosphere, where they parted ways about 2.5 minutes after liftoff.

While B1062 began its trip back to Earth, Falcon 9’s upper stage ignited, deployed its fairing, and carried Nilesat 301 into an initial parking orbit, where it coasted for twenty minutes before boosting into an elliptical geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) and releasing the satellite.

Nilesat 301 lifts off on a Falcon 9 rocket. (Richard Angle)

Within a few hours, Nilesat 301 will deploy its solar arrays and begin initial checkouts. If the satellite is healthy, it will use its own onboard propulsion to raise the other end of its elliptical transfer orbit, ultimately arriving in a circular geostationary orbit (GEO) somewhere above northern or central Africa. The communications satellite’s performance will far outmatch the other spacecraft Nilesat has operated, significantly improving the company’s ability to provide customers throughout the region with high-quality TV and communications services.

After completing its main role in the mission, B1062 touched down dead center on drone ship Just Read The Instructions (JRTI), which was stationed almost 680 kilometers (~421 mi) due East of Cape Canaveral in the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX also expected to recover Falcon 9’s two new fairing halves, which should have deployed GPS-guided parafoils and gently splashed down on the ocean surface some 822 kilometers (~510 mi) downrange and been fished out of the water by support ship Doug around 45-60 minutes after liftoff.

Advertisement
B1062 nailed a near-bullseye landing on drone ship JRTI after its seventh trip to space. (SpaceX)

Nilesat 301 was B1062’s seventh launch overall and second launch in just 40 days, making it SpaceX’s second-fastest Falcon booster turnaround ever for a commercial launch. The mission was also SpaceX’s 132nd consecutively successful launch and 49th consecutively successful Falcon booster landing, as well as the company’s 23rd launch in the first 23 weeks of 2022.

SpaceX has up to five more launches planned in June 2022, including an oddly secretive Globalstar mission and Starlink launch in mid-June; SARah-1 and rideshare payloads no earlier than (NET) June 18th; and the SES-22 communications satellite and Dragon’s CRS-25 space station cargo delivery NET June 28th.

(Richard Angle)
(Richard Angle)
Falcon 9 B1062 is pictured shortly before its Nilesat 301 launch. (Richard Angle)

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 adds a new feature to Navigation in preparation for a new vehicle

After CEO Elon Musk announced earlier this week that the Semi’s mass production processes were scheduled for later this year, the company has been making various preparations as it nears manufacturing.

Published

on

Credit: Uber

Tesla has added a new feature to its Navigation and Supercharger Map in preparation for a new vehicle to hit the road: the Semi.

After CEO Elon Musk announced earlier this week that the Semi’s mass production processes were scheduled for later this year, the company has been making various preparations as it nears manufacturing.

Elon Musk confirms Tesla Semi will enter high-volume production this year

One of those changes has been the newly-released information regarding trim levels, as well as reports that Tesla has started to reach out to customers regarding pricing information for those trims.

Now, Tesla has made an additional bit of information available to the public in the form of locations of Megachargers, the infrastructure that will be responsible for charging the Semi and other all-electric Class 8 vehicles that hit the road.

Tesla made the announcement on the social media platform X:

Although it is a minor development, it is a major indication that Tesla is preparing for the Semi to head toward mass production, something the company has been hinting at for several years.

Nevertheless, this, along with the other information that was released this week, points toward a significant stride in Tesla’s progress in the Semi project.

Now that the company has also worked toward completion of the dedicated manufacturing plant in Sparks, Nevada, there are more signs than ever that the vehicle is finally ready to be built and delivered to customers outside of the pilot program that has been in operation for several years.

For now, the Megachargers are going to be situated on the West Coast, with a heavy emphasis on routes like I-5 and I-10. This strategy prioritizes major highways and logistics hubs where freight traffic is heaviest, ensuring coverage for both cross-country and regional hauls.

California and Texas are slated to have the most initially, with 17 and 19 sites, respectively. As the program continues to grow, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Washington, New York, and Nevada will have Megacharger locations as well.

For now, the Megachargers are available in Lathrop, California, and Sparks, Nevada, both of which have ties to Tesla. The former is the location of the Megafactory, and Sparks is where both the Tesla Gigafactory and Semifactory are located.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Tesla stock gets latest synopsis from Jim Cramer: ‘It’s actually a robotics company’

“Turns out it’s actually a robotics and Cybercab company, and I want to buy, buy, buy. Yes, Tesla’s the paper that turned into scissors in one session,” Cramer said.

Published

on

Credit: Tesla Optimus/X

Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) got its latest synopsis from Wall Street analyst Jim Cramer, who finally realized something that many fans of the company have known all along: it’s not a car company. Instead, it’s a robotics company.

In a recent note that was released after Tesla reported Earnings in late January, Cramer seemed to recognize that the underwhelming financials and overall performance of the automotive division were not representative of the current state of affairs.

Instead, we’re seeing a company transition itself away from its early identity, essentially evolving like a caterpillar into a butterfly.

The narrative of the Earnings Call was simple: We’re not a car company, at least not from a birds-eye view. We’re an AI and Robotics company, and we are transitioning to this quicker than most people realize.

Tesla stock gets another analysis from Jim Cramer, and investors will like it

Tesla’s Q4 Earnings Call featured plenty of analysis from CEO Elon Musk and others, and some of the more minor details of the call were even indicative of a company that is moving toward AI instead of its cars. For example, the Model S and Model X will be no more after Q2, as Musk said that they serve relatively no purpose for the future.

Instead, Tesla is shifting its focus to the vehicles catered for autonomy and its Robotaxi and self-driving efforts.

Cramer recognizes this:

“…we got results from Tesla, which actually beat numbers, but nobody cares about the numbers here, as electric vehicles are the past. And according to CEO Elon Musk, the future of this company comes down to Cybercabs and humanoid robots. Stock fell more than 3% the next day. That may be because their capital expenditures budget was higher than expected, or maybe people wanted more details from the new businesses. At this point, I think Musk acolytes might be more excited about SpaceX, which is planning to come public later this year.”

He continued, highlighting the company’s true transition away from vehicles to its Cybercab, Optimus, and AI ambitions:

“I know it’s hard to believe how quickly this market can change its attitude. Last night, I heard a disastrous car company speak. Turns out it’s actually a robotics and Cybercab company, and I want to buy, buy, buy. Yes, Tesla’s the paper that turned into scissors in one session. I didn’t like it as a car company. Boy, I love it as a Cybercab and humanoid robot juggernaut. Call me a buyer and give me five robots while I’m at it.”

Cramer’s narrative seems to fit that of the most bullish Tesla investors. Anyone who is labeled a “permabull” has been echoing a similar sentiment over the past several years: Tesla is not a car company any longer.

Instead, the true focus is on the future and the potential that AI and Robotics bring to the company. It is truly difficult to put Tesla shares in the same group as companies like Ford, General Motors, and others.

Tesla shares are down less than half a percent at the time of publishing, trading at $423.69.

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

SpaceX secures win as US labor board drops oversight case

The NLRB confirmed that it no longer has jurisdiction over SpaceX.

Published

on

Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX scored a legal victory after the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decided to dismiss a case which accused the company of terminating engineers who were involved in an open letter against founder Elon Musk. 

The NLRB confirmed that it no longer has jurisdiction over SpaceX. The update was initially shared by Bloomberg News, which cited a letter about the matter it reportedly reviewed.

In a letter to the former employees’ lawyers, the labor board stated that the affected employees were under the jurisdiction of the National Mediation Board (NMB), not the NLRB. As a result, the labor board stated that it was dismissing the case.

As per Danielle Pierce, a regional director of the agency, “the National Labor Relations Board lacks jurisdiction over the Employer and, therefore, I am dismissing your charge.”

Advertisement

The NMB typically oversees airlines and railroads. The NLRB, on the other hand, covers most private-sector employers, as well as manufacturers such as Boeing. 

The former SpaceX engineers have argued that the private space company did not belong under the NMB’s jurisdiction because SpaceX only offers services to “hand-picked customers.” 

In an opinion, however, the NMB stated that SpaceX was under its jurisdiction because “space transport includes air travel” to get to outer space. The mediation board also noted that anyone can contact SpaceX to secure its services.

SpaceX had previously challenged the NLRB’s authority in court, arguing that the agency’s structure was unconstitutional. Jennifer Abruzzo, the NLRB general counsel under former United States President Joe Biden, rejected SpaceX’s claims. Following Abruzzo’s termination under the Trump administration, however, SpaceX asked the labor board to reconsider its arguments. 

Advertisement

SpaceX is not the only company that has challenged the constitutionality of the NLRB. Since SpaceX filed its legal challenge against the agency in 2024, other high-profile companies have followed suit. These include Amazon, which has filed similar cases that are now pending.

Continue Reading