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SpaceX marks 500th Falcon launch with Starlink 11-22 Mission  

The Starlink 11-22 mission marks SpaceX’s 500th Falcon flight & 50th Starlink launch of 2025. Will SpaceX IPO Starlink next?

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SpaceX celebrated its 500th Falcon rocket launch with the Starlink 11-22 mission, a midweek flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The milestone was achieved with a Falcon 9 liftoff on Wednesday at 4:40 p.m. PDT (7:40 p.m. EDT, 2340 UTC). It also coincided with the 15th anniversary of the first Falcon 9 launch, underscoring the company’s dominance in the commercial space sector. The Starlink 11-22 mission, SpaceX’s 50th Starlink launch of 2025, highlights the company’s focus on expanding its satellite internet constellation.

Earlier this week, Elon Musk revealed SpaceX anticipates $15.5 billion in revenue this year, surpassing NASA’s $1.1 billion budget for 2026.

SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets have driven down launch costs, securing a significant share of the global launch market. In 2024, the company set a record with 134 Falcon launches, making it the world’s most active launch operator. SpaceX aims to surpass this with 170 launches by year-end, fueled by growing demand for satellite deployments. The Starlink constellation is a key revenue driver for SpaceX and remains central to these ambitions. Musk has hinted at a future public offering for Starlink without specifying a timeline.

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Beyond Falcon rockets, SpaceX is advancing its 400-foot Starship system, which Musk envisions as critical for Mars missions. The company’s cost-effective launch services and satellite communications have outpaced traditional space agencies, leveraging commercial demand to fund its interplanetary goals. While NASA focuses on deep space exploration, SpaceX’s revenue model thrives on frequent, reliable launches and Starlink’s expanding reach.

“I would like to thank everyone out there who has bought Starlink because you’re helping secure the future of civilization, making life multi-planetary, and helping make humanity a space-exploring civilization,” Musk said during his Road to Making Life Multiplanetary discussion.

The 500th Falcon launch marks a pivotal moment for SpaceX, reflecting its transformative impact on space access. As the company pushes toward record-breaking launch targets and multi-planetary aspirations, Starlink’s growth continues to fuel its vision, positioning SpaceX as a leader in shaping the future of space exploration and connectivity.

Maria--aka "M"-- is an experienced writer and book editor. She's written about several topics including health, tech, and politics. As a book editor, she's worked with authors who write Sci-Fi, Romance, and Dark Fantasy. M loves hearing from TESLARATI readers. If you have any tips or article ideas, contact her at maria@teslarati.com or via X, @Writer_01001101.

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

“Tesla is morphing right now. It’s in transition from being a car company to being a technology company.”

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Credit: CNBC Television/YouTube

Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) got its latest analysis from Jim Cramer, and investors will like what he has to say.

Cramer has flip-flopped his thoughts on Tesla shares many times over the years. One time, he said CEO Elon Musk was a genius; the next, he said Ford stock was a better play. He’s always changing his tune.

However, Cramer’s most recent analysis is of a bullish tone, as he talks about the company’s evolution from an automaker to a tech powerhouse. He made the comments on CNBC’s Mad Money:

“Tesla is morphing right now. It’s in transition from being a car company to being a technology company. You wanna be in there because the tech is worth a lot more than what it’s selling for right now. Don’t care where you bought it, care where it’s going to.”

Tesla has always been looked at by the mainstream media as an automaker. While that is its main business currently, Tesla has always had other divisions: Energy, Solar, Charging, AI, and Robotics. Some came after others, but the important point is that Tesla has not been an automaker exclusively for a decade.

It launched Powerwall and Powerpack in April 2015, marking the start of Tesla Energy.

But Cramer has a point here: Tesla is truly becoming much more than a car company, and it is turning into an AI and overall tech company more than ever before. Eventually, it will be recognized as such, more so than it will be as an automotive company.

Cramer’s comments also follow a recent prediction by Musk, who stated on X that he believes a $150,000 investment in Tesla shares right now would eventually turn someone into a millionaire:

Musk has said he believes Tesla could be headed to a serious increase in valuation. Eventually, it could become the most valuable company in the world. He said this during the Q2 Earnings Call:

“I do think if Tesla continues to execute well with vehicle autonomy and humanoid robot autonomy, it will be the most valuable company in the world. A lot of execution between here and there. It doesn’t just happen. Provided we execute very well, I think Tesla has a shot at being the most valuable company in the world. Obviously, I am extremely optimistic about the future of the company.”

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Elon Musk teases crazy new Tesla FSD model: here’s when it’s coming

Tesla CEO Elon Musk continues to tease some big improvements to Full Self-Driving.

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Credit: Arash Malek/X

Tesla CEO Elon Musk teased a crazy new model of the Full Self-Driving (FSD) suite that could be a major improvement over current models.

Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite has seen increases in performance over the past few years, with the latest versions being the most robust in company history. There is also an unreleased version, which is operating in the Robotaxi platform in Austin, which does not require supervision from the driver.

The Austin Robotaxi program does use a Safety Monitor who sits in the passenger’s seat.

However, Musk has been teasing improvements to the public version for some time. The CEO said that the new model, which is currently being trained, has roughly ten times the parameters of what is out there now.

He said something similar during the company’s Q2 Earnings Call in July:

“On the full self-driving front, we continue to make significant improvements just with the software. We are expecting to increase the parameter count to what we think can probably tenfold the parameter count. This is a tricky thing to do because as you increase the parameter count, you get to choke on memory bandwidth. But we currently think we can tenfold the parameter count from what people are currently experiencing.”

He reaffirmed these thoughts last night in a post on the social media platform X. Musk believes the version could be released at the end of next month if testing goes smoothly:

Increasing parameters will help improve the capabilities of the FSD suite, but as Musk mentioned during the Q2 Earnings dialogue, an increase in parameters can limit memory bandwidth.

Increasing the parameters could lead to unsupervised FSD, or even an expansion of the suite into other regions across the world. Tesla has been hoping to expand into Europe, Asia, and other areas, but regulatory hurdles are the real bottleneck, not FSD’s capability.

Even still, getting more data will make FSD safer and more robust, increasing its usefulness in real-world scenarios and helping Tesla get to a point where autonomous travel is within reach.

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Tesla gives Cybertruck clever new towing feature that increases safety

Tesla is making towing upgrades to Cybertruck through a new update.

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Credit: Greg Coleman

Tesla has given the Cybertruck a great new towing feature that will not only increase safety but could help avert damage and help with longevity.

While Tesla has boasted some impressive examples of towing with its vehicle lineup, until the Cybertruck was released in late 2023, the company did not have a car or pickup that was overly capable.

Tesla Cybertruck towing goes on display in new sighting

Its Dual Motor and Tri Motor All-Wheel-Drive configurations have 11,000 pounds of payload capacity. There are times when owners might push the limit, and previously, there was no true way that the vehicle would advise the owner that it was coming close to, or potentially exceeding, the capacity.

In a new update for the pickup, Tesla has added a new feature that will help identify when this is happening.

According to Not a Tesla App, Tesla, in software update 2025.26, added an undocumented feature that is referred to as the “Smart Warning System.” This will detect an overloaded rear axle and will provide a warning to the driver to prevent damage:

“Rear axle load exceeds recommended limit. Remove cargo or rebalance trailer to prevent damage.”

These two suggestions will help advise owners to take one of two solutions: they can either remove weight or rebalance their load to prevent damage.

Tesla hasn’t yet revealed how the vehicle can recognize this, but it likely uses its air suspension data to recognize the additional stress placed on the rear axle.

This is one distinct advantage that vehicles with software updates have over ones without the ability to get better through OTA downloads. These features are added through an internet connection and downloaded to the vehicle.

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