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SpaceX’s next big BFR spaceship part finished in Port of LA tent facility
The first 9-meter (29.5-foot) diameter composite propellant tank dome for SpaceX’s full-scale BFR spaceship prototype has been spotted more or less complete at the company’s temporary Port of Los Angeles facility, unambiguous evidence that SpaceX is continuing to rapidly fabricate major components of its next-generation rocket.
Speaking at a dedicated BFR update event in mid-September, CEO Elon Musk foreshadowed as much, and recent updates have reiterated just how committed SpaceX is to BFR and just how keen the company is to waste no time at all.
“We’ve built the first cylinder section…and we’ll be building the domes and the engine section soon.” – SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, September 2018
During that September 17th presentation, Musk did not parse his words despite a self-admitted tendency to look at SpaceX’s development program timelines (Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, Dragon, BFR) through rose-tinted glasses. Just two months after he uttered the quote above, SpaceX has visibly either finished or nearly finished a 9-meter diameter BFR spaceship (BFS) tank dome.
Due to SpaceX’s opaque treatment of development programs (both literally for the tent and figuratively for official updates), it’s possible that this may even the second dome completed so far. Either way, it can be extrapolated – assuming that the layout of BFR 2017 is generally representative of BFR 2018 – that the first spaceship prototype will require two or three roughly identical tank domes. If the common-dome tank layout is basically the same (disclaimer: it might be quite different), then SpaceX may end up mounting BFS’ 7 Raptor engines almost directly to the rear of the bottom tank dome, requiring either significant structural reinforcement or a second uniquely-engineer and optimized dome.
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- A tall platform was moved inside the tent around November 10th, likely to support the integration of the tank dome and barrel section. (Pauline Acalin)
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- The dome was spied inside the tent on November 12. (Pauline Acalin)
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- The dome (left) and barrel section (right) can now be integrated. (Pauline Acalin)
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- BFR 2017’s spaceship engine section. (SpaceX)
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- An overview of BFS (circa 2017). (SpaceX)O
Judging from SpaceX’s and Musk’s desire to make reusable rockets as reliable as (if not even more reliable than) commercial airliners, the safest form of mass-transit humans have created, it seems more likely than not that Raptor and BFR will continue SpaceX’s practice of quite literally surrounding each engine with thrust-transmitting structures that simultaneously act as armored shields. In the event that a Merlin engine fails on Falcon 9 or Heavy, each booster’s octaweb contains nine separate armored chambers that exist to isolate each engine in the event of a catastrophic failure. In fact, a Merlin failure – the only such in-flight failure known – during SpaceX’s CRS-1 Dragon launch in 2012 demonstrated the efficacy of this design, preventing the failure of just one of nine engines from causing total mission failure.
Rise of the ‘hexaweb’?
To replicate that design strategy on BFR (both booster and spaceship) would be an act of simple pragmatism – it’s always preferable to design for survivability and reliability than to couch launch and mission success primarily on the reliability of individual components. Because SpaceX chose not to share similarly detailed cutaways of BFR’s updated 2018 design, it’s unclear if the spaceship’s engine section (“hexaweb”, to borrow from “octaweb”) has changed dramatically.
Given the unexpected decision to move entirely away from a version of Raptor specifically optimized for vacuum operation for BFR’s first iteration, as well as the new presence of ~90 cubic meters of storage bins around the circumference of the spaceship’s aft, it’s possible that SpaceX will opt for a design more reminiscent of the Falcon family’s octaweb.
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- The rear of SpaceX’s updated BFS.
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- A better view. (SpaceX)
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- A September 2018 render of Starship (then BFS) shows one of the vehicle’s two hinged wings/fins/legs. (SpaceX)
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- A gif of Raptor throttling over the course of a 90+ second static-fire test in McGregor, Texas. (SpaceX)
Regardless, the appearance of a completed BFS tank dome is a major development on the vehicle’s path to integrated testing and paves the way for the fabrication of additional tank domes, barrel sections, engine sections, and more. Particularly obvious and noteworthy will be the fabrication of the prototype spaceship’s pointed cone-shaped nose section, its large tripod fins/wings/legs, and its two forward canard wings.
With all three fins/wings installed, BFS – in its current iteration – would have an unbelievable circumference of ~67 meters (220 feet) and a ‘finspan’ of perhaps 21 meters (~70 feet) tip to tip. BFS is going to be a very hard spaceship to hide.
The Tesla Semi is entering a new Pilot Program with Paper Transport, LLC (PTI), a Wisconsin-based transportation provider. The company will test the Semi’s Long Range configuration through “dedicated operations within the Chicago market.”
Chicago presents an interesting challenge for the Semi, as it will be a colder-weather climate that will test the Semi’s ability to operate in lower temperatures and in potentially large accumulations of snow. This is something Tesla has been testing with the Semi in Alaska and even in Northern California during the colder months, but Chicago will present a truly tough midwestern winter.
Tesla Semi spotted on journey home after winter performance testing
PTI says it is using the Semi to evaluate its strategy of reducing transportation emissions while maintaining performance, reliability, and cost efficiency. These are major arguments for the Semi being introduced into new fleets.
CEO of PTI Tyler Ellison said:
“PTI has been a leader in sustainable transportation solutions for over 15 years. We take a consultative approach to helping customers identify and implement the right transportation solution for their network. Our partnership with Tesla expands our portfolio alongside renewable natural gas and intermodal, giving customers more ways to reduce Scope 3 emissions without compromising service or economics.”
PTI is far from the first company to adopt the Semi within a fleet, as Tesla entered strategic agreements with PepsiCo. and its subsidiary Frito-Lay for a Pilot Program that extended throughout the California region.
Tesla has let companies like those utilize the Semi to determine whether it would be suitable for their operations. Additionally, Tesla gets valuable information regarding the Semi’s performance, knowing what to improve and what is ideal for companies that will utilize the all-electric truck for regional and nationwide logistics.
PTI plans to utilize the Long Range configuration, which is priced at $290,000 and features a range of approximately 500 miles, a three-motor powertrain, up to 800 kW of drive power, and consumption of just 1.7 kWh per mile.
Tesla Semi pricing revealed after company uncovers trim levels
VP of Maintenance at PTI, Bryan Ellen, added:
“We are excited to partner with Tesla, leveraging their ever-evolving technology. We are bullish in our estimation of the parallels available between our dedicated model and the efficiency of their fully electric Class 8 tractor. We anticipate a growing synergy between our businesses as we work to facilitate this sustainable solution for our customers.”
PTI has logged more than 87 million miles using sources like compressed and renewable gas, but now is looking to take it a step further with fully electric operations.
Tesla revealed on Monday that it is building a new autonomous vehicle at Gigafactory Texas, its plant just outside of the City of Austin. This particular vehicle will be geared toward those who are in need of a wheelchair-accessible car that would require no human driver for operation.
According to a new report from Wired, Tesla’s Senior Policy Advisor, India Herdman, told members of the Washington D.C. City Council on Monday:
“We are in development for a purpose-built, wheelchair-accessible autonomous vehicle. We know that paratransit can be very difficult, and people who are confined to wheelchairs permanently should still be able to move around freely, so that is an active product being built by Tesla in Texas.”
This builds upon what CEO Elon Musk said last year on X, which confirmed the company was working on accessible rides within its Robotaxi platform, which currently is confined to the Model Y.
Absolutely
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 19, 2025
Tesla is also developing the Cybercab, which started employee rides last week. However, this vehicle is not necessarily geared toward wheelchair accessibility.
That leaves a major gap in the autonomous ride-sharing program that Tesla is attempting to build; the company has been pretty clear that it does not want to complicate its manufacturing lines by bringing in a wide array of body styles.
However, it seems necessary to have something larger that could help transport people to appointments when they cannot drive. For wheelchair accessibility, the Robovan, which was unveiled at the “We, Robot” event in October 2024, seems to be the most ideal solution:
Herdman did not indicate whether she was referring to the Robovan or if Tesla is building yet another body style that is geared toward full autonomy but also caters to the handicapped.
Tesla might need to develop something specifically for the handicapped in order to align with the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prevents discrimination against people with disabilities in transportation services. Uber was hit with a lawsuit late last year for “refusing to reasonably modify its policies, practices, or procedures where necessary to avoid discriminating against riders with disabilities.”
Tesla would obviously like to avoid this.
It will be interesting to see what Tesla will do with this project, and whether it will introduce something new to the market or just continue with the Robovan.
Tesla weirdly confirmed that its steering wheel-less and pedal-less Cybercab vehicle is now in the process of giving employees rides, a huge milestone for the vehicle program.
But the entire thing was super strange. On Friday, Tesla released a video stating that there was “Cool news from Giga Texas” and that employees were now taking rides in Cybercabs that have no manual controls. The units seen on public roads are engineering vehicles that have manual controls inside, a necessity as Tesla moved through the testing phase.
However, Tesla removed the video and reposted it shortly after with a more vague title. It seems like the employee rides are still going, but the video was adjusted slightly. The initial upload showed employees doing things like watching movies and adjusting the climate, but these snippets were removed in the second upload.
Cool news from Giga Texas pic.twitter.com/gvbG456Tzw
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) July 11, 2026
Both images below were uploaded with the first video, but were removed after Tesla re-uploaded the announcement. These are not available in the second upload
Credit: Tesla
Credit: Tesla
Nevertheless, the announcement from Tesla is that the Cybercab is operating with employees inside who can control the vehicle’s audio, video, climate, and destination settings through their smartphone app.
Tesla has already been testing Cybercab engineering units, but last month, it was able to self-certify for SAE Level 4, which would enable unsupervised self-driving in Texas. The company is moving toward that, and the plans have always been to launch Cybercab rides this year.
The Cybercab is potentially looked at as the next generation of Tesla’s mobility leg. For the past 15 years, the company has been known as somewhat of an automaker, among many other things. However, these passenger vehicles that Tesla has manufactured are now moving into a new realm, as they will eventually drive themselves with no supervision thanks to the Full Self-Driving suite.
The Cybercab is just the next step of that: a true vehicle developed for the sole purpose of ride-hailing. It has no human controls, it has only two seats, and it will get passengers from Point A to Point B with no awkward driver, no need for manual inputs, and with no stress.
Tesla is moving forward with other developments related to the Cybercab project as well. However, the big announcement will come when Tesla finally announces that it is launching Cybercab rides to the general public, something that it plans to launch either late this year or early 2027.
Tesla Semi enters new Pilot Program with interesting challenge
Tesla is building a wheelchair-accessible Robotaxi
