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SpaceX has announced that BFR's first crewed lunar voyage will be funded by billionaire Yasuka Maezawa and will include as many as 10 additional passengers. (SpaceX) SpaceX has announced that BFR's first crewed lunar voyage will be funded by billionaire Yasuka Maezawa and will include as many as 10 additional passengers. (SpaceX)

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SpaceX to give BFR update and announce a private Moon mission on Monday

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SpaceX is set for a surprise event that is expected to revolve the announcement of a newly-contracted launch planned to send a private individual around the Moon with BFR, potentially queuing up a true race (back) to the Moon between SpaceX and NASA sometime in the early to mid-2020s.

Alongside the official announcement and a fascinating render revealing a dramatically-updated iteration of BFR’s spaceship upper stage, CEO Elon Musk cryptically hinted on Twitter that the private customer could be Japanese, as well as confirming that the spaceship as shown was indicative of a new BFR design.

Most importantly, at least for anyone eager to learn more, SpaceX will be hosting an official webcast of the announcement, NET 6:00 pm PDT on Monday, September 17th (01:00 UTC, Sept 18). Given the extreme rarity of streamed SpaceX updates unrelated to launches, as well as the fact that all of those updates have been presented by Elon Musk, it’s safe to expect that this particular update will be no different.

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With any luck, this announcement may actually be the BFR update Musk teased on Twitter in mid-July, and his quoted “in a month or so” ETA meshes well with an actual update roughly two months later, Musk-time accounted for. It’s also possible that this newly-announced space tourism contract is directly related to a similar announcement made in 2017 that would have instead launched “two private customers” around the Moon with Falcon Heavy and Crew Dragon – SpaceX’s official press release noted that both of those customers had “paid a significant deposit”.

 

Prior to Falcon Heavy’s launch debut in February 2018, Musk offered a new perspective on human missions with Falcon Heavy, stating that SpaceX had made an internal decision to skip over a human-rated Falcon Heavy and head directly for BFR, citing his feeling that development of the next-gen rocket was proceeding quite smoothly.

“What we decided internally is to focus our future efforts on BFR. If that ends up taking longer than expected, then we’ll return to the idea of sending a Crew Dragon on Falcon Heavy around the Moon. But right now it looks like BFR development is moving quickly and it will not be necessary to qualify Falcon Heavy for crewed spaceflight.” – Elon Musk, 5 February 2018

Discussed last week, the render SpaceX published alongside this fresh announcement featured a new variant of BFR, suggesting that the company is still iterating on the spaceship’s design. This helps to explain a roughly 6-12 months schedule delay for prototype spaceship hop tests and a full BFR’s first orbital mission, slipping slightly from NET H1 2019 (hops) and 2020 (orbit) to late-2019 and 2021, respectively.

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SpaceX has announced that BFR’s first lunar voyage will include a private, paying individual. (SpaceX)

Still, it’s believed that SpaceX is already building composite propellant tank and structural prototypes in a temporary tent set up at Port of Los Angeles, evidenced by massive stacks of boxes of materials (some empty and some not) necessary for composite manufacturing (prepreg, resin, industrial HVAC, etc.). Raptor, the critical propulsion system that will power both booster and spaceship, was said by Tom Mueller – VP of Propulsion Engineering – to have all but completed prototype Raptor testing, with eyes now on building and testing engines optimized for flight. Located in the Port of LA, a dedicated BFR factory is in the early stages of construction, and completion of the first phase (a smaller factory floor) could happen sometime between Q2 and Q4 2019.

Catch the event live at the webcast below and stay tuned for Teslarati’s on-site coverage.


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!

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.

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Tesla is improving this critical feature in older vehicles

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla is set to improve a critical feature that has not been present in older vehicles with a new update.

Tesla vehicles feature a comprehensive suite of driver assistance features, some of which aid in driving itself, while others support the vehicle’s surroundings.

One of those features is that of Driver Visualization, and with the rollout of a new update, owners of Intel-based Tesla vehicles are receiving an upgrade that will come with a simple software update.

Tesla plans to use Unreal Engine for driver visualization with crazy upgrade

The update will provide new visualizations while Intel-based vehicles are in reverse, a feature that was not previously available, but will be with Software Update 2025.32.2.

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The improvement was spotted by Not a Tesla App via TheBeatYT_evil:

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Previously, vehicles Tesla built were equipped with Intel-based processors, but newer cars feature the AMD chip, which is capable of rendering these visualizations as they happen. They were capable of visualizations when driving forward, but not in reverse, which is what this change resolves.

It is a good sign for those with Intel-based vehicles, as Tesla seems to be paying attention to what those cars are not capable of and improving them.

This was an undocumented improvement associated with this particular update, so you will not find any mention of it in the release notes that Tesla distributes with each update.

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Tesla looks to make a big splash with Robotaxi in a new market

Tesla has been transparent that it is prioritizing safety, but it believes it can expand to basically any geographical location within the United States and find success with its Robotaxi suite. CEO Elon Musk said it could be available to half of the U.S. population by the end of the year.

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Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer | X

Tesla is looking to make a big splash with Robotaxi in a new market, as the company was spotted testing validation vehicles in one region where it has not yet launched its ride-hailing service.

After launching Robotaxi in Austin in late June, Tesla followed up with a relatively quick expansion to the Bay Area of California. Both service areas are operating with a geofence that is expansive: In Texas, it is 173 square miles, while in the Bay Area, it is roughly 400 square miles.

Tesla has been transparent that it is prioritizing safety, but it believes it can expand to basically any geographical location within the United States and find success with its Robotaxi suite. CEO Elon Musk said it could be available to half of the U.S. population by the end of the year.

There have been plenty of reports out there that have speculated as to where Tesla would land next to test Robotaxi, and Nevada, Florida, Arizona, and New York have all been in the realm of possibility. These regions will need to approve Tesla for regulatory purposes before Robotaxi can officially operate.

Tesla is still testing and performing validation in several regions, and in Tempe, Arizona, things are moving forward as a Model Y with a LiDAR rig was spotted performing ground truth for the platform:

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With the LiDAR unit, many followers of the self-driving and autonomy space might wonder why Tesla uses these apparatuses during validation, especially considering the company’s stance and vision-based approach.

LiDAR is used for “ground truth,” which is basically a solidification or confirmation of what the cameras on the car are seeing. It is a great way to essentially confirm the accuracy of the vision-based suite, and will not be used on Robotaxi units used within the ride-hailing suite.

The Robotaxi platform was made available to the public earlier this month, as Tesla launched its app for iOS users.

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Tesla Robotaxi app download rate demolishes Uber, Waymo all-time highs

Downloading the app allows you to join a waitlist, giving you the opportunity to utilize and test the Robotaxi platform in either Austin or the Bay Area.

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Tesla hacker finds lifesaving FSD suggestions in 2025.32.3

The feature could drastically reduce instances of drivers operating their vehicles while distracted or exhausted.

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Credit: Tesla/X

A Tesla hacker has shared references to what could very well be lifesaving FSD suggestions in software update 2025.32.3. 

The feature could drastically reduce instances of drivers operating their vehicles while distracted or exhausted.

New FSD features

As per longtime Tesla hacker @greentheonly, the EV maker’s drowsiness and lane departure suggestions in 2025.32.3 reference FSD. The hacker shared two alerts that specifically suggest the use of FSD, such as “Lane drift detected. Let FSD assist so you can stay focused,” and “Drowsiness detected. Stay focused with FSD.”

The hacker noted that the updated messages in 2025.32.3 are quite interesting because Tesla still advises drivers to be fully alert when using FSD Supervised. Thus, it is quite interesting to see the company advising users to use FSD when they seem unfocused or tired. That being said, FSD is still a supervised solution for now, but the system itself is already very capable, so the company’s updated alerts are not surprising.

Steps to FSD Unsupervised

Such warning messages would definitely make more sense once Tesla actually rolls out FSD Unsupervised. The system seems to be just waiting for regulatory approval for now, considering that it is already being used in vehicles that are coming off the production line at the Fremont Factory and Giga Texas. Tesla is also now using a driverless system for its Robotaxi services in Austin, as well as its autonomous ride-hailing service in the Bay Area.

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For now, Tesla is hard at work preparing for the impending rollout of FSD V14, which Elon Musk has stated will be a notable improvement from the already-impressive performance of FSD V13. As per Musk, Teslas running FSD V14 will feel “sentient.” He also noted that the system “feels alive.”

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