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SpaceX breaks Starship test record, rolls next booster to launch pad
SpaceX has completed a record-breaking test of a Starship booster and rolled a newer Super Heavy prototype to the launch pad just hours apart.
Almost six weeks after SpaceX began Super Heavy Booster 7’s static fire test campaign, the company has broken new ground by simultaneously igniting seven Raptor engines at once. A matter of hours later, confirming SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s plans in real time, the company transported a second Super Heavy prototype (Booster 8) from the factory to the launch pad, where it joined Booster 7.
According to Musk, those rockets will soon switch places, ensuring that no time is wasted while SpaceX continues to gradually work towards Starship’s first orbital launch attempts.
Booster 7 kicked off the most important stage of its flight qualification process on August 9th and 11th with two back-to-back static fires, each igniting just one of 20 installed Raptor engines. Both appeared to be successful and SpaceX returned B7 to its Boca Chica, Texas factory, reinstalled a full set of 33 engines, and sent the Super Heavy back to the launch pad two weeks later.
On August 31st, SpaceX attempted to ignite three of Booster 7’s 33 Raptors. One engine failed to ignite but the others did not, resulting in a mostly successful two-engine test. Over the next two weeks, SpaceX performed several ignition-free ‘spin-prime’ tests, two of which appeared to spin up all 33 engines without causing an explosion. Finally, SpaceX telegraphed its next major goal with a seven-engine spin-prime test on September 16th and another (albeit with a slightly different set of engines) on September 19th.
Shortly after the second seven-engine spin-prime, SpaceX refilled Booster 7 with propellant, went back through the same procedures, and ignited the same seven engines for about five seconds. No obvious issues arose and Musk later implied that the test went well. It set a new record for the largest number of Raptors simultaneously ignited on a single prototype and likely also broke the record for most thrust produced by a vehicle tested at Starbase.
If all seven upgraded Raptor V2 engines were operating at full throttle, they could have briefly produced more than 1600 tons (~3.6M lbf) of thrust – roughly equivalent to two Falcon 9 boosters. Measuring about 69 meters (~225 ft) tall and 9 meters (~30 ft) wide, Super Heavy will be the most powerful liquid rocket booster ever tested once it ignites as few as 20 of its 33 engines at full thrust.
In an increasingly rare update, Musk revealed that SpaceX will once again return Booster 7 to Starbase’s factory for mysterious “robustness upgrades” after the latest round of testing. Musk doesn’t seem to think that those upgrades will take very long, and anticipates that Starbase’s “next big test” will be the first complete wet dress rehearsal of a fully-assembled two-stage Starship, followed by Super Heavy’s first 33-engine static fire test, “in a few weeks.”
More likely than not, each step of that process will take multiple attempts and uncover issues that will then need to be corrected and verified over the course of several months. But with Starship 24 having already completed a full six-engine static fire, there’s a small chance SpaceX will find itself with a fully-stacked Starship that is more or less ready for its first orbital launch attempt by the end of October.
In the meantime, after Booster 7 returns to the factory, Booster 8 – finally complete after a relatively slow six-month assembly – will kick off basic proof testing at SpaceX’s South Texas orbital launch site. SpaceX wasted no time preparing for that swap and transported Booster 8 to the pad just seven hours after Booster 7’s seven-engine static fire. If things move more smoothly than they did with B7, it’s possible that B8 will complete proof testing and be ready to head back to the factory for Raptor installation by the time B7’s upgrades are finished – a very efficient transition if it works out that way.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk reiterates Tesla Optimus’ most sci-fi potential yet
Musk shared his comments in a series of posts on social media platform X.
Elon Musk recently reiterated one of the most ambitious forecasts for Tesla’s humanoid robot, Optimus, stating it could become the first real-world example of a Von Neumann machine. He also noted once more that Optimus would be Tesla’s biggest product.
Musk shared his comments in a series of posts on social media platform X.
Optimus as a von Neumann machine
In response to a post on X that pondered on sci-fi timelines becoming real, Musk wrote that “Optimus will be the first Von Neumann machine, capable of building civilization by itself on any viable planet.” In a separate post, Musk wrote that Optimus will be Tesla’s “biggest product ever,” a phrase he has used in the past to describe the humanoid robot’s importance to the electric vehicle maker.
A Von Neumann machine is a class of theoretical self-replicating systems originally proposed in the mid-20th century by the mathematician John von Neumann. In his concept, von Neumann described machines that could travel to other worlds, use local materials to create copies of themselves, and carry out large-scale tasks without outside intervention.
Elon Musk’s broader plans
Considering Musk’s comments, it appears that Optimus would eventually be capable of performing complex work autonomously in environments beyond Earth. If Optimus could achieve such a feat, it could very well unlock humanity’s capability to explore locations beyond Earth. The idea of space exploration becomes more than feasible.
Elon Musk has discussed space-based AI compute, large-scale robotic production, and the role of SpaceX’s Starship in transporting hardware and materials to other planets. While Musk did not detail how Optimus would fit with SpaceX’s exploration activities, his Von Neumann machine comments suggest he is looking at Tesla’s robotics as part of a potential interplanetary ecosystem.
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Tesla China January wholesale sales rise 9% year-on-year
Tesla reported January wholesale sales of 69,129 China-made vehicles, as per data released by the China Passenger Car Association.
Tesla China reported January wholesale sales of 69,129 Giga Shanghai-made vehicles, as per data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). The figure includes both domestic sales and exports from Gigafactory Shanghai.
The total represented a 9.32% increase from January last year but a 28.86% decline from December’s 97,171 units.
China EV market trends
The CPCA estimated that China’s passenger new energy vehicle wholesale volume reached about 900,000 units in January, up 1% year-on-year but down 42% from December. Demand has been pressured by the start-of-year slow season, a 5% additional purchase tax cost, and uncertainty around the transition of vehicle trade-in subsidies, as noted in a report from CNEV Post.
Market leader BYD sold 210,051 NEVs in January, down 30.11% year-on-year and 50.04% month-on-month, as per data released on February 1. Tesla China’s year-over-year growth then is quite interesting, as the company’s vehicles seem to be selling very well despite headwinds in the market.
Tesla China’s strategies
To counter weaker seasonal demand, Tesla China launched a low-interest financing program on January 6, offering up to seven-year terms on select produced vehicles. The move marked the first time an automaker offered financing of that length in the Chinese market.
Several rivals, including Xiaomi, Li Auto, XPeng, and NIO, later introduced similar incentives. Tesla China then further increased promotions on January 26 by reinstating insurance subsidies for the Model 3 sedan. The CPCA is expected to release Tesla’s China retail sales and export breakdown later this month.
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Tesla’s Apple CarPlay ambitions are not dead, they’re still in the works
For what it’s worth, as a Tesla owner, I don’t particularly see the need for CarPlay, as I have found the in-car system that the company has developed to be superior. However, many people are in love with CarPlay simply because, when it’s in a car that is capable, it is really great.
Tesla’s Apple CarPlay ambitions appeared to be dead in the water after a large amount of speculation late last year that the company would add the user interface seemed to cool down after several weeks of reports.
However, it appears that CarPlay might make its way to Tesla vehicles after all, as a recent report seems to indicate that it is still being worked on by software teams for the company.
The real question is whether it is truly needed or if it is just a want by so many owners that Tesla is listening and deciding to proceed with its development.
Back in November, Bloomberg reported that Tesla was in the process of testing Apple CarPlay within its vehicles, which was a major development considering the company had resisted adopting UIs outside of its own for many years.
Nearly one-third of car buyers considered the lack of CarPlay as a deal-breaker when buying their cars, a study from McKinsey & Co. outlined. This could be a driving decision in Tesla’s inability to abandon the development of CarPlay in its vehicles, especially as it lost a major advantage that appealed to consumers last year: the $7,500 EV tax credit.
Tesla owners propose interesting theory about Apple CarPlay and EV tax credit
Although we saw little to no movement on it since the November speculation, Tesla is now reportedly in the process of still developing the user interface. Mark Gurman, a Bloomberg writer with a weekly newsletter, stated that CarPlay is “still in the works” at Tesla and that more concrete information will be available “soon” regarding its development.
While Tesla already has a very capable and widely accepted user interface, CarPlay would still be an advantage, considering many people have used it in their vehicles for years. Just like smartphones, many people get comfortable with an operating system or style and are resistant to using a new one. This could be a big reason for Tesla attempting to get it in their own cars.
Tesla gets updated “Apple CarPlay” hack that can work on new models
For what it’s worth, as a Tesla owner, I don’t particularly see the need for CarPlay, as I have found the in-car system that the company has developed to be superior. However, many people are in love with CarPlay simply because, when it’s in a car that is capable, it is really great.
It holds one distinct advantage over Tesla’s UI in my opinion, and that’s the ability to read and respond to text messages, which is something that is available within a Tesla, but is not as user-friendly.
With that being said, I would still give CarPlay a shot in my Tesla. I didn’t particularly enjoy it in my Bronco Sport, but that was because Ford’s software was a bit laggy with it. If it were as smooth as Tesla’s UI, which I think it would be, it could be a really great addition to the vehicle.
Elon Musk reiterates Tesla Optimus’ most sci-fi potential yet
Tesla China January wholesale sales rise 9% year-on-year
