News
SpaceX Dragon delivers supplies, upgraded solar arrays to space station
Following a flawless Saturday launch, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station on Sunday morning, delivering several tons of supplies and a second set of upgraded solar arrays to the orbital outpost.
In what has become a rare event for the company, an all-new Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft were assigned to the mission – SpaceX’s latest launch under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program. Carrying Dragon C211 (the 11th Dragon 2 capsule) and a new single-use Falcon upper stage, Falcon 9 booster B1076 lifted off for the first time from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 2:20 pm EST (19:20 UTC) on Saturday, November 26th.
Falcon 9 performed as expected and sailed through its 159th consecutively successful launch since January 2017. The rocket’s upper stage reached orbit and booster B1076 touched down on drone ship Just Read The Instructions (JRTI) around nine minutes after liftoff. Cargo Dragon deployed from Falcon 9’s upper stage a few minutes later, kicking off orbit-raising and rendezvous operations.
17 hours and 19 minutes later, Dragon successfully docked with the International Space Station (ISS), making CRS-26’s rendezvous the second fastest in SpaceX history and the fastest completed by a Cargo Dragon. Dragon docked to the ISS carrying more than 3.5 tons (7777 lb) of cargo, including one ton of crew supplies and one ton of science experiments.
The single biggest payload, however, was the second of three sets of upgraded solar arrays that will eventually increase the total amount of power available to the ISS and its crew of international astronauts. Thanks to a new Roll-Out Solar Array technology that allows each of the six planned arrays to roll up into a compact cylinder, NASA has been able to fit two arrays at once inside the unpressurized ‘trunk’ section of SpaceX’s Cargo Dragon spacecraft. Each pair of arrays weighs around 1.2 tons (~2600 lb).
SpaceX launched the first pair of iROSA arrays in June 2021 and will likely launch the third and final pair in 2023. Combined, the six new iROSAs will initially be able to produce up to 168 kilowatts, though NASA also says it will only use a maximum of 120 kilowatts. Including the station’s old arrays, which will continue to be used in a limited capacity, the iROSA upgrade is expected to boost the total amount of power available for science and operations by 20-30%.
CRS-26 was SpaceX’s 54th launch of 2022, leaving the company just six launches away from hitting CEO Elon Musk’s target of 60 launches this year. SpaceX has at least one more launch – a Japanese Moon lander – scheduled before the end of the month. Out of the last eight months, only one has had less than five SpaceX launches, meaning that the odds are now firmly in favor of SpaceX achieving its goal. The Soviet Union’s R-7 rocket family currently holds the record for most successful launches in a calendar year, with 61 launches completed in 1980.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2 rolled out late last week to Early Access Program (EAP) members, but its best feature is not what you think.
While Tesla has done a great job of refining the performance of the Full Self-Driving suite with the latest update, there are some other interesting additions, including one that many owners have requested for some time.
Upon the release of v14.2, many owners recognized the Blue Dot next to the Autopilot tab in Vehicle Settings, notifying them of a new feature. What was included as a new feature in the new update was a Full Self-Driving stats feature, which now will show you how many miles you’ve traveled in total, and how many of those miles were driven using FSD:
🚨 The coolest non-driving change of Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2 pic.twitter.com/HOJcFaV2Ny
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 21, 2025
The feature seems to be more of a bragging rights thing than anything, but it will also give drivers a good idea of how many miles they are using Full Self-Driving for. Those who use telematics-based insurance services will also be able to run experiments of their own, and could determine whether their premiums are impacted by the use of Full Self-Driving, and whether it is more advantageous to use over manual driving.
Tesla rolled out numerous other improvements with Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2, most notably, the company seems to have resolved previous complaints about brake stabbing and hesitation. This was a major complaint in v14.1, but Tesla has seemed to resolve it with this newest branch of the FSD suite.
There were also improvements in overall operation, and it was notably smoother than past versions. Speed Profiles are seemingly refined as well, as they seem much more fixed on how fast they will travel and how aggressive they will be with things like passing cars on freeways and lane changes.
In future updates, Tesla plans to add Parking Spot selection, along with overall operational improvements. However, CEO Elon Musk recently said that the next branch, Full Self-Driving v14.3, will be where the “final piece of the puzzle is placed.” Tesla believes it is close to solving autonomy, so v14.3 could be a major jump forward, but it remains to be seen.
Tesla has adjusted the functionality of a crucial climate feature as Winter weather has started to arrive throughout some parts of the United States. The new feature was highly requested by owners.
Tesla has a Cabin Overheat Protection feature that helps keep the temperature regulated if it reaches a certain threshold. Inversely, it can be used in cold weather as well, which will automatically warm the cabin if it sinks to a temperature that is too low for the owner’s comfort.
This is a great way to keep the cabin either warmed up just enough or cooled down just enough so that it never gets too hot or too cold. Extreme temperatures could damage certain parts of the vehicle or damage personal belongings that are kept inside the car.
Overheat protection is a great thing to have in hot climates like Arizona or Texas, especially with the Premium trims of the Model 3 and Model Y, which feature a glass roof.
Many owners appreciate the feature, but they argue that using it at home will utilize too much energy, especially during extreme temperatures. For a while, many Tesla fans have requested an option to disable this feature when the car is parked at home, which the company recently added, according to Not a Tesla App.
The feature is part of Software Version 2025.44.3, and the release notes state:
“You can now choose Exclude Home when Cabin Overheat Protection or No A/C is enabled.”
Tesla has been great at listening to what owners want with new features, and this is one that will reserve some charge and prevent unnecessary utilization of available power, especially as the car is parked at home. If owners want to condition the cabin or get the car ready for operation with a comfortable interior, they can utilize the Tesla app to adjust the climate.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed today on the social media platform X that legacy automakers, such as Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, do not want to license the company’s Full Self-Driving suite, at least not without a long list of their own terms.
“I’ve tried to warn them and even offered to license Tesla FSD, but they don’t want it! Crazy,” Musk said on X. “When legacy auto does occasionally reach out, they tepidly discuss implementing FSD for a tiny program in 5 years with unworkable requirements for Tesla, so pointless.”
I’ve tried to warn them and even offered to license Tesla FSD, but they don’t want it! Crazy …
When legacy auto does occasionally reach out, they tepidly discuss implementing FSD for a tiny program in 5 years with unworkable requirements for Tesla, so pointless. 🤷♂️
🦕 🦕
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2025
Musk made the remark in response to a note we wrote about earlier today from Melius Research, in which analyst Rob Wertheimer said, “Our point is not that Tesla is at risk, it’s that everybody else is,” in terms of autonomy and self-driving development.
Wertheimer believes there are hundreds of billions of dollars in value headed toward Tesla’s way because of its prowess with FSD.
A few years ago, Musk first remarked that Tesla was in early talks with one legacy automaker regarding licensing Full Self-Driving for its vehicles. Tesla never confirmed which company it was, but given Musk’s ongoing talks with Ford CEO Jim Farley at the time, it seemed the Detroit-based automaker was the likely suspect.
Tesla’s Elon Musk reiterates FSD licensing offer for other automakers
Ford has been perhaps the most aggressive legacy automaker in terms of its EV efforts, but it recently scaled back its electric offensive due to profitability issues and weak demand. It simply was not making enough vehicles, nor selling the volume needed to turn a profit.
Musk truly believes that many of the companies that turn their backs on FSD now will suffer in the future, especially considering the increased chance it could be a parallel to what has happened with EV efforts for many of these companies.
Unfortunately, they got started too late and are now playing catch-up with Tesla, XPeng, BYD, and the other dominating forces in EVs across the globe.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2’s best new feature is not what you think
Tesla adjusts crucial feature as winter weather arrives
