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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s Starship presentation will have to wait a few more weeks
While the FAA’s slow pace continues to delay Starhopper’s second major flight test, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says that his planned Starship 2019 presentation will also be delayed and will instead follow a major integration milestone for the first orbital-class Starship prototype.
That milestone – likely representing the preliminary completion of Starship Mk1’s primary structure – could apparently come as early as mid-September, a claim that is at least partially supported by the relentless progress SpaceX has made in the last few weeks. Although a 200m (650 ft) Starhopper flight test would undeniably bode well for the health of SpaceX’s full-scale Raptor engine development, the partial completion of the first orbital-class Starship prototype would carry far more weight for the whole of SpaceX’s next-generation, fully-reusable launch vehicle.
Back in early August, about a week after Starhopper completed its inaugural July 25th flight test, Musk tweeted that his promised Starship update presentation would take place on August 24th, previously hoped to be “a few weeks” after Starhopper’s second major flight test.
He quickly confirmed that it would take place in Boca Chica, Texas, while also cryptically adding that Starship Mk1 could be “almost ready to fly” by then. This led your author to speculate just yesterday that any further FAA-related Starhopper delays could very well push the low-fidelity testbed into early retirement if Starships Mk1 and Mk2 can maintain their extremely rapid rate of progress.
“According to Musk, either or both of those orbital-class prototypes could be ready for their inaugural flight tests as early as mid-September, perhaps just 1-2 months from now. Given that Starships Mk1 and Mk2 are significantly higher fidelity than Starhopper, the ungainly testbed will likely become redundant the moment that its successors are ready for flight. In other words, Starhopper is fast approaching the end of its useful life, and SpaceX’s fight for a 200m hop-test permit could ultimately be a waste of time, effort, and money if said permit doesn’t also cover Starship Mk1.”
Teslarati.com, August 20th, 2019
Over the course of the last 3-4 weeks, SpaceX’s Starship assembly progress has been absolutely relentless, ranging from adding 20+ meters of height to tank sections, installing major fuel tank bulkheads, and more. Most notably, and to be discussed in greater detail in an upcoming Teslarati article, SpaceX has accepted delivery and begun installation of two identical triple-Raptor thrust structures and bulkhead seals in both Texas and Florida.
Additionally and at least as excitingly, SpaceX’s Boca Chica facilities accepted delivery of what is – by all appearances – the first finished Starship landing leg, likely one of two actuating fins per a September 2018 design update. According to Musk, the design of Starship’s aerodynamic control surfaces and legs has changed since that 2018 update, but the leg that was delivered on August 18th certainly looks almost exactly like those pictured in official SpaceX media dated before Musk’s reported changes.
Just like official pre-steel renders from SpaceX, the delivered leg appears to have attachment points and hinges on its cylindrical end, while the bulk of the leg is tapered. Fascinatingly, the leg’s exterior appears to have been constructed primarily via riveting steel, producing an aesthetic that screams “steampunk spaceship”.
In short, given just how fast SpaceX is progressing with Starship Mk1and Mk2 and combined with the FAA’s permitting delays, it’s not surprising in the slightest that CEO Elon Musk has decided that the official 2019 update would be better accompanied by a major Starship Mk1 milestone. According to Musk, Starship Mk1 and Mk2 could actually be ready for their first flight tests – powered by at least three Raptor engines – as early as mid-September to mid-October.
By all appearances, ~4 weeks is an eternity in Starship assembly time and Musk’s now-mid-September presentation will almost certainly be worth waiting for.
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In a new note to investors on Tuesday, Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew Percoco said that Tesla has one big financial question to answer for investors regarding its Robotaxi rollout, Full Self-Driving software, and Optimus.
Percoco said in the note that, for the most part, investors are still very positive about the direction the company is headed. However, there are some things the firm would like to see, and they have to do with financials.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla bulls are more than convinced that the company’s Full Self-Driving software is proof it can develop physical AI. Financially, however, there are still some questions, especially on elevated spending, which CEO Elon Musk said would occur as the company works to roll out Robotaxi faster and continue developing its Optimus robot.
The latter two are where Tesla will have to prove progress to investors, as Percoco writes that both projects “will require clearer evidence that Robotaxi is scaling and more tangible Optimus proof points to support the ROI on elevated capex.”
Percoco said the second quarter earnings call did not change his long-term thesis of where Tesla is positioned in the AI race, which is out in front. However, there are concerns that weaker gross margins and higher R&D spend will stress financials, and that has “sharpened our (and investors’) focus on measurable progress across Robotaxi and Optimus.”
Additionally, Robotaxi still needs to be proven with more operation in existing cities while maintaining safety but improving how many rides it gives in any given time, he said. For Optimus, Percoco wrote that he is “still looking for evidence beyond commentary around SOP.”
Morgan Stanley put Percoco in charge of covering Tesla after long-time analyst Adam Jonas transitioned to the automotive side.
Currently, Morgan Stanley has a $415 price target on Tesla and a ‘Hold’ rating on the stock. It is trading at around $330 at the time of publication, which was 2:30 P.M. on the East Coast.
SpaceX’s massive investment in AI will make it a big winner, Argus Research said after the company’s successful earnings call last week.
The firm also upgraded shares to a Buy from Hold and set a $160 price target.
SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) is currently recovering from its heavy AI infrastructure investments, as it spent nearly $16 billion in Q2 alone. The company did this primarily by monetizing high-demand GPU compute capacity at a much faster pace than traditional data center economics would suggest.
Company CFO Bret Johnsen said that SpaceX would be able to pay back anything on new deployments within a year.
There are plenty of ways the company can do this:
Leasing excess compute capacity through contracts
SpaceX has already built Colossus and Colossus II, largely for its own model training. However, much of that capacity is already rented out to third parties. It already has major deals with Anthropic, Google, and Reflection AI. These partnerships are adding billions per month to SpaceX’s spreadsheet.
High utilization driven by industry-wide scarcity
The demand for advanced AI training and inference capacity continues to exceed what is available for use. SpaceX can fill new racks quickly after they come online, so the capital deployed converts into revenue with minimal idle time.
Additionally, management and outside observers have described the new compute capital as behaving more like a cost-of-goods-sold than traditional multi-year capex, especially because of this rapid monetization pattern.
Capacity has already scaled from ~0.4 GW a year to 1.4 GW annually by the end of Q2. There are targets of more than 2 GW by year-end.
High incremental margins on the rental business once capacity is online
GPU cloud providers often operate at strong gross margins. SpaceX can monetize capacity that was already partially built or can be added efficiently. This means that incremental EBITDA margins on the rental revenue are usually high. This accelerates cash recovery relative to the gross capital outlay.
Parallel monetization of its own AI software and applications
Beyond pure infrastructure rental, SpaceX also generates revenue from Grok through subscriptions and usage, from X through ads, data, and other related services, enterprise APIs, and the planned integration of the Cursor coding tools acquisition.
These application layers ride on the same compute infrastructure and provide additional high-margin streams that could offset build-out costs. AI-segment revenue overall rose sharply to about $2.6 billion in Q2, according to Motley Fool. This was driven primarily by the infrastructure contracts, but the software side is also partially responsible.
Efficient, large-scale deployment and vertical integration advantages
SpaceX has emphasized the rapid construction of power and cooling infrastructure and favorable cost-per-megawatt economics relative to industry benchmarks in some disclosures.
Combined with its ability to scale capacity aggressively and the fact that many contracts start generating revenue within months of capacity coming online, the effective payback compresses dramatically compared with more conventional multi-year data-center projects.
SpaceX’s dominant near-term recovery path will turn the AI clusters into a hyperscale-style compute rental business for other leading AI companies while still using a portion for internal models.
Tesla headlights have caused a recall of over 20,000 of the company’s two most popular vehicles, the Model 3 and Model Y, due to the low-beam bulb exceeding the maximum allowed intensity according to federal standards.
Tesla initiated the recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) this morning, stating that the low-beam output “exceeds the maximum allowed intensity in the outer upper-right and outer upper-left areas of the 10U and 90U zone, as prescribed in FMVSS No. 108.”
Tesla sourced the impacted headlights from Marelli Automotive Lighting, a Mexico-based company. The recall impacts 2020-2023 Model Y vehicles and 2017-2023 Model 3 vehicles. It is estimated that every VIN in this recall is impacted by the defect.
🚨 Tesla is recalling 20,349 2020-23 Model Y vehicles and 2017-23 Model 3 vehicles due to an excessively bright headlamp low beam.
Currently, there is no remedy plan in place, as it is still being developed. pic.twitter.com/y34cIO2U0B
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 11, 2026
Typically, Tesla would remedy recalls of this nature through an Over-the-Air software update, which has been a major focus of criticism by the company and its supporters because the NHTSA still refers to it as a “recall,” even though it requires no action by the vehicle owner. The fix is shipped over the internet and downloaded to the car.
However, there appears to be a potentially different solution for this problem. Tesla has not developed a remedy for this issue, so it could potentially be on the way. The big issue appears to be the fact that these recalled lamps are out of production, and this is an old body style for both vehicles. The headlights and front-end designs are completely different.
Tesla switched to another supplier when the affected headlight design was discontinued. It plans to begin notifying owners of their remedy options by September 15.
Tesla filed a petition protesting the recall to fix the vehicles’ headlight issue, but the NHTSA denied it. Now, Tesla will come up with a solution to fix it.
Tesla has one big financial question to answer for investors: Morgan Stanley
SpaceX AI investment gamble will make it a big winner, firm says
