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SpaceX’s Elon Musk talks Starship heatshield, rocket landings on Joe Rogan podcast
In a multi-hour February 2021 interview with Elon Musk himself, Joe Rogan inexplicably told the famous engineer and CEO that he had never seen a SpaceX rocket landing.
Of course, the 200+ minute conversation did produce a few minor tidbits of interesting information about SpaceX (and much more about Tesla projects), but Rogan’s statement that he’d never seen a SpaceX rocket landing before stole the limelight by a long shot.
SpaceX landed its first Falcon 9 booster – to an extraordinary amount of fanfare – in December 2015. In the five years since that breakthrough, SpaceX has successfully landed Falcon boosters 73 more times. A full 26 of those landings occurred in just the last 12 months. Falcon Heavy – responsible for spectacular, crowd-favorite performances – completed three dual-booster landings and one triple-booster landing between February 2018 and June 2019.
It’s not unimaginable that almost every single human on Earth with some level of access to the internet or social media is at least vaguely aware of or has watched videos of SpaceX landing rockets. To be clear, it is an unequivocal fact – including past comments on landings from Rogan himself – that Rogan has watched SpaceX land Falcon boosters at least once, if not several times. The only real takeaway, fellow readers, is that heavy, long-term drug use is inadvisable.
Cringeworthy moments aside, the interview did produce a select few minor details that weren’t explicitly known before. Most notably, Musk briefly discussed the challenge of developing a heat shield capable of safely returning orbital Starships back to Earth and revealed the main issue that SpaceX is currently working on.
Over the last six or so months, SpaceX has been gradually expanding small installations of heat shield tiles on Starship prototypes, ranging from vehicles that never left the ground to high-altitude Starships SN8 and SN9. Those tile installations have grown from a handful (4-8 on Starhopper in 2019) to literal hundreds on the most recent Starship completed by SpaceX.
During earlier ground testing and more recent hop tests with Starships SN5 and SN6, some of those ceramic composite tiles actually fell off or shattered, perhaps due to vibrations from Raptor engines or mechanical stress caused by Starship shrinking and contracting from thermal expansion. According to Musk, what SpaceX is trying to determine with those coupon-style tests is how to install a heat shield with tiles that are neither too close together or too far apart.
According to Musk, ceramic heat shield tiles placed too close together will ultimately shatter, break, or fall off when subjected to the stresses of Starship operations. Those stresses include the violent vibrations created by rocket propulsion supersonic to hypersonic travel, as well as airframe expansion and contraction that occurs when Starship’s steel hull is cyclically heated and cooled by Raptor burns and cryogenic propellant. In other words, assuming fragile, ceramic tiles are a necessity, they need to be placed far enough apart to avoid all of those possible pitfalls.
On the opposite hand, though, the entire point of Starship’s heat shield is to insulate it from extreme thermal stress during atmospheric reentry. If individual tiles are situated too far apart, superheated gas (plasma) produced during reentry will find its way between those tiles, heating up the structure they’re meant to keep cool. In the case of Starship, its steel hull is more than twice as resilient to reentry heating than comparable vehicles (like the Space Shuttle) with common aluminum frames, but a few millimeters of steel is still not enough to prevent weakening, damage, or outright burn-through in the face of orbital reentry.
In essence, SpaceX has to “get the gaps just right” – not too far apart to protect the airframe from plasma intrusion but not so close together that tiles impact or damage their neighbors as Starship cools and warms.
Tesla is planning to improve one of the best features on its lineup of cars, a new patent shows. Tesla’s massive glass roof on its premium models is among the coolest additions to the all-electric vehicles, but the design certainly has its complaints, especially from those who live in even slightly warm climates.
Tesla has published a new patent that promises to transform cabin comfort in its electric vehicles, particularly those equipped with the expansive glass roofs.
The document, identified as US20260091643A1 and titled “Airflow Optimization for Cabin Comfort“, addresses that common complaint. Sunlight streaming through windshields and panoramic roofs creates localized hot air pockets near the dashboard and headliner. These pockets generate significant temperature gradients that conventional heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems struggle to manage evenly.
The exposure to direct sunlight can make the cabin extremely warm, and even after cooling down the interior temperature, combating the continuous stream of sunlight and heat is a challenge. It uses precious energy that is especially pertinent to range and efficiency.
The patent explains how standard dashboard vents push cool air upward, only to entrain warmer air from these stagnant zones and distribute it throughout the occupied cabin space. This process forces the blower to operate at higher speeds, increasing energy consumption and reducing overall efficiency.
In electric vehicles, where every watt impacts driving range, such inefficiencies prove costly.
🚨 THE MODEL Y L IS THE MOST WATCHED EV LAUNCH OF 2026. ITS GLASS ROOF HAS ONE WEAKNESS — AND A PATENT PUBLISHED THIS WEEK SHOWS @TESLA BUILT THE FIX
The Model Y L launched in China and is now arriving in Korea, Japan, and across Asia-Pacific. It also has a glass roof. So does… https://t.co/wr6XnBn1Oc pic.twitter.com/5sYpniXJbU
— SETI Park (@seti_park) April 5, 2026
Research from AAA indicates that air conditioning can diminish range by up to 17 percent under hot conditions. Tesla’s innovation shifts the approach by extracting heat at its source rather than attempting to dilute it after mixing occurs.
Engineers describe a suction HVAC unit connected to dedicated intakes positioned strategically on the upper dashboard surface and within the headliner.
These intakes link to a hot air pocket extraction duct that channels the warmest air directly into the system’s plenum for conditioning. As the blower activates, it simultaneously draws recirculated cabin air and targeted hot pocket air through filters and cooling coils before redistributing conditioned airflow.
It seems somewhat reminiscent of the Tesla heat pump, which aims to combat colder temperatures.
Tesla highlights Model Y’s heat pump innovations in new promotional video
This method reduces entrainment, lowers peak temperatures, and achieves more uniform comfort levels. Testing data reveals that facial temperature gradients drop from 21 degrees Celsius, or 69.8 degrees Fahrenheit, in conventional setups to just 12 degrees Celsius (53.6 degrees F) with the new system. Blower speeds and compressor power requirements decrease appreciably as a result.
The design incorporates smart controls that monitor sunlight intensity and internal temperature distributions in real time. Suction activates selectively only where needed, optimizing energy use without constant high demand. Furthermore, the extraction duct serves a dual purpose.
In the summer months, it pulls hot air inward for cooling; in winter, it reverses to direct warm air outward for rapid windshield defrosting. This versatility allows the reuse of existing hardware with minimal modifications, potentially enabling retrofits in current Tesla fleets.
Lifestyle
Tesla saves its passengers again – This time after a 300-foot cliff fall in Malibu
A Tesla Model 3 fell 300 feet off a Malibu cliff and both passengers survived.
A Tesla Model 3 plunged roughly 300 feet off a cliff on Mulholland Highway in Malibu on Friday morning, May 29, 2026, and both occupants survived. The crash was reported at approximately 7:30 a.m. near the 2500 block of Mulholland Highway, triggering a multi-agency rescue operation involving Malibu Search and Rescue, the Los Angeles County Fire Department, the California Highway Patrol, and McCormick Ambulance.
When first responders arrived, the male driver was outside the vehicle shouting for help while the female passenger remained pinned inside the Tesla. Rescue crews rappelled down the cliffside on ropes to reach the wreckage. A flight medic was lowered by helicopter to begin treating both victims, and the driver was hoisted up to the roadway before crews used the Jaws of Life to free the trapped passenger. Both were airlifted to a local trauma center with moderate injuries despite a remarkable result for a fall that steep.
The outcome is not surprising, considering Model 3 earned an overall 5-star rating from NHTSA in every category and sub-category, and recorded the lowest probability of injury of any car ever evaluated by the U.S. New Car Assessment Program. The absence of a traditional engine in the front of the vehicle creates a longer crumple zone that absorbs impact energy before it reaches occupants, and the battery pack running along the floor gives the car an unusually low center of gravity that reinforces structural rigidity.
This is not the first time a Tesla has kept passengers alive after going off a cliff. A Tesla Model Y carrying a family of four survived a plunge off a cliff at Devil’s Slide near San Francisco in January 2023, with two adults and two children walking away from a 250-foot fall. That incident drew widespread attention to how the structural integrity of Tesla’s electric platform performs in extreme crash scenarios that most vehicles would not survive.
Tesla Model Y driver who drove off cliff with family attempts to avoid criminal conviction
Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised) has taken yet another significant step forward in Europe. On May 29, Estonia became the third European Union country to approve the advanced driver-assistance technology, following approvals in the Netherlands and Lithuania.
Tesla Europe announced the news on X, confirming the expansion has continued across the continent that, at one time, seemed to be taking its sweet old time giving any approval to the FSD suite.
FSD Supervised now approved in Estonia🇪🇪. Rollout will begin soon pic.twitter.com/y5a64qlp5m
— Tesla Europe, Middle East & Africa (@teslaeurope) May 29, 2026
Estonia’s Transport Administration (Transpordiamet) granted the approval by recognizing the type certification issued by the Dutch vehicle authority RDW. This mutual recognition mechanism, enabled by EU regulations, allows other member states to fast-track deployment without repeating extensive local testing.
The Estonian authority noted that Tesla’s FSD had undergone rigorous evaluation on European roads for approximately 18 months before the initial Dutch approval in April 2026.
FSD Supervised remains classified as a Level 2 advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS). Drivers must maintain full attention, keep their hands on the wheel, and stay ready to intervene at any moment.
The system assists with tasks such as automatic lane changes, navigation through city streets, and responding to traffic objects, but it does not constitute full autonomy. Estonian officials emphasized this distinction, underscoring that safety responsibility lies entirely with the driver.
The rapid progression across the Baltic region highlights Tesla’s strategic approach to European expansion. The Netherlands provided the foundational type approval in April, unlocking doors for neighboring countries.
Lithuania followed swiftly in mid-May, with rollout beginning shortly thereafter. Estonia’s decision, coming just days later, demonstrates how smaller, digitally progressive nations are accelerating adoption.
Tesla owners in Estonia can expect an over-the-air software update in the coming weeks, bringing the latest FSD capabilities to compatible vehicles
This expansion builds on Tesla’s global momentum. FSD Supervised is now available in 11 countries worldwide, including the United States, Canada, Australia, and South Korea. In Europe, the approvals signal growing regulatory confidence in Tesla’s vision-based AI approach, which relies on cameras and neural networks rather than lidar or radar-heavy alternatives used by some competitors.
For Tesla, these European milestones are more than symbolic. They validate years of data collection and software iteration while opening new revenue streams through FSD subscriptions and purchases.
As the company continues refining its AI models with real-world miles from diverse driving environments, including Estonia’s variable winter conditions, the dataset grows richer, potentially benefiting global users.
Tesla plans ingenious improvement to one of its best features
Tesla saves its passengers again – This time after a 300-foot cliff fall in Malibu
