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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to present first Starship update since 2019 [webcast]

Starship S20 and Super Heavy B4 were stacked for the second time earlier today. (Richard Angle)

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3 years ago

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Barring surprises, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk remains on track to present the first major update on Starship’s development since September 2019 – almost two and a half years ago.

While it’s no longer clear that SpaceX will be able to stack Starship on top of Super Heavy in time for the fully-stacked rocket to serve as an imposing backdrop for the media event, Musk seemingly remains on track to update the world on the status of Starship development as early as 8pm CT (6pm PT, 9pm ET) on Thursday, February 10th (02:00 UTC 11 Feb). Assuming the event is similar to the SpaceX CEO’s first four major Starship presentations, it will be broadcast live to the world on the company’s YouTube channel.

Musk first revealed SpaceX’s detailed plans for a massive, fully-reusable Mars rocket in September 2016. At that point, the rocket – known as the Interplanetary Transport System (ITS) – was to be 12 meters (39 ft) in diameter, 122 meters (400 ft) tall, and made almost entirely out of carbon-fiber composites. In theory, it would have been able to launch up to 300 tons (660,000 lb) to low Earth orbit (LEO) – twice the payload of Saturn V, the next most capable rocket.

In 2017, SpaceX slightly pared back its ambition with a vehicle known as BFR, measuring 9m wide and 106m tall with about a third fewer Raptor engines and estimated performance of ~130 tons (285,000 lb) to LEO. In 2018, on top of announcing Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa’s circumlunar DearMoon mission and BFR’s first real launch contract, SpaceX updated BFR’s design, stretching the booster 12 meters for a total height of 118m (390 ft) and hedging its performance figures with an estimate of 100 tons to LEO in a fully-reusable configuration.

Around the same time as Musk’s 2018 BFR presentation, though, the SpaceX CEO made the decision to entirely scrap the rocket’s composites-heavy design, renaming the rocket ‘Starship’ and replacing the material with stainless steel – effectively reverting structures development to the drawing board. The principles of the rocket, its general shape and layout, and the Raptor engine powering it remained the same. Thanks to steel’s extreme affordability relative to cutting-edge composites, SpaceX was able to make rapid progress and ultimately flew Starhopper – a steel water-tower-esque rocket powered by Raptor – less than a year later in July and August 2019.

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Less than a year after Starhopper’s 150m (~500 ft) hop, SpaceX successfully hopped a far more mature Starship prototype known as SN5, which relied on far thinner steel and effectively amounted to a full prototype of the tank section of an orbital-class ship. Just a month later, in September 2020, SpaceX repeated the feat with an entirely different Starship prototype, demonstrating repeatability both in production and flight. Three months later, Starship SN8 – featuring flaps, a nosecone, header tanks, and two more Raptor engines – nearly aced its launch debut. In May 2021, after three more failed test flights, Starship SN15 stuck the landing and survived a 10 km launch, more or less fully demonstrating the rocket’s exotic skydiver-style descent and last-second flip for a vertical landing.

Visible progress has slowed and flight testing has halted since SpaceX began pushing for the first orbital Starship test flight in mid-2021. The company decided against reusing Starship SN15 and also chose not to attempt to replicate the ship’s successful landing with Starship SN16, which was ready for testing a matter of days after. Instead, SpaceX has focused on constructing the orbital launch site and slowly finished Starship S20 and Super Heavy B4 – a pair once expected to support the first orbital test flight. While slow compared to all previous Starship prototypes, Ship 20 has nonetheless made excellent progress and is effectively fully ready for a serious flight test. Booster 4, on the other hand, has barely completed cryogenic proof testing and has yet to perform even a partial wet dress rehearsal (with live propellant) or attempt a single static fire test in last five months.

In short, the status of Starship development – and, especially, Booster 4, Ship 20, and the first orbital test flight – has gotten quite a bit murkier over the last several months. February 9th and 10th marked a welcome change of pace, with SpaceX sailing through the very first attempt at stacking Starship hardware with Starbase’s ‘orbital integration tower’ (launch tower) and a trio of giant, robotic arms. Just a handful of hours after the first ‘arm lift’ began, Starship S20 was safely stacked atop Super Heavy Booster 4, assembling the largest rocket in the world for the second time this year.

With any luck, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s first presentation in two and a half years – scheduled no earlier than 8pm CST (02:00 UTC) – will shed further light on the company’s progress towards orbital test flights.

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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 opens massive solar Supercharger station in California

The Supercharger opened to customers ahead of Fourth of July weekend, while Tesla continues phase two of construction on the site.

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2 hours ago

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July 7, 2025

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Credit: Tesla Charging | X

Tesla has officially launched the first several Supercharging posts at a massive station in California, notably including solar canopies and grid-scale batteries to offer completely renewable charging.

Last week, Tesla announced on X that it opened the first 84 Supercharger stalls of a planned 168-stall station in Lost Hills, California. Additionally, the massive Supercharger project features 11MW of solar canopies and 10 Megapack batteries for off-grid charging powered entirely by solar energy.

Tesla completed the first phase of the project just days ahead of the busy Fourth of July holiday weekend, adding that initial construction took just eight months. In addition to the remaining charging stalls, Tesla says it’s building a set of lounge areas, renderings of which can be seen below alongside current photos of the site.

Notably, the site also includes V4 charging posts for the company’s latest available charging speeds, and it’s located near the busy junction between I-5 and Highway 46 in Kern County.

“Thank you [Kern County] and [PG&E] for collaboration and approvals,” Tesla wrote in a follow-up post.

Credit: Tesla Charging | X

Credit: Tesla Charging | X

Credit: Tesla Charging | X

Credit: Tesla Charging | X

READ MORE ON TESLA SUPERCHARGERS: Tesla launches ultra-fast V4 Superchargers in China for the first time

Testing at the LA Diner, plus Musk update on potential Tesla solar Gigafactory

The huge Tesla Supercharger station completed phase one of construction fairly quickly, especially given how long Tesla has been working on its unique Los Angeles diner, drive-in, and Supercharger location. Still, the company was seen performing some testing at the nearly-completed charging station earlier this month, and will reportedly be holding a job fair.

Elon Musk also responded on Monday morning to a post on X, suggesting that Tesla is “thinking about” building a U.S.-based solar Gigafactory in order to help support increased power needs with AI growth, and to bolster domestic solar production.

Tesla is building a new UFO-inspired Supercharger in the heart of Alien country

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Tesla driver walks away from major accident with minor injuries

The driver sustained only minor injuries, and the exact cause of the crash remains under investigation.

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3 hours ago

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July 7, 2025

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Credit: CHP Los Banos (via Facebook)

The driver of a Tesla Model Y survived and walked away from a harrowing accident on Monday in California, only sustaining minor injuries despite the vehicle being impaled by a guardrail.

On Monday morning around 4:34 a.m., the Los Banos division of the California Highway Patrol (CHP) responded to the accident on I-5 near Panoche Road, involving a 23-year-old in a Tesla Model Y. According to a post on social media, the driver veered off the road for unknown reasons in the northbound lane, before crashing directly into the guardrail and impaling the vehicle.

You can read the full message and photos from Los Banos CHP below, as were shared in a Facebook post on Monday afternoon.

This morning a Tesla model y was traveling in the #1 northbound lane of I-5 north of Panoche Rd. For unknown reasons driver allowed V-1 to veer off the roadway, travel through a dirt center divide, and crashed into the fixed metal guardrail. Lucky for the driver he only sustained minor injuries and was able to walk away. Driving a vehicle requires 100% attention to the road. Avoid distractions and focus on driving.

Credit: CHP Los Banos (via Facebook)

Credit: CHP Los Banos (via Facebook)

Credit: CHP Los Banos (via Facebook)

In a statement to SFGate, CHP officer Myles Anderson said that the driver only sustained minor injuries, while no arrests are made and drugs and alcohol are not suspected to have been involved. The report also notes that Tesla’s “cruise control and lane assistance features” were activated, according to Anderson. However, it’s not entirely clear if this is referring to Supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD), or to the cruise control and lane assist features baked into Autopilot.

At the time of writing, CHP has not yet responded to Teslarati’s request for clarification and additional details on the matter.

READ MORE ON TESLA SAFETY: Tesla rolls out crucial new safety feature aimed at saving children

The news comes after Tesla has touted its vehicles as incredibly safe for many years. In December, for example, the company highlighted receiving top safety scores from regulators on four different continents throughout the world, including from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) in the U.S.

Tesla has also listed the goal of making its vehicles the safest on the road throughout the years, both in the overall design of its vehicles and in its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (FSD) programs.

Tesla Model 3 ranks as the safest new car in Europe for 2025, per Euro NCAP tests

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Investor's Corner

Cantor Fitzgerald maintains Tesla (TSLA) ‘Overweight’ rating amid Q2 2025 deliveries

Cantor Fitzgerald is holding firm on its bullish stance for the electric vehicle maker.

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10 hours ago

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July 7, 2025

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Credit: Tesla China

Cantor Fitzgerald is holding firm on its bullish stance for Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), reiterating its “Overweight” rating and $355 price target amidst the company’s release of its Q2 2025 vehicle delivery and production report. 

Tesla delivered 384,122 vehicles in Q2 2025, falling below last year’s Q2 figure of 443,956 units. Despite softer demand in some countries in Europe and ongoing controversies surrounding CEO Elon Musk, the firm maintained its view that Tesla is a long-term growth story in the EV sector.

Tesla’s Q2 results

Among the 384,122 vehicles that Tesla delivered in the second quarter, 373,728 were Model 3 and Model Y. The remaining 10,394 units were attributed to the Model S, Model X, and Cybertruck. Production was largely flat year-over-year at 410,244 units.

In the energy division, Tesla deployed 9.6 GWh of energy storage in Q2, which was above last year’s 9.4 GWh. Overall, Tesla continues to hold a strong position with $95.7 billion in trailing twelve-month revenue and a 17.7% gross margin, as noted in a report from Investing.com.

Tesla’s stock is still volatile

Tesla’s market cap fell to $941 billion on Monday amid volatility that was likely caused in no small part by CEO Elon Musk’s political posts on X over the weekend. Musk has announced that he is forming the America Party to serve as a third option for voters in the United States, a decision that has earned the ire of U.S. President Donald Trump. 

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Despite Musk’s controversial nature, some analysts remain bullish on TSLA stock. Apart from Cantor Fitzgerald, Canaccord Genuity also reiterated its “Buy” rating on Tesla shares, with the firm highlighting the company’s positive Q2 vehicle deliveries, which exceeded its expectations by 24,000 units. Cannacord also noted that Tesla remains strong in several markets despite its year-over-year decline in deliveries.

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