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SpaceX fairing recovery ships return to port with Falcon 9 nosecone and battle scars
Four days after they headed out into the Atlantic Ocean, twin SpaceX fairing recovery ships Ms. Tree and Ms. Chief have returned to port with both halves of a Falcon 9 fairing, although they appear to have picked up some battle scars along the way.
Ms. Tree and its near-identical sibling Ms. Chief departed Port Canaveral on December 14th and arrived on station – 790 km (490 mi) off the coast of Florida – some 36 hours later. Each outfitted with a quartet of arms and pair of nets, it was the first time both ships successfully made it out into the Atlantic for a simultaneous fairing catch attempt, having been foiled by high seas during a prior November outing.
For unknown reasons, after the duo’s November false start, both ships stopped for almost two weeks at a South Carolina port, perhaps indicating that SpaceX was concerned about the structural integrity of the ships’ seemingly fragile net mechanism. In February 2019, Mr. Steven (now Ms. Tree) lost two of its four arms while heading downrange for an attempted catch, apparently broken off by pitching caused by high seas. Further strengthening the case that their net mechanisms are rather fragile, both Ms. Tree and Ms. Chief again suffered damage after their Kacific-1/JCSAT-18 Falcon 9 fairing recovery attempt.
Both ships arrived back at Port Canaveral on December 18th and were caught by Teslarati photographer Richard Angle while passing through the narrow mouth of the port. GO Ms. Chief took the lead, revealing a Falcon 9 fairing half snugly secured with a tarp on her deck – the ship’s very first launch vehicle hardware recovery.
First (partially) successful fairing recovery quite literally under wraps, Ms. Chief nevertheless did not make it through the rite of passage unscathed. Oddly, it appears that just one of the ship’s eight white arm supports is missing (the rear right or aft starboard arm), visibly resulting in the arm slouching a bit compared to its siblings. Intriguingly, it appears that the arm is partially stretching – and thus potentially resting on – Ms. Chief’s net and rigging.
The fact that only one of the arm’s two beams (of eight total) seems to have failed is more immediately indicative of possible human error during installation or a defective attachment mechanism, although it’s entirely possible that a fluke of weather could have damaged just the one beam.
Thankfully, Ms. Tree (formerly Mr. Steven) appears to have made it through the recovery mission with all four arms fully intact, although the ship clearly struggled with a separate mechanism. Notably, Ms. Tree seems to have struggled to use its secondary net to lift its fairing half out of the sea and onto her deck, with that smaller net clearly suffering a multitude of rips and tears at some point during the process. Her recovered fairing half is somewhat awkwardly strewn on the deck with no obvious attempt to rectify the issue, indicating that the net may have torn mid-lift, causing the fairing to fall maybe 5-10 feet.
If it did actually fall onto Ms. Tree’s deck, that will almost certainly be visible in the form of damage to its aluminum-composite honeycomb structure and white insulation coating.
Ultimately, fairing recovery continues to prove itself to be a major challenge, although SpaceX obviously has no intention of giving up. With two successful catches already in hand, it’s clear that fairing recovery is undeniably possible and is more a matter of tweaking existing systems than starting from scratch. Much like Falcon 9 booster recovery had and its fair share of failed landings even after the first success, it will likely take quite a while for SpaceX to optimize fairing recovery to the point that it can be considered reliable.
For now, routine fairing recovery and reuse will likely continue to be Falcon 9’s white whale, at worst adding to the excitement of every SpaceX satellite launch.
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Elon Musk put a number on where he thinks SpaceX’s Starship program is headed by 2030, replying on X a day after President Trump signed a memo pushing the country toward 1,000 space launches and reentries a year.
The exchange started when Aaron Burnett, co-founder of propulsion startup Mach 33, posted that “1,000 launches/reentries is the goal,” quoting White House science adviser Michael Kratsios on the newly signed National Space Transportation Policy. Burnett noted that the FAA’s own bull-case forecast reached only 385 annual launches by 2030, while his firm’s conservative model already put SpaceX alone near 940. Musk responded, “We’re aiming to reach 30+ Starship launches/day in 2030, which is ~10k annualized. Still tiny numbers compared to airplane flights!”
We’re aiming to reach 30+ Starship launches/day in 2030, which is ~10k annualized.
Still tiny numbers compared to airplane flights!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 21, 2026
That figure is specific to Starship, the rocket SpaceX is still developing for orbital and lunar missions, not the Falcon 9 fleet that carries most of the company’s current launch volume. Starship has flown twice this year, a slower pace than the four and five flights SpaceX managed in 2024 and 2025. Getting from two flights a year to 30 a day is the scale of jump the new federal policy is meant to clear regulatory room for.
Trump’s memo, signed Thursday, directs agencies to identify new launch and reentry sites on federal land, including a new reentry site within 90 days, and to speed up the permitting and environmental reviews that have long slowed cadence growth. It also sets a goal of returning American astronauts to the moon by 2028 and placing initial lunar base elements by 2030, tying the launch buildout directly to NASA’s Artemis program.
SpaceX has already been pushing the FAA toward higher numbers on its own. The agency approved up to 44 annual Starship launches from Kennedy Space Center in February, on top of a 2024 review that raised the cap at Starbase in Texas to 25 a year. Those approvals cover a fraction of the 10,000 annual flights Musk is now describing, which shows how far current permitting still sits from the administration’s stated target.
The near-term test of all this is more modest. SpaceX cleared a full-duration, six-engine static fire on its next Starship vehicle this week, the last major hardware checkpoint before Flight 14, which is targeting no earlier than August 28 and is expected to attempt the vehicle’s first full orbital mission. Musk said last week that a tower catch of the upper stage is still probably months away, a reminder that the immediate roadmap remains far more incremental than the daily launch numbers he just posted.
Tesla will resolve its massive recall of nearly three million vehicles in China with stickers and a software update.
On Friday, Chinese regulators filed recall plans against Tesla, Xiaomi, Leapmotor, Xpeng, Chery, Geely, Dongfeng, Arcfox, and FAW to resolve what is essentially a carbon-copy issue throughout each of the companies’ vehicle models: emergency door release latches are simply not visible enough.
Tesla door handle saga gets its latest chapter and a big change is coming
The companies will be required to add things that will make these latches, which will open the door in the event of an emergency, more visible. Of the 7 million vehicles impacted, Tesla accounts for 2,975,910 units. More than 1.9 million of those are Model Y vehicles, with the rest, just over 970,000, being Model 3s.
To resolve the issue, Tesla is going to add warning labels to the emergency latches free of charge, and then utilize an Over-the-Air update to add a post-crash window-lowering strategy, according to CNEVpost.
This massive effort to fix the all-electric Model Y and Model 3’s emergency latch system comes just months after several probes across various markets identified the trouble some had identifying this latch. Those who had gotten involved in car accidents that stripped the vehicle of its power were not aware that every Tesla has emergency door latches.
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said that severe crashes that disable a vehicle’s low-voltage system could not only hinder occupants from getting out, but also make it more difficult for emergency response workers to gain entry.
SAMR is starting to tighten the regulations it has on door handles on vehicles. A new mandatory national standard will take effect for all models starting January 1, 2027, and will require all doors to be equipped with mechanical release mechanisms. This will effectively end purely electronic door handles. Models already on sale with type approval have been granted a two-year transition period, which will enable things to change until January 2029.
Tesla has officially confirmed plans to bring its all-electric Semi truck to Europe, with full specifications and market-launch details set for unveiling at the IAA Transportation trade fair in Hannover, Germany.
The event runs September 15–20, with a possible press preview on September 14. The announcement, shared via Tesla’s Semi account, marks a significant expansion beyond North America nearly nine years after the truck’s original 2017 reveal.
🚨 Tesla Semi is coming to Europe!
Sustainable logistics is a huge market internationally, and now Tesla is involved in it outside of the U.S. market! https://t.co/q3hjX6ybMv pic.twitter.com/mxTaVY3UsE
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 20, 2026
In the United States, the Semi’s path has been gradual. Limited pilot production and customer deliveries began in late 2022, primarily to fleets such as PepsiCo. After years of refinement, high-volume manufacturing started on April 29, 2026, at a dedicated facility adjacent to Gigafactory Nevada.
The plant targets an annual capacity of 50,000 units, though the ramp is expected to be gradual, with “many thousands” of trucks projected by the end of 2026.
Demand is building, with recent orders including 500 units for Einride (deliveries starting September 2026, serving Amazon and others) and hundreds more from operators such as WattEV. Pricing stands at approximately $260,000 for the Standard Range and $290,000 for the Long Range before incentives.
Tesla Semi pricing revealed after company uncovers trim levels
Earlier in 2026, Tesla finalized production specifications that incorporated substantial updates. In February, the company detailed two variants designed for a full 82,000-pound gross combination weight.
The Standard Range offers about 325 miles of range with a 548 kWh battery and curb weight under 20,000 pounds. The Long Range delivers roughly 500 miles with an 822 kWh pack and a 23,000-pound curb weight. Both use three independent rear-axle motors producing up to 800 kW (about 1,073 horsepower), achieve energy consumption of around 1.7 kWh per mile, and support megawatt-class charging at up to 1.2 MW—recovering about 60 percent of range in 30 minutes through the MCS standard.
Additional refinements include a roughly 1,000-pound weight reduction versus earlier prototypes, improved aerodynamics, a 48-volt electrical architecture, electric power take-off up to 25 kW for refrigerated trailers, and fleet management software with over-the-air updates.
These advances position the Semi as a competitive option against diesel trucks on operating costs and performance. For Europe, adaptations such as lighting, cab configurations (including potential sleeper options), and regulatory compliance are anticipated.
With series production underway in Nevada and major fleet commitments secured, the upcoming IAA reveal will clarify timelines, European-specific specs, and pricing, potentially accelerating electrification of heavy-duty freight on both continents.
SpaceX and a new Trump order that could rewrite the next decade of launches
Tesla will resolve massive China recall with stickers and a software update
