News
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Block 5 fleet preps for dual drone ship booster landings
SpaceX engineers and technicians have just completed the second on-pad static fire of a Falcon 9 Block 5 booster, and another test is scheduled on the opposite coast for a different upgraded booster in roughly two days.
Penciled in on July 22 and July 25, these imminent back to back launches will mark the effective beginning of the highly-reusable Block 5 era now that all older versions have flown for the last time. Crucially, the practice of intentionally expending reused boosters will almost certainly come to an end for the indefinite future, beginning with these next missions. Both new cores will land aboard drone ship pair Just Read The Instructions (JRTI; West Coast) and Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY; East Coast), and both autonomous vessels will be simultaneously stationed at sea for the second time ever.
Static fire test of Falcon 9 complete—targeting early morning launch on Sunday, July 22 of Telstar 19 VANTAGE from Pad 40 in Florida.
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 18, 2018
This rare dual drone ship deployment will likely become a regular occurrence for SpaceX Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy recoveries over the course of the rest of 2018 and 2019, as higher rates of launch from both East and West coast launch facilities and the unlikelihood of a Block 5 booster being expended will translate to a much greater need for the giant rocket recovery vessels.
In fact, the 7-10 days it takes drone ships to travel from their ports of call to booster landing points and back to port again will likely be the most insurmountable constraint on launch cadence, at least for the Falcon family – high energy missions could only be completed every ten or so days on the East Coast, at least until a third drone ship is brought online. To be named A Shortfall of Gravitas (ASoG), a third autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) is in fact planned as an expansion of SpaceX’s fleet, although it’s unknown if the vessel is under construction now, nor when exactly it’s expected to enter service.
Falcon 9 B1045’s picture-perfect, gentle landing aboard drone ship OCISLY, April 2018. (SpaceX)
SpaceX’s next three missions from its Florida-based LC-40 pad all happen to feature Block 5 Falcon 9 boosters tasked with placing heavy communications satellites in high-energy orbits, and all three launches are currently paced roughly two weeks apart – July 22, August 2, and August 18. That consistent two-week cadence on SpaceX’s launch schedule is for the most part driven equally by launchpad readiness and drone ship availability, both of which require some amount of refurbishment or maintenance after launches/landings.
On the West Coast will be the launch of Iridium NEXT-7 on July 25, carrying ten Iridium NEXT satellites atop a Block 5 booster. That booster – as well as at least two of the three East coast boosters – will be fresh from the factory, conducting (hopefully) the first of many future missions apiece. Excitingly, the planned recovery attempt after Iridium-7 will bring to an end a nearly 10-month drought of rocket landings aboard drone ship JRTI. Further, it looks like chances are good that Iridium-7 will also see recovery vessel Mr Steven break in his massive new net and arms in with an attempted catch of a Falcon 9 fairing half.
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- A SpaceX technician works aboard the rain-soaked drone ship Just Read The Instructions, March 2018. (Pauline Acalin)
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- The drone ship Of Course I Still Love You spotted in Port Canaveral, FL last December. (Instagram /u/ johnabc123)
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- Mr Steven testing his new net in a series of sea trials, July 11
Follow us for live updates, peeks behind the scenes, and photos from Teslarati’s East and West Coast photographers.
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News
Tesla ends Full Self-Driving purchase option in the U.S.
In January, Musk announced that Tesla would remove the ability to purchase the suite outright for $8,000. This would give the vehicle Full Self-Driving for its entire lifespan, but Tesla intended to move away from it, for several reasons, one being that a tranche in the CEO’s pay package requires 10 million active subscriptions of FSD.
Tesla has officially ended the option to purchase the Full Self-Driving suite outright, a move that was announced for the United States market in January by CEO Elon Musk.
The driver assistance suite is now exclusively available in the U.S. as a subscription, which is currently priced at $99 per month.
Tesla moved away from the outright purchase option in an effort to move more people to the subscription program, but there are concerns over its current price and the potential for it to rise.
In January, Musk announced that Tesla would remove the ability to purchase the suite outright for $8,000. This would give the vehicle Full Self-Driving for its entire lifespan, but Tesla intended to move away from it, for several reasons, one being that a tranche in the CEO’s pay package requires 10 million active subscriptions of FSD.
Although Tesla moved back the deadline in other countries, it has now taken effect in the U.S. on Sunday morning. Tesla updated its website to reflect this:
🚨 Tesla has officially moved the outright purchase option for FSD on its website pic.twitter.com/RZt1oIevB3
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) February 15, 2026
There are still some concerns regarding its price, as $99 per month is not where many consumers are hoping to see the subscription price stay.
Musk has said that as capabilities improve, the price will go up, but it seems unlikely that 10 million drivers will want to pay an extra $100 every month for the capability, even if it is extremely useful.
Instead, many owners and fans of the company are calling for Tesla to offer a different type of pricing platform. This includes a tiered-system that would let owners pick and choose the features they would want for varying prices, or even a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual pricing option, which would incentivize longer-term purchasing.
Although Musk and other Tesla are aware of FSD’s capabilities and state is is worth much more than its current price, there could be some merit in the idea of offering a price for Supervised FSD and another price for Unsupervised FSD when it becomes available.
Elon Musk
Musk bankers looking to trim xAI debt after SpaceX merger: report
xAI has built up $18 billion in debt over the past few years, with some of this being attributed to the purchase of social media platform Twitter (now X) and the creation of the AI development company. A new financing deal would help trim some of the financial burden that is currently present ahead of the plan to take SpaceX public sometime this year.
Elon Musk’s bankers are looking to trim the debt that xAI has taken on over the past few years, following the company’s merger with SpaceX, a new report from Bloomberg says.
xAI has built up $18 billion in debt over the past few years, with some of this being attributed to the purchase of social media platform Twitter (now X) and the creation of the AI development company. Bankers are trying to create some kind of financing plan that would trim “some of the heavy interest costs” that come with the debt.
The financing deal would help trim some of the financial burden that is currently present ahead of the plan to take SpaceX public sometime this year. Musk has essentially confirmed that SpaceX would be heading toward an IPO last month.
The report indicates that Morgan Stanley is expected to take the leading role in any financing plan, citing people familiar with the matter. Morgan Stanley, along with Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase & Co., are all expected to be in the lineup of banks leading SpaceX’s potential IPO.
Since Musk acquired X, he has also had what Bloomberg says is a “mixed track record with debt markets.” Since purchasing X a few years ago with a $12.5 billion financing package, X pays “tens of millions in interest payments every month.”
That debt is held by Bank of America, Barclays, Mitsubishi, UFJ Financial, BNP Paribas SA, Mizuho, and Société Générale SA.
X merged with xAI last March, which brought the valuation to $45 billion, including the debt.
SpaceX announced the merger with xAI earlier this month, a major move in Musk’s plan to alleviate Earth of necessary data centers and replace them with orbital options that will be lower cost:
“In the long term, space-based AI is obviously the only way to scale. To harness even a millionth of our Sun’s energy would require over a million times more energy than our civilization currently uses! The only logical solution, therefore, is to transport these resource-intensive efforts to a location with vast power and space. I mean, space is called “space” for a reason.”
The merger has many advantages, but one of the most crucial is that it positions the now-merged companies to fund broader goals, fueled by revenue from the Starlink expansion, potential IPO, and AI-driven applications that could accelerate the development of lunar bases.
News
Tesla pushes Full Self-Driving outright purchasing option back in one market
Tesla announced last month that it would eliminate the ability to purchase the Full Self-Driving software outright, instead opting for a subscription-only program, which will require users to pay monthly.
Tesla has pushed the opportunity to purchase the Full Self-Driving suite outright in one market: Australia.
The date remains February 14 in North America, but Tesla has pushed the date back to March 31, 2026, in Australia.
NEWS: Tesla is ending the option to buy FSD as a one-time outright purchase in Australia on March 31, 2026.
It still ends on Feb 14th in North America. https://t.co/qZBOztExVT pic.twitter.com/wmKRZPTf3r
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) February 13, 2026
Tesla announced last month that it would eliminate the ability to purchase the Full Self-Driving software outright, instead opting for a subscription-only program, which will require users to pay monthly.
If you have already purchased the suite outright, you will not be required to subscribe once again, but once the outright purchase option is gone, drivers will be required to pay the monthly fee.
The reason for the adjustment is likely due to the short period of time the Full Self-Driving suite has been available in the country. In North America, it has been available for years.
Tesla hits major milestone with Full Self-Driving subscriptions
However, Tesla just launched it just last year in Australia.
Full Self-Driving is currently available in seven countries: the United States, Canada, China, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.
The company has worked extensively for the past few years to launch the suite in Europe. It has not made it quite yet, but Tesla hopes to get it launched by the end of this year.
In North America, Tesla is only giving customers one more day to buy the suite outright before they will be committed to the subscription-based option for good.
The price is expected to go up as the capabilities improve, but there are no indications as to when Tesla will be doing that, nor what type of offering it plans to roll out for owners.
Tesla ends Full Self-Driving purchase option in the U.S.
Musk bankers looking to trim xAI debt after SpaceX merger: report
