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SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 will usher in a new era of rapid reuse rockets

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Despite all missions being readily in the range of recovery, SpaceX has only attempted to recover its Falcon boosters after two of the company’s five 2018 launches. If anything, the attachment to Falcon boosters and the apparent melancholy felt by many observers when they are not recovered is a testament to the staggeringly abrupt success of SpaceX’s reusable rocketry program.

Aside from Falcon Heavy’s center core and 1044, each booster expended in the last several months (Iridium-4, GovSat-1, and PAZ) was aging, flight-proven, and nearing the end of its operational life: Block 3 and Block 4 Falcon 9s were simply not designed or expected to fly more than two or three times total. Their seemingly premature deaths were thus a necessary step along the path to Block 5 and truly rapid and cheap booster reuse; perhaps as pragmatic as quite literally making space for new and superior hardware at SpaceX’s many facilities. The demise of Falcon Heavy’s center core nevertheless made for a spectacular video (skip to 1:10, or watch the whole thing…).

The end (of old Falcons) is nigh

Despite the carnage in recent times, the next two weeks are likely to see several more flight-proven Falcon 9s meet their timely, watery demise, or at least complete their final flight in the case of CRS-14.

  • Iridium-5 (NET March 29) will be flying atop Booster (B) 1041, previously used for Iridium-3 (Oct. 2017)
  • CRS-14 (NET April 2) will make use of B1039, a booster that debuted with the launch of CRS-12 (Aug. 2017)
  • Iridium-6/GRACE-FO (NET April 28) was confirmed just yesterday to be flying on B1043, the booster that launched the now-infamous Zuma spysat this January
  • Lastly, SES-12 (NET April 30) will likely use B1040, which orbited the USAF’s secretive X-37B spaceplane in Sept. 2017

While more than a little hard to believe, this series of launches over the next 4-6 weeks may see SpaceX’s fleet of flight-proven boosters shrink to no more than two flightworthy cores – perhaps just a single Falcon 9. The launch of NASA’s exoplanet observatory TESS – set to use the brand new Falcon 9 B1045 – will likely see one additional flight after landing at LZ-1 or OCISLY in mid-April. The final flight-proven booster known to exist in a potentially flightworthy state is B1042, famous for its moderate attempt at self-immolation and Roomba-murder (correction: the Roomba murder attempt was actually a few weeks before, during the landing of SES-11’s flight-proven booster) after the successful launch of Koreasat-5A in Oct. 2017. B1042’s future is unknown at this point, however, as the post-landing fire may have damaged the booster beyond repair.

Rounding out SpaceX’s entire fleet of boosters, at least after SES-12, are the flight-proven B1045, the first-ever Block 5 booster (B1046) – flight-proven after Bangabandhu-1, and the second Block 5 booster (B1047). Assuming that Block 5’s first hot-fire testing has gone well at SpaceX’s McGregor, TX facilities, it’s probable that B1048 and perhaps B1049 will roll out of the Hawthorne factory and head to Texas for their own tests between now and then.

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TL;DR: SpaceX is betting heavily on Block 5

The purpose of this brief jaunt through the annals of SpaceX’s rocket fleet and production goals is to demonstrate just how aggressively SpaceX has bet on Block 5 – both on its success as a new and complex technological system and as an unprecedentedly reusable orbital-class rocket. If any design or manufacturing flaws are discovered in the first several Block 5 Falcon 9s, or if Block 5 turns out to be less reusable than SpaceX hopes, the company could well find its manifested launch dates slipping as flightworthy boosters – not satellites – become the bottleneck for access to orbit.

Nevertheless, SpaceX has at least six full-up Falcon 9 boosters in various stages of integration and completion at their Hawthorne factory, as well as 1046 in (or departing) Texas and 1047 presumably on its way there. SpaceX certainly has a strong track record of introducing its many upgraded iterations of Falcon 9 in the past – fingers crossed that that trend continues with Block 5. If SpaceX’s confidence still rings true a month or two from today, a new era of access to space will have truly begun, and SpaceX will be able to quite rapidly refocus a considerable portion of its workforce on getting to Mars.

Follow us for live updates, behind-the-scenes sneak peeks, and a sea of beautiful photos from our East and West coast photographers.

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Pauline Acalin  Twitter

Eric Ralph Twitter

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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Grok 3 by xAI Rolls Out on Azure AI Foundry with Free Trial

Grok 3 is now on Azure AI Foundry with a free preview until early June. From code to vision, Grok joins a growing roster of powerhouse models.

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(Credit: xAI)

xAI’s Grok 3 model is now available on Microsoft’s Azure AI Foundry Models, launching with a free preview to drive AI innovation. The collaboration marks a significant step in making advanced AI accessible to developers worldwide.

Grok 3 became available on Microsoft’s Azure AI Foundry Models on May 19, 2025. Developers can explore xAI’s Grok 3 at no cost through early June. After the free trial period, Grok 3 prices will be as follows:

“Microsoft and xAI are thrilled to unveil the availability of Grok 3 into the Azure AI Foundry Models, marking a significant milestone in AI accessibility and innovation,” Microsoft stated in its announcement.

The partnership integrates xAI’s cutting-edge model with Azure’s secure, scalable infrastructure, enabling enterprise scenarios in reasoning, coding, and visual processing. Grok 3 is accessible via Azure AI Foundry’s catalog, alongside models from OpenAI, Meta, Cohere, NVIDIA, and Hugging Face, reflecting Microsoft’s commitment to a diverse AI ecosystem.

“The addition of xAI’s Grok 3 underscores Microsoft’s commitment to support an open, diverse AI ecosystem, rather than relying on a single model provider,” the company noted.

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Like other AI models in Azure, developers can easily discover and deploy Grok 3’s model card. Grok 3 is also available for testing on GitHub models.

Microsoft provides two flexible deployment options for integrating xAI’s Grok 3 into applications: Standard Pay-Go or Provisioned Throughput Units (PTUs). The Standard Pay-Go option allows pay-per-token API calls for quick scaling. Meanwhile, the PTUs are better for reserved capacity with predictable latency.

“For production scenarios where you expect steady high volume or need strict latency, provisioning Grok 3 with PTUs can be cost-effective and reliable,” Microsoft advised.

The launch of Grok 3 on Azure AI Foundry empowers developers to build intelligent assistants, process large documents, or explore new AI applications. As xAI and Microsoft combine innovation with robust tools, Grok 3’s arrival signals a new era of AI development, inviting creators to leverage its capabilities and shape the future of technology.

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Tesla Robotaxi deemed a total failure by media — even though it hasn’t been released

Nearly two weeks before it is even set for its planned rollout, Tesla Robotaxi has already been deemed a failure — even though it is not even publicly released.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla Robotaxi is among the biggest tech developments of the year, and its June launch date has not yet arrived.

This does not matter to skeptics of the company, as they have already deemed the rollout a “failure,” “an enormous mess,” and plenty of other adjectives. No matter what, several outlets are already leaning on biased opinions and a lack of true evidence that points in any direction.

Futurism posted an article this morning claiming that Robotaxi is “already an enormous mess,” citing the opinions of Dan O’Dowd, perhaps Full Self-Driving’s biggest critic. There is no mention of any of the excitement or prosperity that would come from the opposite side of the argument.

Instead, it included that O’Dowd felt it was a failure in an 80-minute drive around Santa Barbara.

This is fair to include: Full Self-Driving is not perfect, which is why Tesla will implement safeguards like teleoperation at first. However, it’s not like it’s so awful it isn’t even remotely close. Personally, my experience with FSD was incredibly successful, responsible, and it was something I still wish I had on my car to this day. I wish the article would have included a quote from someone who is as equally passionate about FSD, just from the other side of the argument.

Credit: Tesla

There is no mention of Tesla’s most recent Vehicle Safety Report, which showed Autopilot-enabled cars are nearly 10x less likely to be involved in an accident compared to the national average. This might not be the same as Full Self-Driving, but it is still a testament to what Tesla has achieved with its driver assistance systems.

To be fair, Tesla has been a company that has missed timelines, especially when it comes to FSD. I used to roll my eyes a bit when CEO Elon Musk would say, “We’ll have Full Self-Driving finished by the end of the year,” or “We’ll have a million robotaxis on the road next year.” I was always skeptical.

However, Tesla has handled things differently this year. They’ve admitted the Robotaxi rollout will be controlled at first, including a fleet of only 10-20 Model Y vehicles. It will be private at launch, and only the lucky invited will have the opportunity to experience it in Austin in June.

It might be less than a public rollout, which of course, for people like you and me, is disappointing. But let’s be real: if Tesla launched a full-blown Robotaxi platform with no regulations or small-batch testing, there would be criticism of that, too.

Some media outlets are pointing to the recent NHTSA request for more information on how Tesla’s tech will “assess the ability of Tesla’s system to react appropriately to reduced roadway visibility conditions.” This seems more than reasonable as Robotaxi will be among the first driverless ridesharing programs in the United States.

Tesla gets new information request from NHTSA on Robotaxi rollout

It’s no more than a request for information on how things will be handled and how the tech works.

It is sad to see so many outlets already deem something that could be the next big thing as a failure, despite there being no real indication of it being that or a success. Let’s be fair and give Tesla an opportunity to meet its June target and Robotaxi some time to operate and prove to be a reliable ride-share option.

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Tesla confirms annoying Full Self-Driving feature has been fixed

Tesla has changed one of its driver monitoring features in a request from several owners.

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Tesla has confirmed that an annoying Full Self-Driving feature has been fixed.

We reported last week that several owners reported changes in the feature, and now we have confirmation that it has been revised by Tesla.

Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised) does not require a driver’s hands to be on the steering wheel. However, eye movements and attentiveness are tracked through a cabin-facing camera, aiming to improve safety and limit loopholes in the system.

Tesla seems to have fixed one of Full Self-Driving’s most annoying features

If the system detects that your eyes are not on the road or you are not paying attention, FSD will nudge you to get them back on the road. Too many occurrences of the driver not paying attention will result in losing access to FSD for the remainder of the drive.

However, many drivers using FSD complained that the system was too quick to alert drivers of inattentiveness. Fixing things like the HVAC temperature or even Autopilot settings on the center touchscreen would get you a nudge, which seemed unreasonably fast. Many drivers said it was a seven-second limit, but it seemed faster than this.

In my experience, FSD nudged me to pay attention to the road when I was adjusting the speed offset, which gives the vehicle permission to travel over the speed limit by a percentage. For example, a 10% offset in a 50 MPH zone would let the car travel 55 MPH.

The nudging seemed to be too fast and annoying, and many other Tesla drivers agreed. CEO Elon Musk had even noted that the nudge was too fast and drivers were right to be annoyed with it, especially considering that, in theory, it would be safer to adjust these settings on FSD and not while operating the car manually.

Tesla took the criticism drivers had and turned it into a much-needed and notable change that has now been confirmed by Ashok Elluswamy, Head of AI and Autopilot for the company:

The change seems to be initiated on vehicles with Hardware 4. It is certainly a welcome change as the nudge was just a tad sensitive and could have been much more reasonable.

The adjustment made by Tesla came just a week after owners truly started becoming more vocal about the issue.

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