

News
SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 ready to launch second largest communications satellite
Falcon 9’s liftoff is scheduled tonight, 11:38 PM EDT/03:38 UTC
After a long slip and slide from mid-August to September 9th, SpaceX and customer Telesat Canada are ready to launch the second largest communications satellite to a geostationary transfer orbit, Telstar 18V, following in the footsteps of a July 2018 launch of the slightly heavier (~15 kg) Telstar 19V satellite.
https://twitter.com/_TomCross_/status/1038953464250986497
Originally expected to occur as little as a month after Telstar 19V (launched July 22nd), Telstar 18V experienced a number of somewhat mysterious slips, moving from the third week of August to the end of August, then slipping again from September 8th to September 9th, today. Publicly, it’s entirely unclear what caused that unusual three-week delay, but the obvious answers revolve around some combination of multiple problems with the launch pad (LC-40, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station), rocket (B1049, a new Falcon 9 Block 5 vehicle), payload (a vast, 7060-kilogram spacecraft), and more.
Ultimately, there is simply a lot that can go wrong with the rocket itself and the vast swath of infrastructure that must work near-flawlessly, in concert, if a launch is to even be attempted, let alone be completed successfully. It may be rather frustrating as a follower (or raving addict) of rocket launches and SpaceX in particular, but it never hurts to remember that being able to watch an official livestream at all is an absolute privilege and not something that SpaceX or any other rocket company is required to provide. The purpose of SpaceX’s present-day business is business, after all, and successfully placing customer payloads (be that customer NASA, the USAF, or a commercial entity like Telesat) is the name of that game – quite literally everything after that comes in a firm second place.
- Falcon 9 B1047 launched sister satellite Telstar 19V on July 22nd. (Tom Cross)
- Falcon 9 B1049 arrived at the launch pad just hours after the successful launch of Telkom-4, August 7. This rocket will launch Telstar 18V before landing on drone ship Of Course I Still Love You. (Tom Cross)
Like it’s 7076 kg Telstar 19V customer, launched in late July atop another SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Telstar 18V is nearly identical, although the satellite will wind up being placed in a different orbit to serve entirely different markets – 19V is focused on the Western Hemisphere while 18V is primarily dedicated to the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly Southern Asia.
Falcon 9 B1049 and a Falcon 9 upper stage – both fresh off the assembly line and Texas acceptance testing – will launch the satellite, likely to a relatively low geostationary transfer orbit like Telstar 19V. That lower elliptical orbit will require the satellite to bring along and use more of its own propellant to reach its final orbit, but the lower energy required from Falcon 9 means that the rocket preserves the propellant margins necessary to attempt a landing aboard drone ship Of Course I Still Love You, currently stationed several hundred miles off the coast of Florida.
The launch will be streamed live as per SpaceX tradition, and the link to that webcast can be found below.
For prompt updates, on-the-ground perspectives, and unique glimpses of SpaceX’s rocket recovery fleet check out our brand new LaunchPad and LandingZone newsletters!
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Tesla to make app change for easier communication following Service
“Looking into it. After a service visit is complete, we close the in-app messaging option after 2 hours. We will change this to 24hours or more.”

Tesla will enhance the ability to communicate through the mobile app with Service after work has been done on your car.
One of the biggest weaknesses of Tesla’s automotive division has been Service, as Service Centers are not necessarily plentiful, and wait times, in some regions of the country, are over a month in duration.
Getting in touch with Service after a car has work done to it is also difficult. Calling showrooms in some regions has proven to be difficult to enable direct communication between the customer and the company.
If something is not resolved properly, Tesla keeps the in-app messaging option active for two hours after the service visit is complete.
However, that doesn’t resolve everything, as some issues may arise again more than two hours later. Then the issue of communication presents itself once again.
Tesla is going to extend that time frame to a day or more, according to Raj Jegannathan, Tesla’s AI/IT-Infra, Cybersecurity, IT Apps & Vehicle Service VP.
Looking into it. After a service visit is complete, we close the in-app messaging option after 2 hours. We will change this to 24hours or more.
— Raj Jegannathan (@r_jegaa) August 18, 2025
Tesla has made several changes over the past few years to attempt to improve its Service. Recently, for Collision repair, it started offering a $45-per-day loaner program with free FSD, free tolls, and free Supercharging.
It also recently started sharing local and regional leader contact information so customers have the ability to reach out when they have complaints or disagree with warranty claims, changes in estimates, or initial diagnostics.
Tesla creates clever solution to simplify and improve its Service
However, this is only available at a few showrooms and is currently a pilot program.
These improvements are aimed at resolving communication breakdown, which appears to be a problem that many owners experience.
Tesla is one of the few companies that also operates a fleet of Mobile Repair vehicles, which will perform service at your house or place of business. However, the size of it has gone down by 11 percent year over year.
News
Tesla is overhauling its Full Self-Driving subscription for easier access
The subscription model is more accessible to many owners, as it is reasonably priced and offers the option to take a month off from using it if they are interested in saving money.

Tesla is overhauling its Full Self-Driving subscription and how it markets it to customers after several owners and fans of the company complained about the accessibility of the monthly access to its driver assistance suite.
Tesla Full Self-Driving is the automaker’s semi-autonomous driving suite, which is widely regarded as the most robust and capable on the market today. Owners can purchase the suite outright for $8,000, or they can subscribe to the program for $99 per month, an option it enabled a few years ago.
However, it is not super easy to subscribe to the subscription model, nor is it even recognized on the company’s Online Design Studio. Without some research or prior knowledge, a consumer might not even know they could pay monthly to experience Full Self-Driving.
That is set to change, according to Tesla’s AI/IT Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, IT Apps, and Vehicle Service head Raj Jegannathan, who said the company is planning to change that.
Instead of having customers only have the option to pay outright for the suite, Tesla is now planning to offer the subscription model in its Online Design Studio, making it easier to activate that option:
Yes, will optimize the design to offer both full purchase, subscriptions(with free trial) on the configurator.
— Raj Jegannathan (@r_jegaa) August 24, 2025
It will be the second major change Tesla makes to how it sells Full Self-Driving to customers, the first being videos of real-life operation of FSD in the Design Studio. Previously, the site only showed animations of Full Self-Driving’s capabilities.
Tesla added the videos of FSD handling some tricky situations, as well as general operation of the suite, to the Design Studio in recent weeks.
Tesla makes big change to encourage Full Self-Driving purchases
The subscription model is more accessible to many owners, as it is reasonably priced and offers the option to take a month off from using it if they are interested in saving money.
Many cannot justify paying for the suite outright, especially as it adds $8,000 to the cost of their car. After they experience its capabilities for themselves, they might.
Both moves appear to be an effort to increase the take rate of Full Self-Driving, particularly as autonomy takes center stage at Tesla.
With the rollout of Robotaxi and some teased capabilities of the upcoming v14 iteration of Full Self-Driving, Tesla is gearing up to continue advancing its self-driving technology.
News
Tesla talks Semi ramp, Optimus, Robotaxi rollout, FSD with Wall Street firm

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) recently talked about a variety of topics with Wall Street firm Piper Sandler, as the firm released a new note on Friday about their meeting with the company’s Investor Relations team.
According to the note from Piper Sandler, Tesla talked in detail about the Semi program, Optimus, and its potential valuation given its capabilities, the rollout of Robotaxi in Austin, and Full Self-Driving progress in the United States.
Tesla Semi Ramp
The Tesla Semi is set to enter mass production in 2026 at a dedicated factory near the company’s Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada.
The Semi has already been in pilot program testing, as Tesla has partnered with a few companies, like Frito-Lay and PepsiCo., to perform regional logistics. It has been met with excellent reviews from drivers, and it has helped give Tesla a good idea of what to expect when it makes its way to more companies in the coming years.
Piper Sandler said that it is evident Tesla is preparing for a “major ramp,” but it is keeping its expectations low:
“We’ve never expected much from this product, but we’d love to be proven wrong (Tesla is clearly prepping for a major ramp).”
Tesla Optimus and its value internally and externally
Optimus has been working in Tesla factories for some time, but its expectations as a product offering outside of the company internally have major implications.
Its role within Tesla factories, for now, is relatively low, but Optimus is still doing things to assist. By this time next year, Piper Sandler said Optimus should have bigger responsibilities:
“By this time in 2026, Optimus should be moving/staging parts within Tesla’s facilities.”
Outside of Tesla, Optimus could be a major beneficiary for companies as it could be a more affordable way to handle tedious tasks and manual labor. The firm believes that if Optimus can work 18-hour shifts, a cost of $100,000 per unit “would be justified.”
Tesla Robotaxi Expansion
The big focus of the firm with Robotaxi was Tesla’s expansion of the geofence in Austin this week. It was substantial, bringing the Robotaxi’s total service area to around 170 square miles, up from the roughly 90 square miles that rival Waymo is offering in the city.
Tesla Robotaxi geofence expansion enters Plaid Mode and includes a surprise
Tesla has doubled its geofence three times since its launch in late June, and it also revealed that its fleet of vehicles has expanded by 50 percent. It did not give a solid number of how many vehicles are operating in the fleet.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 launch
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite is set to have a fresh version, v14, rolled out in either September or October, and there are some pretty high expectations for it.
CEO Elon Musk said:
“The FSD release in about 6 weeks will be a dramatic gain with a 10X higher parameter count and many other improvements. It’s going through training & testing now. Once we confirm real-world safety of FSD 14, which we think will be amazing, the car will nag you much less.”
There is also some expectation that v14 could be the public release of what Tesla is running in Austin for Robotaxi. The firm confirmed this in their note by stating it “should enable Tesla owners to use software that is on par with Robotaxis in Austin.”
The only real hold up would be regulator skepticism, but Tesla can alleviate this with strong data.
The firm maintained its ‘Overweight’ rating and the $400 price target it holds on the stock.
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