News
SpaceX Falcon 9 booster nails record fourth launch and landing during Starlink-1
For the first time ever, SpaceX has successfully launched and landed the same Falcon 9 booster on four separate orbital-class missions, pushing the rocket’s Block 5 upgrade one step closer to realizing its ambitious design goals.
After an unprecedented lull of more than three months between launches, SpaceX has successfully returned to flight with its internal Starlink-1 mission, simultaneously crossing off multiple rocket reusability milestones. In terms of value added, Falcon 9 booster B1048’s reflight was the most important non-satellite achievement of the mission.
Impressively, B1048 has now successfully launched and landed on four separate occasions, a first for all Falcon 9 or Heavy boosters. Some nine minutes after lifting off from Cape Canaveral, Florida’s LC-40 launch pad, B1048 came to a gentle, near-bullseye halt aboard drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY), stationed some 630 km (340 mi) northeast of the Florida coast.
With the successful completion of Starlink-1, B1048 alone has now collectively supported the launch of more than 35 metric tons (77,000 lb) into Earth orbit, as well as the first attempted (but sadly unsuccessful) commercial Moon landing attempt as part of its third launch in February 2019. This particular tidbit is noteworthy because it likely makes B1048 the first Falcon 9 booster to help orbit more than twice the payload mass it would otherwise be capable of launching in a single mission, an impressive reminder of the game-changing success of SpaceX’s reusable rocketry development.
Even then, B1049 is likely close on B1048’s heels – if not already ahead of the booster – in terms of the mass of satellites it has singlehandedly helped to place in orbit.
Aside from Falcon 9 B1048’s historic fourth launch and landing, Starlink-1 also marked the first time SpaceX has launched a flight-proven payload fairing, a huge step towards ensuring that nearly all future Falcon launches are up to 80% flight-proven and 80% reusable. Starlink-1’s payload fairing previously flew on Falcon Heavy Block 5’s Arabsat 6A launch debut back in April 2019, essentially a worst-case scenario for fairing reuse.
That successful reuse in spite of the fairing’s exceptionally extreme launch and recovery conditions suggests that almost any fairing recovered in the future will capable of at least one reuse, be it on internal Starlink missions if not customer launches. CEO Elon Musk has previously indicated that Falcon 9 (and Heavy) fairings represent approximately 10% of the cost of Falcon 9 launches, meaning that each set of halves has a price tag of roughly $6 million. Additionally, it’s believed that Falcon fairing production has some of the longest lead-time aspects of any aspect of SpaceX rocket manufacturing, to the point that fairings could easily become a bottleneck for launch cadence without expensive production facility upgrades.
Instead, SpaceX may have chosen to spend a similar amount of time and money making Falcon fairings routinely recoverable and reusable. That program crossed a turning point in June and August 2019, when fairing recovery ship GO Ms. Tree (formerly Mr. Steven) successfully caught two fairing halves in a row, unequivocally proving that the challenging catches are repeatable. Three months later, November 11th’s Starlink-1 launch has also proven that fairings can be reused even without a successful catch, meaning that it will likely be far easier and far more viable to reuse fairings that have been saved from ocean baths.
Unfortunately, SpaceX had to call off an attempted dual recovery of both fairing halves and GO Ms. Chief’s first operational catch attempt due to high seas in the recovery area. Prior to her remaining, similar sea conditions destroyed and broke off two of Mr. Steven’s arms while traveling to the recovery area, and SpaceX has clearly learned from that experience.
SpaceX’s Starlink-1 launch webcast can be watched in full at the link below.
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Investor's Corner
Tesla gets tip of the hat from major Wall Street firm on self-driving prowess
“Tesla is at the forefront of autonomous driving, supported by a camera-only approach that is technically harder but much cheaper than the multi-sensor systems widely used in the industry. This strategy should allow Tesla to scale more profitably compared to Robotaxi competitors, helped by a growing data engine from its existing fleet,” BoA wrote.
Tesla received a tip of the hat from major Wall Street firm Bank of America on Wednesday, as it reinitiated coverage on Tesla shares with a bullish stance that comes with a ‘Buy’ rating and a $460 price target.
In a new note that marks a sharp reversal from its neutral position earlier in 2025, the bank declared Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) technology the “leading consumer autonomy solution.”
Analysts highlighted Tesla’s camera-only architecture, known as Tesla Vision, as a strategic masterstroke. While technically more challenging than the multi-sensor setups favored by rivals, the vision-based approach is dramatically cheaper to produce and maintain.
This cost edge, combined with Tesla’s rapidly expanding real-world data engine, positions the company to scale robotaxis far more profitably than competitors, BofA argues in the new note:
“Tesla is at the forefront of autonomous driving, supported by a camera-only approach that is technically harder but much cheaper than the multi-sensor systems widely used in the industry. This strategy should allow Tesla to scale more profitably compared to Robotaxi competitors, helped by a growing data engine from its existing fleet.”
The bank now attributes roughly 52% of Tesla’s total valuation to its Robotaxi ambitions. It also flagged meaningful upside from the Optimus humanoid robot program and the fast-growing energy storage business, suggesting the auto segment’s recent headwinds, including expired incentives, are being eclipsed by these higher-margin opportunities.
Tesla’s own data underscores exactly why Wall Street is waking up to FSD’s potential. According to Tesla’s official safety reporting page, the FSD Supervised fleet has now surpassed 8.4 billion cumulative miles driven.
Tesla FSD (Supervised) fleet passes 8.4 billion cumulative miles
That total ballooned from just 6 million miles in 2021 to 80 million in 2022, 670 million in 2023, 2.25 billion in 2024, and a staggering 4.25 billion in 2025 alone. In the first 50 days of 2026, owners added another 1 billion miles — averaging more than 20 million miles per day.
This avalanche of real-world, camera-captured footage, much of it on complex city streets, gives Tesla an unmatched training dataset. Every mile feeds its neural networks, accelerating improvement cycles that lidar-dependent rivals simply cannot match at scale.
Tesla owners themselves will tell you the suite gets better with every release, bringing new features and improvements to its self-driving project.
The $460 target implies roughly 15 percent upside from recent trading levels around $400. While regulatory and safety hurdles remain, BofA’s endorsement signals growing institutional conviction that Tesla’s data advantage is not hype; it’s a tangible moat already delivering billions of miles of proof.
News
Tesla to discuss expansion of Samsung AI6 production plans: report
Tesla has reportedly requested an additional 24,000 wafers per month, which would bring total production capacity to around 40,000 wafers if finalized.
Tesla is reportedly discussing an expansion of its next-generation AI chip supply deal with Samsung Electronics.
As per a report from Korean industry outlet The Elec, Tesla purchasing executives are reportedly scheduled to meet Samsung officials this week to negotiate additional production volume for the company’s upcoming AI6 chip.
Industry sources cited in the report stated that Tesla is pushing to increase the production volume of its AI6 chip, which will be manufactured using Samsung’s 2-nanometer process.
Tesla previously signed a long-term foundry agreement with Samsung covering AI6 production through December 31, 2033. The deal was reportedly valued at about 22.8 trillion won (roughly $16–17 billion).
Under the existing agreement, Tesla secured approximately 16,000 wafers per month from the facility. The company has reportedly requested an additional 24,000 wafers per month, which would bring total production capacity to around 40,000 wafers if finalized.
Tesla purchasing executives are expected to discuss detailed supply terms during their visit to Samsung this week.
The AI6 chip is expected to support several Tesla technologies. Industry sources stated that the chip could be used for the company’s Full Self-Driving system, the Optimus humanoid robot, and Tesla’s internal AI data centers.
The report also indicated that AI6 clusters could replace the role previously planned for Tesla’s Dojo AI supercomputer. Instead of a single system, multiple AI6 chips would be combined into server-level clusters.
Tesla’s semiconductor collaboration with Samsung dates back several years. Samsung participated in the design of Tesla’s HW3 (AI3) chip and manufactured it using a 14-nanometer process. The HW4 chip currently used in Tesla vehicles was also produced by Samsung using a 5-nanometer node.
Tesla previously planned to split production of its AI5 chip between Samsung and TSMC. However, the company reportedly chose Samsung as the primary partner for the newer AI6 chip.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk: Tesla could be first to build AGI in humanoid form
Musk’s statement was shared in a post on social media platform X.
Elon Musk predicted that Tesla could become one of the developers of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) in humanoid form. Musk’s statement was shared in a post on social media platform X.
In his post, Musk stated that “Tesla will be one of the companies to make AGI and probably the first to make it in humanoid/atom-shaping form.”
The comment comes as Tesla expands development of its Optimus humanoid robot.
During Tesla’s Q4 earnings report, Elon Musk stated that production of the Model S and Model X would be phased out at its Fremont, California, facility. The vehicles’ production line will then be converted to a pilot line for Optimus. Tesla is looking to produce 1 million units of the humanoid robots annually to start.
Musk has previously stated that Optimus could eventually function as a von Neumann probe. The concept, proposed by mathematician John von Neumann, describes a machine capable of replicating itself using planetary resources and sending those replicas to other worlds.
Optimus would likely only be able to achieve this potential if it manages to achieve Artificial General Intelligence.
Other leaders in the AI sector have also expressed strong expectations about AGI’s potential. Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, recently spoke about the technology at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, as noted in a Benzinga report.
“It’s going to be something like ten times the impact of the Industrial Revolution, but happening at ten times the speed,” Hassabis said.
Elon Musk’s recent comments about Tesla producing a product with AGI could hint at further collaboration among his companies. So far, Tesla is actively pursuing autonomous driving, but it is xAI that is pursuing AGI with its Grok program.
Considering that Elon Musk mentioned a Tesla humanoid product with AGI, it appears that an Optimus robot running xAI’s AI models could become a reality.
xAI had recently merged with SpaceX, though reports suggest that Elon Musk is also considering an even bigger merger for all his companies, including Tesla.
Tesla gets tip of the hat from major Wall Street firm on self-driving prowess
Tesla to discuss expansion of Samsung AI6 production plans: report
