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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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Starlink is launching a new beta path for ordinary property owners and local operators to turn a single Starlink kit into a small shared-access business for passive income.
Under the Starlink for Communities program, a host installs one dish and router setup in a location with nearby demand: an apartment complex, campground, rural crossroads, or event site. Neighbors or local users can buy short-term passes rather than full individual subscriptions, giving the Starlink provider a potential path to passive income.
Hour, day, and week passes cover one device. A month pass covers up to four. Starlink handles account creation, payments, access controls, and the satellite link itself. The host’s role is mainly placement, power, and basic upkeep, with earnings tied to each paid connection.
Big news! SpaceX is introducing a new @Starlink for Communities program that lets you earn money by providing Starlink internet to your neighbors or people nearby, who can pay for access by the hour, day, week, or month.
Neighbors pay for the access they need, while the person… pic.twitter.com/DtOUs0Ekvt
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) October 1, 2026
The model echoes the passive-income vision long attached to Tesla’s Robotaxi plans, and it seems like it’s something Musk has hinted toward in the past as he believes AI will make the need to work relatively optional. In both cases, the platform owns the hard parts of matching, billing, and network management, while an individual supplies a physical asset that sits idle much of the time.
A Starlink host’s dish can serve multiple nearby users without each household buying and installing its own terminal. A Tesla owner, under the stated Robotaxi concept, would leave a vehicle enrolled in the fleet during unused hours so the car generates rides while the owner is at work or asleep.
Both arrangements convert under-utilized hardware into a revenue stream. They also let the company scale coverage or capacity without owning every endpoint.
Differences are practical. A Starlink kit is a fixed, relatively low-cost terminal whose main constraint is local congestion and line-of-sight. A Tesla Robotaxi is a mobile, high-value vehicle whose earnings depend on demand density, utilization rates, insurance, cleaning, and charging.
Starlink’s program is already accepting host applications in multiple countries and describes the revenue split as ongoing. Tesla’s owner-network version remains more aspirational.
The company currently operates a limited company-controlled robotaxi service in select areas and has solicited interest from fleet buyers for Cybercab vehicles, while private Full Self-Driving owners have not yet been able to dispatch their own cars for paid rides at scale.
Tesla primes Cybercabs for 4K streaming and high bandwidth gaming with Starlink integration
Starlink is a satellite broadband service operated by SpaceX that uses a constellation of low-Earth-orbit satellites to deliver internet to locations where terrestrial broadband is slow, expensive, or absent. It has grown to millions of subscribers worldwide by selling direct residential, mobile, and enterprise terminals, and have become widely available at a wide array at retail locations like Target and Best Buy.
The Communities program extends that reach by letting hosts resell short bursts of capacity to people nearby, while also providing high-speed internet access to those who are simply around a Starlink user.
Tesla just upgraded its headlights through a software update, making them even better without any physical or hardware upgrade.
Tesla’s latest software update is quietly improving nighttime driving for a small number of owners. Version 2026.38 includes a new capability called Dynamic Headlight Leveling.
The feature automatically adjusts the aim of the low beams in response to driving conditions and nearby traffic, with the goal of giving the driver more usable light on the road while reducing glare for oncoming vehicles and traffic ahead.
2026.38 just dropped.
Model 3 gets Dynamic Headlight Leveling — low beams auto-aim around traffic for max visibility, less glare. Model 3 / Y (AMD HW3) also pick up sharper Tesla visuals + an enhanced park scene on the center display.
Legacy Intel cars get Supercharger Site… pic.twitter.com/45ac4AH6Vs
— Frunk To Trunk (@FrunkToTrunk) September 30, 2026
Unlike Tesla’s matrix high-beam system, which selectively dims individual LED segments to create shadows around other cars, Dynamic Headlight Leveling physically tilts the low-beam projectors. Internal motors respond to changes in vehicle pitch.
When the car accelerates hard, climbs a steep grade, or carries extra weight in the rear, the headlights can otherwise point higher than intended. The software counters that movement in real time so the beam stays aimed at the road surface rather than into the eyes of other drivers.
Early indications reveal the update is reaching a limited set of vehicles, including certain Model 3 and Cybertruck examples in the United States and the United Arab Emirates. The rollout does not appear tied to a single hardware revision, and Tesla has not published a broader schedule. It is simply a common waiting game until your car receives it.
The change arrives against a backdrop of wider complaints about headlight glare. Some earlier Model 3 and Model Y vehicles were the subject of an NHTSA recall related to excessive low-beam glare; the software adjustment offers a potential mitigation for cars equipped with the necessary leveling hardware. It does not replace adaptive high beams where those are already available, nor does it alter the basic low-beam pattern itself.
Instead, it keeps an existing beam pointed where it is most useful.
For drivers who have received the update, the system requires no new settings or user input. The headlights simply respond as road conditions and traffic change. As the feature reaches more vehicles, it adds another example of Tesla using over-the-air software to refine existing hardware rather than waiting for a new model year. Nighttime visibility and reduced glare for others are the practical results owners are expected to notice first.
Lifestyle
Tesla teases “Halloween Mode” update with Optimus rising from a graveyard
Tesla’s Halloween teaser hides a covered vehicle and an Optimus hand rising from the ground.
Tesla has started teasing a Halloween software update for its vehicles, with a short clip on X that reads, “Halloween is coming.” The clip opens on a glowing pumpkin before pulling back to the car’s center touchscreen, where the usual parked visualization has been replaced by a graveyard scene, and the vehicle draped with a white sheet so it reads as a cartoon ghost.
Halloween is coming pic.twitter.com/lM3ASUeOqX
— Tesla (@Tesla) October 1, 2026
The second detail is a robotic hand clawing its way out of the dirt like a zombie, which looks to be the hand of Tesla’s latest Optimus V3 humanoid robot. While Tesla still has not formally shown Optimus Gen 3 walking around in service, renders pulled from Tesla’s Android app last month gave the clearest look yet, including far more refined hands that Tesla has said carry 22 degrees of freedom. The hand has been the hardest part of the program. Musk has called it the majority of the robot’s engineering difficulty, and Tesla’s patents describe a design driven by tendons with the actuators moved into the forearm.
Tesla Optimus V3 hand and arm details revealed in new patents
Optimus also has a Halloween track record. Last October the robot handed out candy in Times Square, and a costumed “zombie” Optimus shuffled around the Tesla Diner in Los Angeles on Halloween night.
On the software side, Tesla’s 2025 Holiday Update expanded Santa Mode with a Santa sleigh, snowmen, snow effects, and a festive lock chime, so it wouldn’t be too far fetched if we saw something similar but themed for a Halloween Mode.
Starlink launches Communities Program for passive income through internet sharing
Tesla just made its headlights even better through a software update
