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SpaceX Falcon 9 briefly incinerates itself after another successful mission

Published

9 years ago

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SpaceX completes 16th launch of 2017, aims for at least 19 before year’s end

Following the successful separation of Koreasat 5A from SpaceX’s Falcon 9 second stage, the rocket company has completed its 16th flawless mission of 2017. Several launches still remain in the 2017 manifest, leaving SpaceX with as many as 20 successful launches this year if all goes as planned, and this bodes well for SpaceX’s 2018 goal of 30 or more missions.

 

Currently coasting in a comfortable geostationary transfer orbit after a wild ride aboard Falcon 9, the launch of Koreasat 5A exemplifies SpaceX’s ever-maturing expertise and comfort with rapid and routine launches and booster recoveries. Falcon 9 is also clearly maturing as a launch system, and has not suffered launch scrubs since the launch of Intelsat 35e in early July. Following first stage separation, Falcon 9 1042 made its way back to Earth and landed aboard Of Course I Still Love You, stationed approximately 350 miles off the East coast of Florida. This marks the 19th successful landing of a Falcon 9 first stage.

Despite suffering some apparently significant fire damage after the recovery of SES-11’s Falcon 9 earlier this month, OCISLY was repaired and sent back into action, performing admirably during its recovery of Koreasat 5A’s Falcon 9 core 1042. The booster may be less than thrilled, as it was captured on camera catching fire just after landing, potentially prematurely removing the possibility of future re-flights if the damage is too severe. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is effectively a controlled explosion powered by liquid oxidizer and refined kerosene, and boosters cant exactly be faulted for incinerating themselves and their surroundings every once and awhile, although SpaceX almost certainly strives to prevent major fires as much as possible.

 

SpaceX’s largest customers buy into reusability

On top of another successful mission, the last week was accompanied by a flurry of revelations regarding SpaceX’s near-term plans. Earlier today, NASASpaceflight.com revealed information it was provided indicating that NASA has cleared Cargo Dragon missions for launch aboard recovered SpaceX rockets. This is an immensely important achievement that cannot be understated. NASA is SpaceX’s largest and most valuable customer, and SpaceX conducts an array of launches each year for the agency’s Commercial Resupply Services program.

While we wait for official confirmation from NASA itself, we can now look forward to at least two more Falcon 9 reuses in the final two months of 2017, both scheduled for launches in December. CRS-13, aiming for an early December launch, is now expected to use the same Falcon 9 booster that launched CRS-11 in June 2017. On the West coast, Iridium has also agreed to launch several NEXT missions aboard reused Falcon 9s, with the NEXT-4 mission now scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base aboard the booster that helped lift the Iridium NEXT-2 payload in June 2017.

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All things considered, this is an extraordinary accomplishment. In the first year of commercial reuse, SpaceX has already accomplished three successful missions aboard reused hardware, and is likely to make that five missions before the year is out. There is also a small chance that Falcon Heavy will launch later this year, itself composed of two refurbished boosters and one new booster. The future is looking undeniably bright for SpaceX’s program of rocket reusability.

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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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Tesla Model Y L’s new features flexed at unveiling event at Diner

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3 hours ago

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July 31, 2026

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Tesla Model Y L in a field
Credit: Tesla

Tesla flexed the new features of the Model Y L with a dedicated media event at the company’s Diner on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles.

The Model Y L is the extended-wheelbase version of the all-electric crossover, which has been voted the best-selling car in the world on three occasions. The vehicle is already rolling off production lines at Gigafactory Texas, and first deliveries are slated to take place later this year.

Tesla brings Model Y L ‘Launch Series’ to the U.S. at $61,990

Teslarati was invited to the event, but due to some scheduling conflicts, we could not make it to Los Angeles. Instead, we will have our hands on a media unit sometime in August, so we’ll be able to spend some more extended time with the Model Y L.

However, plenty of those who made it to LA shared some cool features that set the Model Y L apart from the Model Y.

Multi-Row Climate Control

Tesla fitted the Model Y L with full climate control on all three rows on the front screen. It can be adjusted by selecting which row you’d like to modify on the right-hand side of the touch screen:

Better Rear Window Visibility

One of the strangest things about the Model Y, especially the Juniper iteration, is the rear window has extremely limited visibility when looking into the rearview mirror.

Tesla has improved upon this with the Model Y L:

PowerShare will be included

Model Y L will come with PowerShare in North America, with an 11.5kW output to your home. Tesla said it would require Powerwall 3 for operation.

Wireless Charging Pad

There has been some speculation that Tesla would upgrade the wireless charging pads in the United States, but this is not the case.

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Tesla owner fixes common feature complaint with crafty DIY retrofit

Tesla confirmed that it does not come with the cooled pads as the Y L in China does. This is because North America has not adopted Qi charging yet.

Thermal Management Improvements

These improvements in the Model Y L were seen with thermal management:

  • Up to 15% faster cabin cooling
  • +23% thermal efficiency gained in hot weather, 7 miles of real-world range gained
  • 8x more solar energy reflection off of glass roof
  • 30% reduction in solar energy entering the cabin

Demand

Tesla said the Model Y L is almost sold out in the U.S. It comes with

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  • 1 year of FSD Supervised
  • 1 year of Supercharging
  • 1 year of Premium Connectivity
  • Free exterior paint color, interior, and wheel option at no additional cost
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Elon Musk

Tesla CEO Elon Musk denies ridiculous Gigafactory Shanghai rumor

Published

5 hours ago

on

July 31, 2026

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(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to his social media platform X on Thursday night to deny a ridiculous rumor regarding the sale of the company’s Chinese vehicle production plant, Gigafactory Shanghai.

On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter, claimed in a scathing new report that Tesla was exploring a potential sale of the entire China business in an effort to help bolster a potential merger between SpaceX and Tesla.

Musk immediately denied the rumor not once but twice, initially calling it “fake news,” and then calling it “absurdly fake news” in a separate post just a few moments later:

The original poster of the Wall Street Journal article that Musk saw deleted the initial post sharing the headline and the rumored sale of Tesla’s China business.

The report seemed absolutely and unequivocally false to begin with; Tesla’s business in China is among the most important pieces of the company’s business. Not only does the factory supply vehicles for the domestic market, but also for various other markets in Asia and Europe.

China is also one of the largest automotive markets in the world, and Tesla has performed well there despite the robust competition.

The speculation regarding a Tesla and SpaceX merger has started to gain steam this year as the space exploration company went public just a month ago. There has been speculation that Musk will bridge all of his companies under one “umbrella company,” and analysts believe this could happen before the end of the decade.

The Tesla and SpaceX merger everyone is talking about is quietly building

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This is the latest iteration of Musk’s very evident war on mainstream media. Reports regarding any of Musk’s companies are quick to get the dreaded “false” or “fake news” response from the CEO when they are unfounded.

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Elon Musk

Tesla AI boss reveals how big Optimus is going to get

Tesla’s Optimus chief corrected himself on X, confirming a staggering 10 million robot production target.

Published

13 hours ago

on

July 31, 2026

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Tesla Optimus Gen 3 [Credit: Tesla]

Tesla’s Optimus program has a new number attached to it, after Ashok Elluswamy, the executive who has run the humanoid robot program since June 2025, posted a three word correction on X Thursday, “Correction, 10 million robots.”

The line clarifies the long term annual capacity Tesla is building toward its planned second Optimus production line at Gigafactory Texas, a figure Musk has cited repeatedly since last year’s shareholder meeting.

The scale is worth noting, because ten million robots a year would mean Tesla building more units annually than most countries sell in new cars. Tesla has framed this as a second line, not the first. The buildout is happening in two phases: a roughly one million unit per year line inside Tesla’s Fremont factory, installed on the floor space vacated when Model S and Model X production ended earlier this year, and a much larger dedicated facility under construction at Giga Texas that broke ground on its first steel structure in May. That Texas facility is the one Elluswamy’s correction refers to, and is expected to reach volume production sometime in 2027.

Tesla Optimus project fires up as Musk sees production line progress

Elluswamy took over Optimus from Milan Kovac last summer and has spent the months since talking up the program’s trajectory. Elon Musk has also floated the ten million figure at Tesla’s 2025 shareholder meeting.

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Ending Model S and Model X production to make room for the first Optimus line was one of the more consequential manufacturing decisions in the company’s recent history, retiring two flagship vehicles in favor of a robot that has yet to enter mass production. Musk has previously estimated per unit production costs at $20,000 to $25,000 once Tesla reaches a million units a year, though he hasn’t said what that cost looks like at ten times the volume.

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