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SpaceX Falcon 9 doubleheader still on track after fiery ULA launch abort
As previously reported by Teslarati, SpaceX announced intentions to launch two Falcon 9 missions from two Florida launchpads on Sunday, August 30th. However, the ambitious goal was left in limbo.
The record-breaking doubleheader was believed to hinge upon the Saturday morning launch of a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy rocket with a classified spy satellite. However, that is apparently no longer the case.
Instead of launching on time, ULA’s infrequently-flown heavy-lift rocket was hit by 72 hours of delays to rectify minor pad hardware bugs. Around 2 am EDT (UTC-4) on August 29th, Delta IV Heavy made it just seconds away from liftoff before the rocket’s autonomous flight computer detected an anomaly with pad hardware and aborted the launch. As a result, the three cores’ three Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-68A engines were forced to shut down after ignition – an uncommon Delta IV launch abort scenario that has historically required at least a week of work to recycle for another launch attempt.

ULA ultimately determined that it was not possible to recycle the countdown for another attempt although enough time remained in the launch window to do so. The launch vehicle was safed and a scrub was announced.
In a statement provided by ULA confirmed that the early shutdown was “due to an unexpected condition during the terminal count at approximately three seconds before liftoff.” ULA also confirmed that “the required recycle time prior to the next launch attempt is seven days minimum.”
ULA has to fly before SpaceX, right?
With a minimum of seven days required to recycle the ULA Delta IV Heavy for another launch attempt, it was unclear what that meant for the fate of the SpaceX SAOCOM-1B mission.

It was previously understood that in order for SpaceX to launch the SAOCOM-1B mission from nearby Space Launch Complex-40 (SLC-40), the ULA Delta IV Heavy would have to successfully launch first. The southern polar launch trajectory of the SAOCOM-1B’s mission is one that hasn’t been flown from Cape Canaveral, FL in nearly six decades. This particular flightpath includes launch hazard zones that inch ever so close to the launchpad of the Delta IV Heavy, which is currently still on its launchpad stacked with a classified payload for the U.S. government.
It was assumed that the Falcon 9 would suffer the same minimum delay of seven days, if not longer. However, on Saturday afternoon, August 29 a SpaceX media representative confirmed that the company was still targeting the historic double header launches on Sunday, August 30.
Double the launches, double the recoveries
If SpaceX can pull it off, Sunday is set to be a stellar day for Falcon 9 launches and landings. The SAOCOM-1B mission will feature a Return To Launch Site (RTLS) landing attempt of the expended Falcon 9 booster while the Starlink Falcon 9 booster is expected to land aboard the autonomous droneship “Of Course I Still Love You” currently stationed off the coast of South Carolina.
In an unusual move, SpaceX split up the fairing catching vessels. Initially, both vessels left Port Canaveral and headed south to a catch zone located between The Bahamas and Cuba in an attempt to catch both fairing halves of the SAOCOM-1B mission. Then, GO Ms.Tree did an about-turn and met up with the booster recovery vessels off the coast of South Carolina.
At the time of publishing, the two Sunday Falcon 9 launches are expected to occur just nine hours apart. The Starlink V1.0-L11 mission is slated to occur at 10:12am ET (1412 UTC) from Launch Complex 39-A at Kennedy Space Center while the SAOCOM-1B mission is set to launch at 7:18pm ET (2318 UTC) from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. As usual, SpaceX will host official launch webcasts live, typically beginning around 15 minutes before liftoff.
Check out Teslarati’s newsletters for prompt updates, on-the-ground perspectives, and unique glimpses of SpaceX’s rocket launch and recovery processes.
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Lucid unveils Lunar Robotaxi in bid to challenge Tesla’s Cybercab in the autonomous ride hailing race
Lucid’s Lunar robotaxi is gunning for Tesla’s Cybercab in the autonomous ride hailing race
Lucid Group pulled back the curtain on its purpose-built autonomous robotaxi platform dubbed the Lunar Concept. Announced at its New York investor day event, Lunar is arguably the company’s most ambitious concept yet, and a direct line of sight toward the autonomous ride haling market that Tesla looks to control.

At Lucid Investor Day 2026, the company introduced Lunar, a purpose-built robotaxi concept based on the Midsize platform.
A comparison to Tesla’s Cybercab is unavoidable. The concept of a Tesla robotaxi was first introduced by Elon Musk back in April 2019 during an event dubbed “Autonomy Day,” where he envisioned a network of self-driving Tesla vehicles transporting passengers while not in use by their owners. That vision took another major step in October 2024 when, Musk unveiled the Cybercab at the Tesla “We, Robot” event held at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California, where 20 concept Cybercabs autonomously drove around the studio lot giving rides to attendees.
Fast forward to today, and Tesla’s ambitions are finally materializing, but not without friction. As we recently reported, the Cybercab is being spotted with increasing frequency on public roads and across the grounds of Gigafactory Texas, suggesting that the company’s road testing and validation program is ramping meaningfully ahead of mass production. Tesla already operates a small scale robotaxi service in Austin using supervised Model Ys, but the Cybercab is designed from the ground up for high-volume, low-cost production, with Musk stating an eventual goal of producing one vehicle every 10 seconds.

At Lucid Investor Day 2026, the company introduced Lunar, a purpose-built robotaxi concept based on the Midsize platform.
Into this landscape steps Lucid’s Lunar. Built on the company’s all-new Midsize EV platform, which will also underpin consumer SUVs starting below $50,000. The Lunar mirrors the Cybercab’s core philosophy of having two seats, no driver controls, and a focus on fleet economics. The platform introduces Lucid’s redesigned Atlas electric drive unit, engineered to be smaller, lighter, and cheaper to manufacture at scale.
Unlike Tesla’s strategy of building its own ride hailing network from scratch, Lucid is partnering with Uber. The companies are said to be in advanced discussions to deploy Midsize platform vehicles at large scale, with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi publicly backing Lucid’s engineering credentials and autonomous-ready architecture.
In the investor day event, Lucid also outlined a recurring software revenue model, with an in-vehicle AI assistant and monthly autonomous driving subscriptions priced between $69 and $199. This can be seen as a nod to the software revenue stream that Tesla has long championed with its Full Self-Driving subscription.
Tesla’s Cybercab is targeting a price point below $30k and with operating costs as low as 20 cents per mile. But with regulatory hurdles still ahead, the window for competition is open. Lucid’s Lunar may not have a launch date yet, but it arrives at a pivotal moment, and when the robotaxi race is no longer viewed as hypothetical. Rather, every serious EV player needs to come to bat on the same plate that Tesla has had countless practice swings on over the last seven years.
Elon Musk
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has ordered the closure of an investigation involving Elon Musk and social media platform X. The inquiry had been pending for about two years and examined whether the platform was used to coordinate attacks against members of the judiciary.
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
According to a report from Agencia Brasil, the investigation conducted by the Federal Police did not find evidence that X deliberately attempted to attack the judiciary or circumvent court orders.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet concluded that the irregularities identified during the probe did not indicate fraudulent intent.
Justice Moraes accepted the prosecutor’s recommendation and ruled that the investigation should be closed. Under the ruling, the case will remain closed unless new evidence emerges.
The inquiry stemmed from concerns that content on X may have enabled online attacks against Supreme Court justices or violated rulings requiring the suspension of certain accounts under investigation.
Justice Moraes had previously taken several enforcement actions related to the platform during the broader dispute involving social media regulation in Brazil.
These included ordering a nationwide block of the platform, freezing Starlink accounts, and imposing fines on X totaling about $5.2 million. Authorities also froze financial assets linked to X and SpaceX through Starlink to collect unpaid penalties and seized roughly $3.3 million from the companies’ accounts.
Moraes also imposed daily fines of up to R$5 million, about $920,000, for alleged evasion of the X ban and established penalties of R$50,000 per day for VPN users who attempted to bypass the restriction.
Brazil remains an important market for X, with roughly 17 million users, making it one of the platform’s larger user bases globally.
The country is also a major market for Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, which has surpassed one million subscribers in Brazil.
Elon Musk
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Amazon after the company opposed SpaceX’s proposal to launch a large satellite constellation that could function as an orbital data center network.
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
Amazon recently urged the FCC to reject SpaceX’s application to deploy a constellation of up to 1 million low Earth orbit satellites that could serve as artificial intelligence data centers in space.
The company described the proposal as a “lofty ambition rather than a real plan,” arguing that SpaceX had not provided sufficient details about how the system would operate.
Carr responded by pointing to Amazon’s own satellite deployment progress.
“Amazon should focus on the fact that it will fall roughly 1,000 satellites short of meeting its upcoming deployment milestone, rather than spending their time and resources filing petitions against companies that are putting thousands of satellites in orbit,” Carr wrote on X.
Amazon has declined to comment on the statement.
Amazon has been working to deploy its Project Kuiper satellite network, which is intended to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service. The company has invested more than $10 billion in the program and has launched more than 200 satellites since April of last year.
Amazon has also asked the FCC for a 24-month extension, until July 2028, to meet a requirement to deploy roughly 1,600 satellites by July 2026, as noted in a CNBC report.
SpaceX’s Starlink network currently has nearly 10,000 satellites in orbit and serves roughly 10 million customers. The FCC has also authorized SpaceX to deploy 7,500 additional satellites as the company continues expanding its global satellite internet network.