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SpaceX fires up Falcon 9 rocket after booster engine swap

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SpaceX confirms it has successfully fired up a Falcon 9 rocket after swapping two of its first stage (booster) engines, putting the company’s third US military GPS satellite launch back on track after about a month of delays.

Known as GPS III Space Vehicle 04 (SV04), SpaceX was initially scheduled to launch the upgraded civil and military navigation satellite as early as September 30th but was forced to stand down as competitor United Launch Alliance (ULA) worked through its own issues with a separate US military mission. SpaceX was ultimately able to get just two seconds away from liftoff on October 2nd before Falcon 9 automatically aborted the attempt, shutting down all nine Merlin 1D booster engines after detecting anomalous startup behavior.

Falcon 9 B1062 is pictured at LC-40 shortly after its last-second abort. (Richard Angle)

In the four weeks since that abort, SpaceX has managed to enact an extensive investigation, removing and testing affected engines in Texas to replicate the gas generator issue observed on the launch pad, narrowing down possible causes, fixing what was ultimately a quality assurance failure, and retesting the same fixed engines without issue. Falcon 9 B1062’s successful October 31st static fire (the booster’s second) further confirms that the fix was a success and thanks to that extensive effort, SpaceX says it’s now ready for its second GPS III SV04 launch attempt no earlier than (NET) 6:24 pm EST (23:24 UTC), Thursday, November 5th.

In anticipation of the next attempt, drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) departed Port Canaveral under tow on October 31st to ensure an on-time arrival at Falcon 9 B1062’s landing zone some 635 km (~395 mi) downrange. Support ship GO Quest followed not long after, while it remains to be seen if fairing catchers Ms. Tree and Ms. Chief will be ready to support GPS III SV04 fairing recovery after suffering minor damage during their otherwise successful Starlink-13 catches.

At the same time, after being forced to return the GPS III satellite – encapsulated inside a Falcon 9 fairing – to a payload processing facility (PPF) for a likely battery recharge, the satellite and fairing once again made the trip from the PPF to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) Launch Complex 40 (LC-40). Following Falcon 9’s successful static fire, the rocket will be lowered horizontal and rolled back to LC-40’s main hangar, where the encapsulated satellite will be installed atop its upper stage.

As usual, SpaceX will host an official launch webcast that will begin some 15 minutes before liftoff. Stay tuned for more launch updates as we near T-0.

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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 seeks engineer to make its iOS Robotaxi app feel “magical”

It appears that Tesla is hard at work in ensuring that users of its Robotaxi service are provided with the best user experience possible.

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Credit: Grok Imagine

Tesla is hiring an iOS Engineer for its Robotaxi app team, with the job posting emphasizing the creation of polished experiences that make the service not just functional, but “magical.”

Needless to say, it appears that Tesla is hard at work in ensuring that users of its Robotaxi service are provided with the best user experience possible.

Robotaxi App features

As observed by Tesla community members, Tesla has gone live with a job listing for an iOS Engineer for its Robotaxi App. The job listing mentions the development of a “core mobile experience that enables customers to summon, track, and interact with a driverless vehicle. From requesting a ride to enabling frictionless entry, from trip planning to real-time vehicle status and media control.”

Interestingly enough, the job listing also mentioned the creation of polished experiences that make the Robotaxi more than just functional. “You will take full ownership of features—from architecture design to robust implementation—delivering delightful and polished experiences that make Robotaxi not just functional, but magical,” Tesla noted in its job listing.

Apple’s “magical” marketing

Tesla’s use of the word “magical” when referring to the Robotaxi app mirrors the marketing used by Apple for some of its key products. Apple typically uses the word when referring to products or solutions that transform complex technology into something that feels effortless, simple, and natural to daily life. Products such as the AirPods’ seamless pairing with the iPhone and FaceID’s complex yet simple-to-use security system have received Apple’s “magical” branding. 

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With this in mind, Tesla seems intent on developing a Robotaxi app that is sophisticated, but still very easy to use. Tesla already has extensive experience in this area, with the Tesla App consistently being hailed by users as one of the best in its segment. If Tesla succeeds in making the Robotaxi app worthy of its “magical” branding, then it wouldn’t be a surprise if the service sees rapid adoption even among mainstream consumers. 

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Tesla is coming to Estonia and Latvia in latest European expansion: report

Tesla seems to be accelerating its regional expansion following its recent launch in Lithuania.

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Credit: Grok Imagine

Recent reports have indicated that Tesla has taken a step toward entering the Baltic states by registering new subsidiaries in Latvia and Estonia.

Filings suggest that Tesla is accelerating its regional expansion following its recent launch in Lithuania, with service centers likely coming before full sales operations.

Official entities in Latvia and Estonia

Tesla has established two new legal entities, Tesla Latvia SIA and Tesla Estonia OÜ, both owned by Tesla International B.V., as noted in an EV Wire report. Corporate records show the Estonian entity was formed on December 16, 2025, while the Latvian subsidiary was registered earlier, on November 7.

Both entities list senior Tesla executives on their boards, including regional and finance leadership responsible for new market expansion across Europe. Importantly, the entities are registered under “repair and maintenance of motor vehicles,” rather than strictly vehicle sales. This suggests that Tesla service centers will likely be launched in both countries.

The move mirrors Tesla’s recent Baltic rollout strategy. When Tesla entered Lithuania, it first established a local entity, followed by a pop-up store within weeks and a permanent service center a few months later. It would then not be surprising if Tesla follows a similar strategy in Estonia and Latvia, and service and retail operations arrive in the first half of 2026.

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Tesla’s European push

Tesla saw a drop in sales in Europe in 2025, though the company is currently attempting to push more sales in the region by introducing its most affordable vehicles yet, the Model 3 Standard and the Model Y Standard. Both vehicles effectively lower the price of entry into the Tesla ecosystem, which may make them attractive to consumers.

Tesla is also hard at work in its efforts to get FSD approved for the region. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Tesla rolled out an FSD ride-along program in several European countries, allowing consumers to experience the capabilities of FSD firsthand. In early December, reports emerged indicating that the FSD ride-along program would be extended in several European territories until the end of March 2026. 

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Elon Musk’s X will start using a Tesla-like software update strategy

The initiative seems designed to accelerate updates to the social media platform, while maintaining maximum transparency.

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Ministério Das Comunicações, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Elon Musk’s social media platform X will adopt a Tesla-esque approach to software updates for its algorithm.

The initiative seems designed to accelerate updates to the social media platform, while maintaining maximum transparency.

X’s updates to its updates

As per Musk in a post on X, the social media company will be making a new algorithm to determine what organic and advertising posts are recommended to users. These updates would then be repeated every four weeks. 

“We will make the new 𝕏 algorithm, including all code used to determine what organic and advertising posts are recommended to users, open source in 7 days. This will be repeated every 4 weeks, with comprehensive developer notes, to help you understand what changed,” Musk wrote in his post.

The initiative somewhat mirrors Tesla’s over-the-air update model, where vehicle software is regularly refined and pushed to users with detailed release notes. This should allow users to better understand the details of X’s every update and foster a healthy feedback loop for the social media platform.

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xAI and X

X, formerly Twitter, has been acquired by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI last year. Since then, xAI has seen a rapid rise in valuation. Following the company’s the company’s upsized $20 billion Series E funding round, estimates now suggest that xAI is worth tens about $230 to $235 billion. That’s several times larger than Tesla when Elon Musk received his controversial 2018 CEO Performance Award. 

As per xAI, the Series E funding round attracted a diverse group of investors, including Valor Equity Partners, Stepstone Group, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Qatar Investment Authority, MGX, and Baron Capital Group, among others. Strategic partners NVIDIA and Cisco Investments also continued support for building the world’s largest GPU clusters.

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