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SpaceX’s new Falcon 9 fairing recovery ship kicks off sea trials ahead of next launch
After a brief installation period, SpaceX’s second Falcon 9 fairing-catching ship departed Port Canaveral to begin sea trials with its new net and arms, a critical step before it can be declared ready to attempt its first fairing recovery.
Known as GO Ms. Chief, the ship’s first opportunity could come as early as a few weeks from now, potentially marking a major milestone for SpaceX’s fairing recovery and reuse program.
On his first shoot for Teslarati, photographer Richard Angle (@RDAnglePhoto) managed to capture Ms. Chief while departing Port Canaveral on October 23rd, heading a few miles off the coast to kick off sea trials likely focused on proving out a wide range of new hardware installed in the last month. Those trials began less than 24 hours after technicians installed Ms. Chief’s recovery net for the first time ever, with the ship’s subsequent trip into the Atlantic Ocean essentially marking the completion of her transformation from fast supply vessel (FSV) to SpaceX fairing catcher.
SpaceX is currently in the midst of its longest lull in launch activity since September 2016, likely triggered by the unavailability of customer payloads and the company’s own internal Starlink missions. Unfortunately, although the lull was initially expected to end as early as mid-October, the internal Starlink launch (Starlink-1) expected to lead the charge slipped about a month for unknown reasons and is now expected no earlier than November – likely in the second half of the month.
As a small consolation, Starlink-1’s launch delays mean that the newly-outfitted Ms. Chief may be able to inaugurate its new net and arms by attempting to recover one of the mission’s Falcon 9 fairing halves, while the nearly identical GO Ms. Tree attempts to snag the other half. Even if more tweaking and sea trials are needed to prove her readiness, SpaceX’s next launch is still likely several weeks away, hopefully giving the company’s recovery team plenty of time to prepare Ms. Chief and practice recovery operations.
As of October 2019, SpaceX has successfully caught two Falcon fairing halves during the company’s last two back-to-back recovery attempts, beginning with a Falcon Heavy fairing half caught on June 25th and ending with a Falcon 9 fairing half caught on August 7th. Beyond Ms. Tree’s two catches, SpaceX has successfully recovered a number of additional fairing halves after they performed soft landings in the Atlantic Ocean, including both halves launched in May 2019 for the company’s first dedicated Starlink mission.
Given that SpaceX has technically caught two halves of a payload fairing, it’s possible that one is female and the other male, potentially meaning that one of SpaceX’s upcoming Starlink launches could feature the first fully-reused Falcon 9 fairing. Regardless, assuming one or both were recovered in good condition, it’s even more likely that at least one half (with the other half new) will be reused on one (or both) of those upcoming flights.
Said by CEO Elon Musk to make up approximately 10% of the cost of a new Falcon 9 (~$6M), routine fairing recovery and reuse would close the last remaining loop for Falcon 9 reusability, with boosters and fairings accounting for roughly 75-80% of the total cost of the rocket. SpaceX has no plans to attempt to recover or reuse Falcon 9’s second stage, choosing instead to prioritize development of the fully-reusable Starship launch vehicle.
Preparing the oven-cured carbon composite shells that make up the bulk of SpaceX’s Falcon fairings takes a disproportionate amount of time and factory floor space. Even if Falcon fairings can only be reused once or twice, it would effectively double or triple the effectiveness of the current manufacturing apparatus, cutting the relative cost of production by 50% or more for the price of operating Ms. Tree and Ms. Chief.
Fairing reuse will be a critical part of ensuring that the first phase of SpaceX’s Starlink constellation can be launched as affordably as possible on Falcon 9. With at least 24 launches needed to cover most populated areas, cutting even a few million dollars per launch could produce savings on the order of $100M, equivalent to the production cost of 100-200 Starlink satellites.
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A Tesla Semi caught fire in Hayward, California, which caused both directions of traffic to shut down for hours before being completely reopened early on Wednesday, the California Highway Patrol said.
The fire occurred just after 5:30 local time in Hayward on Tuesday, as the Semi caught fire in the southbound lanes of I-880 before CHP officials made the decision to shut down both lanes of traffic due to potential risks from hazardous chemical smoke.
There were no injuries reported.
🚨 A Tesla Semi reportedly caught fire, with California Highway Patrol confirming. The Semi was on I-880 SB
An estimated 5,000 to 7,000 semi-truck and large commercial vehicle fires occur on U.S. roadways every year
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 28, 2026
The cause of the fire is currently unknown, as neither Tesla nor the CHP have not determined a cause.
However, some images taken before the Semi was completely destroyed by the fire seem to indicate this might have been an older unit, as it appears to be one of the designs that Tesla shipped as part of its pilot program, before revising it and starting mass production just a month ago.
@Tslachan From on of the videos looks like it’s an old Semi (not the refresh version that recently started production) https://t.co/KzwmR2kXow
— Area Under The Curve 🎗️ (@AreaUnderCurve) October 28, 2026
At the time of publication, CHP had not returned our request for a comment for additional details, including the Semi involved and any potential collaboration on an investigation between the CHP and Tesla. We will update this story when we hear back from them.
The southbound lanes were reopened at 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday, with the northbound lanes opening last night a few hours after the fire began. The CHP did state that the lithium batteries were “incredibly difficult to extinguish,” according to NBC Bay Area.
The truck’s driver said that the Semi caught fire, but he did not have an explanation.
An estimated 5,000 to 7,000 semi-truck and large commercial vehicle fires occur on U.S. roadways every year.
Tesla’s launch of the “Emergency Drive Away” function a few months back offered owners a safe option to evacuate an area if they were in reasonable danger. The function finally got its first use in the real world, but it appears it was by mistake.
A video shared by u/Joshalander in the r/TeslaLounge subreddit recorded the instance from his vehicle and said the incident took place in Austin this past weekend during the city’s F1 Race.
“Was charging around 6 AM this past Sunday in Austin before heading to the F1 race and heard a pop. Looked over and saw the new emergency drive-away feature in action. Genuinely felt bad for the dude when he got out and realized what happened, since he looked exhausted and only seemed to half-read the prompts.”
🚨 Here’s the first look at Tesla’s Emergency Drive Away function in action:
Apparently this driver accidentally enabled it and drove forward; you can see the Supercharger pull with the car.
Tesla said previously this would cost up to $25k if not used properly. https://t.co/B4qQRrsO6B
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 28, 2026
Emergency Drive Away unlatches the Supercharger connector from the vehicle, but still causes damage to both the car and the Supercharger. Tesla has said that it will cost up to $25,000 in repairs to have everything fixed back to normal.
Additionally, the company said that if it were not used in an emergency situation, the driver of the vehicle who activated the Emergency Drive Away feature would be responsible for all repair costs.
Tesla constitutes the following situations as reasonable justifications for activating the feature:
- You face an immediate threat to your life or personal safety.
- You must leave the area immediately.
- Exiting the vehicle is unsafe.
- Unplugging the charge connector would unreasonably delay your departure or expose you to a risk to your personal safety.
After using the feature, Tesla requires the driver to schedule Service so the car can be inspected.
News
Tesla’s Cybercab battery design could make robotaxis even cheaper
Tesla built the Cybercab’s battery pack with spare room for a future switch to LFP.
Tesla built the Cybercab’s battery pack with empty space inside it on purpose, and the reason points to a cheaper robotaxi down the road.
Robert Sumpf, Tesla’s director of mechanical design engineering for battery modules and packs, said the extra room beside and beneath the Cybercab’s modules was left there so the company can move to lithium iron phosphate cells later. “So, we protected this pack to go to an even lower energy dense chemistry as we scale and need to bring LFP into the platform,” Sumpf said in a Cybercab deep dive with Munro Live.
The Cybercab runs on Tesla’s own 4680 cells with a nickel chemistry today. LFP cells store less energy for their size, so a straight swap would cut range. The reserved space lets Tesla add more LFP cells to make up the difference. In return, Tesla would get cells that cost less, run cooler and survive more charge cycles. LFP became the most used EV battery chemistry in the world last year.
Not all of that room was planned for a chemistry change. Lars Moravy, Tesla’s Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, said part of it exists because “we didn’t need as many batteries as we thought we did.” Tesla told Sandy Munro in early 2025 that it was targeting a Cybercab pack under 50 kWh with close to 300 miles of range.
The pack also breaks from the structural design Tesla used in some Model Y and Cybertruck builds. Instead of potting hundreds of cells into one block, the Cybercab uses four separate, individually sealed modules, so a bad module can be replaced without scrapping the whole pack. Sumpf was blunt about the older approach, giving the Model Y structural battery “a grade D” because it was hard to build and nearly impossible to repair. He estimated a fully structural pack gains about 10% more cell volume, but said “the issue is the service cost.”
That cost matters more for a car that rarely sits parked. Cybercab chief engineer Eric Earley said replacing an entire pack “before half a million miles is a killer on cost,” which is why remanufacturing and serviceability were built into the design from the start.
The same Munro Live tour produced Moravy’s admission that the Cybercab line at Giga Texas is now outpacing Robotaxi deployments, along with a look at the robotaxi’s unorthodox paint process. Tesla is aiming to deliver the first Cybercabs to outside customers by the end of 2026, though Elon Musk has said the vast majority will stay owned by Tesla and run as a transport service.
Sumpf did not give a date for an LFP version, name a cell supplier or say how a chemistry change would affect range. For now, the 4680 cars keep piling up: Texas DMV records from Tuesday list 544 Cybercabs authorized for Tesla’s Robotaxi fleet, more than the 507 Model Ys on the same roster for the first time.
Tesla Semi catches fire in California: what we know
Tesla’s ‘Emergency Drive Away’ function gets its first use in the real world
