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SpaceX Falcon 9 greeted by iconic Florida sunset after first rocket landing of the decade
After completing its fourth flawless orbital-class launch and landing in 16 months, SpaceX’s latest reusable Falcon 9 rocket has successfully returned to dry land and was greeted by a spectacular Florida sunset during its port arrival.
Safely secured aboard drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) by SpaceX’s famous Octagrabber robot, which uses claws its tank-like heft to physically hold the rocket down, Falcon 9 booster B1049 passed through the mouth of Port Canaveral on January 9th. This effectively marked the end of its third drone ship recovery and fourth landing overall since its orbital-class launch debut in September 2018, averaging a SpaceX launch every four months.
B1049.4 supported SpaceX’s second launch of upgraded Starlink v1.0 communications satellites and the 60 spacecraft it helped send to orbit almost certainly catapulted the company into the position of owning the world’s largest private satellite constellation – now measuring some 175 operational spacecraft strong. Those 60 new Starlink satellites have since deployed their solar arrays, performed basic systems checkouts, activated their krypton-fueled ion thrusters, and begun raising their orbits to around 350 km (220 mi). After arriving at 350 km, SpaceX will carefully analyze the performance of each satellite and send all healthy spacecraft to their final operational altitude of 550 km (340 mi).
Teslarati photographer Richard Angle was present for both sides of Falcon 9 B1049’s fourth orbital-class launch and landing, capturing the booster’s January 6th liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 40 (CCAFS LC-40) and its January 9th Port Canaveral arrival aboard drone ship OCISLY. Given the spectacular Florida sunset that greeted the rocket, B1049 clearly has a preferred color palette – fire.
Falcon 9 B1049 is powered by nine Merlin 1D engines capable of burning liquid oxygen and refined kerosene (RP-1) to produce a maximum thrust of 7600 kN (1.7 million lbf), giving it a thrust to weight ratio of more than 1.4 even when fully loaded with some 525 metric tons (1.2 million lb) of propellant.
According to SpaceX and CEO Elon Musk, Falcon 9’s newest Block 5 boosters – debuted in May 2018 and expected to be the last major upgrade to the family – are designed to be capable of at least 10 orbital-class launches each. A step further, they could potentially be able to perform dozens of missions before retirement is unavoidable, although that would reportedly require the same sort of in-depth overhauls that are routine for modern airliners. Regardless of SpaceX’s aspirations of 10-100 flights per booster, the company is making great progress but undeniably has a long ways to go.
Still, it’s not actually as long as it may seem. On January 6th, Falcon 9 B1049 became the second SpaceX booster to successfully launch four times, following in the footsteps of B1048’s record-breaking fourth flight – completed in November 2019. Now in possession of two consecutively-built Falcon 9 boosters with four flights under each of their belts, SpaceX should be able to quickly determine whether its fleet of reusable rockets can be trusted with four launches (and more).
Additionally, after two months for technicians and engineers to inspect and repair the booster, B1048 could be ready for its fifth launch far sooner than later. SpaceX wrapped up B1049’s fourth post-recovery processing on January 13th – a relatively brisk three and a half days from port arrival to horizontal transport. The booster was moved to one of SpaceX’s many Cape Canaveral hangars, where – just like B1048 – it will be inspected, refurbished, and turned around for its fifth launch sometime in the near future.
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Starlink passes 9 million active customers just weeks after hitting 8 million
The milestone highlights the accelerating growth of Starlink, which has now been adding over 20,000 new users per day.
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service has continued its rapid global expansion, surpassing 9 million active customers just weeks after crossing the 8 million mark.
The milestone highlights the accelerating growth of Starlink, which has now been adding over 20,000 new users per day.
9 million customers
In a post on X, SpaceX stated that Starlink now serves over 9 million active users across 155 countries, territories, and markets. The company reached 8 million customers in early November, meaning it added roughly 1 million subscribers in under seven weeks, or about 21,275 new users on average per day.
“Starlink is connecting more than 9M active customers with high-speed internet across 155 countries, territories, and many other markets,” Starlink wrote in a post on its official X account. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell also celebrated the milestone on X. “A huge thank you to all of our customers and congrats to the Starlink team for such an incredible product,” she wrote.
That growth rate reflects both rising demand for broadband in underserved regions and Starlink’s expanding satellite constellation, which now includes more than 9,000 low-Earth-orbit satellites designed to deliver high-speed, low-latency internet worldwide.
Starlink’s momentum
Starlink’s momentum has been building up. SpaceX reported 4.6 million Starlink customers in December 2024, followed by 7 million by August 2025, and 8 million customers in November. Independent data also suggests Starlink usage is rising sharply, with Cloudflare reporting that global web traffic from Starlink users more than doubled in 2025, as noted in an Insider report.
Starlink’s momentum is increasingly tied to SpaceX’s broader financial outlook. Elon Musk has said the satellite network is “by far” the company’s largest revenue driver, and reports suggest SpaceX may be positioning itself for an initial public offering as soon as next year, with valuations estimated as high as $1.5 trillion. Musk has also suggested in the past that Starlink could have its own IPO in the future.
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NVIDIA Director of Robotics: Tesla FSD v14 is the first AI to pass the “Physical Turing Test”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine.
NVIDIA Director of Robotics Jim Fan has praised Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14 as the first AI to pass what he described as a “Physical Turing Test.”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine. And just like smartphones today, removing it now would “actively hurt.”
Jim Fan’s hands-on FSD v14 impressions
Fan, a leading researcher in embodied AI who is currently solving Physical AI at NVIDIA and spearheading the company’s Project GR00T initiative, noted that he actually was late to the Tesla game. He was, however, one of the first to try out FSD v14.
“I was very late to own a Tesla but among the earliest to try out FSD v14. It’s perhaps the first time I experience an AI that passes the Physical Turing Test: after a long day at work, you press a button, lay back, and couldn’t tell if a neural net or a human drove you home,” Fan wrote in a post on X.
Fan added: “Despite knowing exactly how robot learning works, I still find it magical watching the steering wheel turn by itself. First it feels surreal, next it becomes routine. Then, like the smartphone, taking it away actively hurts. This is how humanity gets rewired and glued to god-like technologies.”
The Physical Turing Test
The original Turing Test was conceived by Alan Turing in 1950, and it was aimed at determining if a machine could exhibit behavior that is equivalent to or indistinguishable from a human. By focusing on text-based conversations, the original Turing Test set a high bar for natural language processing and machine learning.
This test has been passed by today’s large language models. However, the capability to converse in a humanlike manner is a completely different challenge from performing real-world problem-solving or physical interactions. Thus, Fan introduced the Physical Turing Test, which challenges AI systems to demonstrate intelligence through physical actions.
Based on Fan’s comments, Tesla has demonstrated these intelligent physical actions with FSD v14. Elon Musk agreed with the NVIDIA executive, stating in a post on X that with FSD v14, “you can sense the sentience maturing.” Musk also praised Tesla AI, calling it the best “real-world AI” today.
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Tesla AI team burns the Christmas midnight oil by releasing FSD v14.2.2.1
The update was released just a day after FSD v14.2.2 started rolling out to customers.
Tesla is burning the midnight oil this Christmas, with the Tesla AI team quietly rolling out Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.2.2.1 just a day after FSD v14.2.2 started rolling out to customers.
Tesla owner shares insights on FSD v14.2.2.1
Longtime Tesla owner and FSD tester @BLKMDL3 shared some insights following several drives with FSD v14.2.2.1 in rainy Los Angeles conditions with standing water and faded lane lines. He reported zero steering hesitation or stutter, confident lane changes, and maneuvers executed with precision that evoked the performance of Tesla’s driverless Robotaxis in Austin.
Parking performance impressed, with most spots nailed perfectly, including tight, sharp turns, in single attempts without shaky steering. One minor offset happened only due to another vehicle that was parked over the line, which FSD accommodated by a few extra inches. In rain that typically erases road markings, FSD visualized lanes and turn lines better than humans, positioning itself flawlessly when entering new streets as well.
“Took it up a dark, wet, and twisty canyon road up and down the hill tonight and it went very well as to be expected. Stayed centered in the lane, kept speed well and gives a confidence inspiring steering feel where it handles these curvy roads better than the majority of human drivers,” the Tesla owner wrote in a post on X.
Tesla’s FSD v14.2.2 update
Just a day before FSD v14.2.2.1’s release, Tesla rolled out FSD v14.2.2, which was focused on smoother real-world performance, better obstacle awareness, and precise end-of-trip routing. According to the update’s release notes, FSD v14.2.2 upgrades the vision encoder neural network with higher resolution features, enhancing detection of emergency vehicles, road obstacles, and human gestures.
New Arrival Options also allowed users to select preferred drop-off styles, such as Parking Lot, Street, Driveway, Parking Garage, or Curbside, with the navigation pin automatically adjusting to the ideal spot. Other refinements include pulling over for emergency vehicles, real-time vision-based detours for blocked roads, improved gate and debris handling, and Speed Profiles for customized driving styles.
Starlink passes 9 million active customers just weeks after hitting 8 million
NVIDIA Director of Robotics: Tesla FSD v14 is the first AI to pass the “Physical Turing Test”
