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SpaceX nears Falcon 9 lunar rideshare launch as main satellite arrives in FL
SpaceX and customers Pasifik Satelit Nusantara (PSN), SpaceIL, and Spaceflight Industries are reportedly one month away from the NET February 18th launch of Indonesian communications satellite PSN VI (since renamed Nusantara Satu), commercial moon lander Beresheet, and additional unspecified smallsats.
In an encouraging sign that the mission’s launch date might hold, the PSN VI communications satellite – manufactured and delivered by Space Systems Loral (SSL) – arrived at SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral, Florida payload processing facilities in late December 2018 and is likely to be joined by SpaceIL’s Beresheet spacecraft in the next few weeks.
https://twitter.com/sslmda/status/1082427646921846784
Easily the most exotic rideshare mission yet in terms of the sheer variability and newness of almost every aspect, communications satellite PSN VI will not only be joined by the world’s first commercial lunar lander but also play host to rideshare organizer Spaceflight’s first dedicated rideshare mission to a high-energy geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), stretching approximately 200 to 36,000 km (120 to 22,000 miles) above Earth.
Led in large part by satellite contractor SSL’s recently-introduced PODS method of attaching rideshare satellite dispensers to larger geostationary satellites, the company’s main manufacturing focus, GTO or even full-GEO rideshare opportunities could open all kinds of doors for exotic but affordable smallsat missions beyond Earth orbit. If successfully implemented, one could foresee commercial, government, or academic entities with budgets that would have originally had them laughed out of doors actually be able to support their own dedicated missions to the Moon and perhaps even to other planets, asteroids, or comets.
Big Science, Small Packages
A pair of tiny, experimental spacecraft called #MarCO flew to Mars and fulfilled a their mission yesterday, relaying near-real-time data during @NASAInSight’s #MarsLanding. Find out more about the record-setting CubeSats: https://t.co/JOAaM2lHjx pic.twitter.com/IlNesoEonq— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) November 27, 2018
Less than coincidentally, JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) successfully launched, tested, and demonstrated a pair of small signal relay cubesats as viable communications infrastructure during Mars lander InSight’s November 2018 landing attempt, becoming the first smallsats ever to operate in deep space. While the utility of each MarCO cubesat was very limited, the program was an extremely successful technology demonstration and has likely opened a number of doors for smallsat passengers to join future interplanetary missions. Already, the European Space Agency (ESA) hopes to include multiple cubesats on an asteroid defense-focused mission to the Didymous asteroid system in the 2020s.
A couple of #CubeSats will join #ESA’s Hera mission towards a binary asteroid system to perform additional bonus science alongside the main mothership. #newspace #cubesat #space https://t.co/gu3BS4sgL0 pic.twitter.com/13iw7gh1u6
— D-Orbit (@D_Orbit) January 8, 2019
While SSL apparently tested PODS with success on the communications satellite Hispasat 30W-6, launched by SpaceX in March 2018, it appears that PSN VI may be the first purely commercial use of SSL’s offerings. Whatever the complex relationship is, it appears that PSN VI’s PODS were co-opted (ordered?) by Spaceflight, who then sold those spaces and managed the integration of customers with spacecraft that needed an orbit truly unique for cubesats.
Given the fact that there has been almost complete silence on Spaceflight’s GTO-1 rideshare mission and that the most recent use of PODS on Hispasat was reportedly funded and used by military research agency DARPA, it may actually be reasonable to conclude that Spaceflight is acting as the middleman for a number of satellites built or owned by military agencies, potentially explaining the radio-silence from Spaceflight’s normally talkative communications team.
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- PSN-6, an SSL-built communications satellite weighing several thousand kilograms, arrived in Florida roughly 10 days ago. (SSL)
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- PSN-6, an SSL-built communications satellite weighing several thousand kilograms, arrived in Florida roughly 10 days ago. (SSL)
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- SpaceIL’s Beresheet moon lander. (SpaceIL)
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- Beresheet is seen here prior to the spacecraft’s flight from Israel to Florida. (SpaceIL/IAI)
Regardless, this launch is bound to be a fascinating one from a trajectory design perspective. Whether or not Falcon 9’s upper stage is actually going to be involved in the task of helping lunar lander Beresheet on its way to the Moon, info from manufacturer and operator SpaceIL suggests that the small ~600 kg spacecraft will rely on an eccentric method of shifting orbits from around the Earth to intercept the Moon. Over the course of several months of small nudges in the right direction, Beresheet will eventually – and very gradually – oscillate on the tip of the gravitational peak between the two planetary bodies until it eventually slips down the lunar side to eventually intercept the Moon. While very slow, this optimized trajectory will be extremely efficient, allowing as much propellant as possible to be saved for the actual task of landing on the Moon.
Which rocket slipper fits?
Come launch day, the combined mass of PSN VI (Nusantara Satu), Beresheet, and unknown rideshare passenger spacecraft will most likely fall somewhere between 5500 and 6000 kg (~12,000-13,500 lbs), indicating that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 should be more than capable of placing the stack of satellites into a healthy geostationary transfer orbit before attempting to land aboard drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY).
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- Pad 39A seen after most extraneous Shuttle-era hardware had been removed, November 2018. (Tom Cross)
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- Falcon 9 B1047.2 is seen here conducting its second successful drone ship landing. (SpaceX)
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- Falcon 9 B1048 appears out of the fog prior to its second orbital-class launch. (Pauline Acalin)
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- Falcon 9 B1048.2 landed at LZ-4 after its second successful launch. (SpaceX)
The question that remains, then, is which Falcon 9 rocket will be tasked with launching the unique mission. Given that SpaceX appears to be rushing full-speed-ahead to complete the next Falcon Heavy in time for a late-February or March launch debut, it seems very unlikely that SpaceX could preserve that aggressive FH launch schedule while also preparing a separate, new Falcon 9 booster for PSN VI. If that’s the case, then the two options at hand are Falcon 9s B1047.3 and B1048.3, both of which have previously launched twice and are currently at SpaceX’s Florida facilities.
In other words, it appears that SpaceX’s first commercial launch to the Moon might lift off on a flight-proven Falcon 9 booster, an unintended but thoroughly fitting precursor to what is hopefully a future full of highly reusable rockets and interplanetary (as in between two or more planetary bodies) spaceflight.
SpaceX’s Raptor engine family has steadily increased sea-level thrust while simultaneously reducing mass, turning iterative engineering gains into substantially higher performance for the Super Heavy booster. CEO Elon Musk shed more light on how powerful Raptor 4 will be, and it’s pretty crazy.
Raptor 1 delivered 185 metric tons of thrust at roughly 2,080 kilograms, while Raptor 2 raised that to 230 tons while cutting mass to about 1,630 kilograms. SpaceX data for Raptor 3 lists a target of 280 tons at 1,525 kilograms (with further reductions in associated vehicle hardware), while operational flight ratings have been cited near 250 tons.
This morning, Elon Musk stated that Raptor 4 is expected to reach 300 tons of sea-level thrust at roughly the same mass as Raptor 3. Across these versions, thrust has risen by more than 60 percent from the first engines while engine mass has fallen, producing a sharp improvement in thrust-to-weight ratio. This is a true testament to how great SpaceX engineering has been:
🚀 Elon says Raptor 4 will make 300 tons of thrust at sea level at roughly the same mass as Raptor 3.
How far Raptor has come:
Raptor 1: 185 tf, 2,080 kg
Raptor 2: 230 tf, 1,630 kg
Raptor 3: 250 tf, 1,525 kg
Raptor 4: 300 tf33 on Super Heavy = ~9,900 tf, nearly 3x Saturn V https://t.co/HQDswZhyvL
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 26, 2026
With 33 engines on SuperHeavy, the jump from earlier versions to a 300-ton Raptor 4 would produce roughly 9,900 metric tons of total liftoff thrust, nearly three times the Saturn V’s approximately 3,400 metric tons from its five F-1 engines.
This is not just a larger number on a data sheet, either, as sea-level thrust is the force available the moment the vehicle leaves the pad. This is when it is heaviest and still deep in Earth’s gravity well and dense atmosphere.
Higher levels of sea-level thrust directly improves the initial thrust-to-weight ratio of the full stack. A higher ratio produces faster acceleration off the pad, which shortens the time the rocket has to spend fighting gravity, and gravity losses during the first minute or two of the flight are a major drain on total available delta-v. Every second shaved off of that early climb preserves more propellant energy for reaching orbital velocity or for carrying extra payload.
Because Super Heavy’s engine count is constrained by vehicle diameter and packing density, increasing thrust per engine is the most straightforward way to raise total liftoff performance without redesigning the booster structure or design.
The same-mass target for Raptor 4 is equally important. Holding engine mass roughly constant while raising thrust improves the engine’s own thrust-to-weight ratio and reduces the structural and propellant mass fraction that must be carried solely to support the engines.
Earlier Raptor iterations also simplified or eliminated extensive vehicle-side hardware such as heat shields. These gains compound: more force for less installed mass leaves additional capacity for propellant, payload, or operational margins such as engine-out capability.
For Starship’s architecture, the practical effects are large. Greater liftoff thrust supports heavier vehicles, larger propellant loads, and higher payloads to low Earth orbit, figures SpaceX has targeted in the 100-plus-ton reusable range. That capacity underpins orbital refueling, lunar missions, and eventual Mars cargo and crew flights.
Continued growth in sea-level thrust therefore tightens the gap between theoretical rocket performance and the high flight rates and reusability needed to make large-scale space transport practical.
Tesla has expanded its Tesla Assisted Driving (TAD) suite to its tenth European country, as Latvia joined a growing list of European Union member states authorizing the company’s advanced driver assistance technology.
Tesla Europe announced this morning that the system is now approved in Latvia, with a software rollout to begin soon.
The approval and rollout follow recognition of a provisional European type approval originally granted by the Netherlands’ RDW authority on April 10.
🚨 Latvia has just received approval for Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised)
This is the 10th country in the EU to gain approval:
1. Netherlands — 10 April 2026 (original RDW approval)
2. Lithuania — 20 May 2026
3. Estonia — 29 May 2026
4. Denmark — 9 June 2026
5. Belgium — 10 June 2026
6. Slovenia — 7 September 2026
7. Czechia — 21 September 2026
8. Croatia — 29 September 2026
9. Slovakia — 16 October 2026— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 26, 2026
Latvia’s Road Traffic Safety Directorate (CSDD) evaluated the Dutch documentation, coordinated with the other national authorities, and reviewed updates from Tesla. These included tightened limits on speed offsets, automatic resets of any manual speed adjustments after each trip, and stronger driver monitoring.
In Europe, the feature is marketed as Tesla Assisted Driving after a recent rule change that labeled the name “Full Self-Driving” as misleading.
The system remains an SAE Level 2 driver assistance tool, not unsupervised autonomy. It can control speed, steering, braking, lane changes, and intersections while following a navigation route. Drivers need not keep their hands on the wheel at all times, yet they must continuously monitor the road and be prepared to intervene immediately.
The sequence of EU recognitions began with the Netherlands in April and continued through Lithuania, Estonia, Denmark, Belgium, Slovenia, Czechia, Croatia, and Slovakia. Most have relied on mutual recognition of the single Dutch provisional approval rather than independent national testing.
These national clearances do not yet constitute bloc-wide authorization. An EU-wide decision requires a qualified majority in the Technical Committee on Motor Vehicles: at least 15 of 27 member states representing 65 percent of the EU population. Larger markets, like Germany, France, and Italy, remain under review, and a vote is expected this December.
However, for Latvian Tesla owners with compatible vehicles and software, the imminent rollout expands access to the supervised system while underscoring that attentive human oversight remains essential.
Tesla expanded its Robotaxi geofence in Houston, Texas, today, enlarging the service area and drawing a new rocket-shaped boundary across the city’s northwestern and central parts.
Although CEO Elon Musk said it was just a coincidence, the expansion seems to be an ode to SpaceX and its potential merger with Tesla.
🚨 Tesla has just expanded its Robotaxi geofence in Houston
It looks a lot like a rocket — we all remember the shape in Austin 🤣 https://t.co/cFOPEuiJ4u
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 26, 2026
The official Tesla Robotaxi account announced the change with the lines “Houston, we have liftoff” and “Bigger service area now live,” pairing them with a map overlay.
The prior white geofence, roughly 25 square miles covering Jersey Village, Harvest Bend, and the Willowbrook corridor along U.S. 290 and State Highway 249, now sits inside a larger blue zone that stretches southeast toward Bellair and closer to central Houston.
Houston’s Robotaxi service launched on April 18, 2026, the same day as Dallas, as Tesla’s first unsupervised public expansion beyond Austin. From the start, the vehicles were Model Ys running without anyone in the front seats, booked through the dedicated Tesla Robotaxi app and open to the public inside the geofence.
Trackers measured the initial zone at about 25 square miles; by late September it had not grown substantially. Community and registry data indicated a modest local fleet of unsupervised Model Ys, while dozens to nearly 200 Cybercabs, the purpose-built, steering-wheel-free two-seaters, have been spotted staging and testing in Houston lots, though public Cybercab rides remain limited to Austin for now.
Across the broader Robotaxi program, Tesla began public Robotaxi rides in Austin in June 2025, as a small geofence and vehicles with safety monitors became available for a ride-hailing service. Later on, Tesla removed the monitors and steadily expanded the service area until it covered most of the Austin metro area.
Unsupervised Robotaxi services now run in six cities: Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa. Cumulative driverless miles reported by the company have reached several million. The Cybercab entered public service in Austin in early September 2026 and has scaled rapidly there. The company has also said that Dallas is next for Cybercab rides in November, with further cities and 24/7 hours targeted by year-end, plus fleet-operator sales of the vehicle.
Waymo also operates a fully driverless service in Houston, which has been open to the public since August of this year.
The Houston expansion continues Tesla’s pattern of starting with tightly controlled validation zones before widening coverage as real-world data accumulates, while the rocket motif on the map underscores the company’s habit of injecting visual flair into its autonomy rollout.
Riders inside the new boundary can request unsupervised Model Y trips in the Robotaxi app; exact operating hours and further Cybercab availability remain subject to app updates and company statements.
How SpaceX Is raising Raptor’s sea-level thrust while holding engine mass steady
Tesla Assisted Driving expands to tenth EU country
