Connect with us

News

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket completes 57th operational Starlink launch

Falcon 9 booster B1063 is pictured during its third launch. (SpaceX)

Published

on

For the 57th time, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has delivered a batch of operational Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, simultaneously marking the vehicle’s 50th successful launch in 367 days.

Flying for the 7th time, Falcon 9 booster B1063 lifted off with a fresh upper stage and another batch of Starlink V1.5 satellites enclosed in a reused payload fairing at 10:40 pm PDT (05:40 UTC), Tuesday, August 30th. SpaceX’s 57th overall Starlink launch, Starlink 3-4 deployed another 46 satellites into a semi-polar sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), where they will eventually be joined by approximately 520 other spacecraft.

https://twitter.com/TomCross/status/1564866885987868672

Around nine minutes after liftoff, Falcon 9’s expendable upper stage reached a stable parking orbit and booster B1063 touched down on drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) – SpaceX’s 65th consecutively successful landing and 139th successful landing overall. Falcon 9 launched for the first time in June 2010 and completed its first landing in December 2015.

Starlink 3-4 was also SpaceX’s 148th consecutively successful Falcon 9 launch, the rocket’s 172nd successful launch overall, and the company’s 50th launch in just over a year.

Advertisement

SpaceX began filling out Starlink’s third orbital shell (Group 3) in July 2021. Four launches and seven weeks later, more than half (184) of the shell’s 348 planned satellites are already in orbit, though most of those satellites still need another month or two to reach operational altitudes. The fifth shell of SpaceX’s first Starlink constellation – populated by another 172 satellites – will eventually be assembled in an almost identical sun-synchronous orbit. Orbiting Earth at an inclination of 97.6 degrees, where 90 degrees would be a perfect polar orbit, Starlink’s SSO satellites will help fill coverage gaps all over the world, but they will be particularly optimal for serving customers at high latitudes – including the Arctic and Antarctic.

Once the constellation’s orbital laser link network is activated, Starlink will even be able to connect customers beyond the reach of the network’s ground stations by routing communications through other satellites until a station is in range. That could be a boon for ultra-remote outposts like those in Antarctica, where the brutal weather, sheer scale of the continent, and small number of residents make it hard to rationalize ground station construction. Semi-polar satellites like those SpaceX launched today will eventually enable a more economical solution.

Following Starlink 3-4, SpaceX now has more than 2900 working Starlink satellites in orbit, representing about 66% of the full 4408-satellite constellation. Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell estimates that almost 2400 – more than half of the final constellation – have reached operational orbits and are serving customers back on Earth. SpaceX began operational Starlink launches less than three years ago (November 2019). Per FCC regulations, the company was required to launch half of the constellation by March 2024 and finish launching all 4408 satellites by March 2027.

Advertisement

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.

Advertisement
Comments

News

Tesla expands Robotaxi in a way that was long anticipated

Instead, it has to do with the consumer base it offers Robotaxi to, because it has not offered it to everyone in the past.

Published

on

Credit: Grok Imagine

Tesla has expanded Robotaxi in a way that was long anticipated, and it does not have to do with a new, larger geofence in a city where it already offered its partially autonomous ride-hailing suite, or a new city altogether.

Instead, it has to do with the consumer base it offers Robotaxi to, because it has not offered it to everyone in the past.

Tesla has taken a major step forward in its autonomous ride-hailing ambitions with the official launch of the Tesla Robotaxi app for Android users. Released on the Google Play Store on April 24. Titled simply “Tesla Robotaxi,” the app is now available to download directly from Tesla.

This rollout fulfills a long-anticipated expansion that opens the service to hundreds of millions of Android smartphone users who were previously unable to access it on iOS alone.

The app delivers a streamlined, driverless ride experience powered by Tesla’s automated driving technology.

Users sign in with a Tesla Account, view the current service area map within the app, enter a destination, and receive an estimated fare and arrival time before confirming the ride. When a Model Y from the Robotaxi fleet arrives, riders confirm the license plate, enter the vehicle, fasten their seatbelt, and tap “Start Ride” on either the app or the vehicle’s touchscreen.

During the trip, passengers have access to all the same controls that iOS users do, and can adjust climate settings, seat positions, and music while tracking progress on an in-app map. The interface also allows drop-off changes or support requests if needed. After the ride, users exit, close the doors, and submit feedback.

This Android availability directly broadens the rider base for Robotaxi in its initial service areas. Unfortunately, Android users are used to being subject to delayed launches of new features available to Tesla owners.

By removing the iOS-only barrier, Tesla instantly expands the addressable market, enabling far more people to summon and use the autonomous vehicles already operating on public roads.

The move is a foundational requirement for scaling ride volume and gathering the real-world data needed to refine the unsupervised Full Self-Driving system that powers every trip.

For the Robotaxi program itself, the launch signals steady operational progress. It prepares the service for higher utilization rates as the fleet grows and supports the transition from limited early deployments to a more robust network.

Tesla expands Unsupervised Robotaxi service to two new cities

Tesla has indicated that users outside current service areas can sign up at the company’s website for future notifications, pointing to a deliberate, phased geographic rollout.

Looking ahead, the company plans to incorporate Cybercab vehicles to increase fleet capacity and efficiency while continuing to expand service territories. With the Android app now live, Tesla has removed a key adoption hurdle and positioned Robotaxi for the next phase of growth in autonomous urban transportation.

The infrastructure is now in place to support significantly larger rider demand as production and deployment accelerate.

Continue Reading

News

UPDATE: SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy that launched a Tesla into space is back on a mission

SpaceX Falcon Heavy returns after 18 months away to deliver a satellite that only it could carry.

Published

on

By

UPDATE: 10:29 a.m. et: SpaceX is standing down from today’s Falcon Heavy launch of the ViaSat-3 F3 mission due to unfavorable weather. A new target date will be shared once confirmed.

After an 18-month absence, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy is returning to mission on Monday morning when it’s scheduled to lift off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center at 10:21 a.m. EDT.

The mission is called ViaSat-3 F3, and the heavy satellite payload needs to reach geostationary orbit, sitting 22,236 miles above Earth where its speed matches the planet’s rotation. Getting a satellite that heavy to that altitude demands more thrust than a single-core Falcon 9 can deliver.

This marks the Falcon Heavy’s 12th flight overall since its debut in February 2018, and its first since NASA’s Europa Clipper mission in October 2024.

Arguably, the most exciting element for spectators will be watching the booster recoveries in action when the two side boosters, B1072 and B1075, will attempt simultaneous landings at Landing Zone 2 and the newer Landing Zone 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, while the center core will be expended over the ocean.

SpaceX wins its first MARS contract but it comes with a catch

Following satellite deployment, expected roughly five hours after launch, ViaSat-3 F3 will spend several months traveling to its final orbital slot before undergoing in-orbit testing, with service entry expected by late summer 2026

As Teslarati reported, NASA awarded SpaceX a $175.7 million contract on April 16, 2026, to launch the ESA Rosalind Franklin Mars rover aboard a Falcon Heavy no earlier than late 2028, which would mark the first time SpaceX has ever sent a payload to Mars. That contract came on top of an already deep pipeline that includes the Roman Space Telescope, the Dragonfly Saturn mission, and multiple national security payloads.

SpaceX executed 165 missions in 2025 and now accounts for approximately 85% of all global orbital launches. With Starlink surpassing 10 million subscribers and an IPO targeting a $1.75 trillion valuation still ahead, Monday’s launch is one more data point in a company that has quietly become the backbone of both commercial and government space access worldwide.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla launches solution to end Supercharger fights once and for all

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla is launching its solution to end Supercharger fights once and for all, eliminating any confusion on who is to charge next at a congested location.

Last year, a notable incident at a Tesla Supercharger led to a fight, and it all stemmed from a disagreement over who arrived at the location first.

Congestion at Tesla Superchargers is a pretty infrequent occurrence for most of us, but there are more congested and popular areas where wait times can be extensive. An unfortunate growing pain of EV ownership is the plain fact that chargers are not as available as gas pumps, and there are, at times, lines to charge.

This can cause tensions to flare and people to get entitled when visiting Superchargers. Nobody wants to spend hours at a Supercharger, but now, there will be no more confusion when there is a queue, and that’s thanks to Tesla’s new Virtual Queue for Superchargers.

Tesla is finally starting to build out the Virtual Supercharger Queue, according to Not a Tesla App, but it still relies on drivers to make it work.

When a driver is near a Supercharger that is full, a message will pop up on the Tesla App, using the driver’s location to determine their eligibility to join the virtual queue.

The app states:

“While the app is closed, Tesla uses your location to notify you of accurate wait times at Superchargers when you arrive.”

Another message within the app states:

“There is a waitlist to charge. Are you sure you want to start a charging session now?”

This sounds as if it will require drivers to act appropriately and only plug in when the app prompts them to do so, by letting them know it is their turn.

The app will notify the driver of their position in the queue, as well as how many vehicles are ahead of them.

Tesla launches first ‘true’ East Coast V4 Supercharger: here’s what that means

The company announced a while back that it would be working on a solution for this issue. Personally, I’ve only had to wait at a Supercharger for a charge on one occasion, and there was a line of between 3 and 10 cars during this singular occurrence.

There were no conflicts or arguments about who had arrived first, but there was some discussion between several drivers during my time there about who was to charge first. Throw a non-Tesla EV into the mix, one that can only charge at a pull-in spot, and that causes even more of a complication.

Continue Reading