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SpaceX nails first rocket landing by sea in half a year, sends exoplanet probe beyond the Moon
SpaceX has successfully completed the first drone ship recovery of a Falcon 9 booster in nearly six months, bringing to an end a what will likely be the final drought of by-sea rocket landings in the company’s history.
B1045’s landing was a particularly stunning example of just how far SpaceX has come. By all appearances, the recovery was easily the smoothest yet achieved by the company, with nary a hint of reentry heating visible in the near-flawless live coverage from a camera aboard the booster. Perhaps of even more interest, the landing itself appeared to be exceptionally luxurious, with the booster gently floating down to its final resting perch aboard the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You.
Falcon 9 1045 soars to the sky, the final new Block 4 flight ever. (Tom Cross)
This return-to-landing, so to speak, is SpaceX’s 24th successful Falcon booster recovery in just over three years of true recovery efforts. The last several months have featured an unfamiliar number of intentionally expendable launches, in which SpaceX chose to preclude any attempt at recovery, instead typically gently landing the boosters in the ocean to gather additional flight-test data and to explore the envelope of Falcon 9’s recovery capabilities. In all cases but one (Hispasat 30W-6), these intentionally expended boosters were older, flight-proven versions of the rocket, versions that hadn’t been designed to economically fly more than once or twice.
B1045, however, has just one flight under its belt, and is already pegged for a second launch with CRS-15, giving the booster as few as 50 days to be refurbished and prepped for its second pre-launch static fire (likely the first week of June). This would be an exceptionally fitting case of foreshadowing for SpaceX’s upcoming Block 5 iteration of Falcon 9. If a Block 4 booster can be launched, landed, and refurbished in well under two months, one can only imagine what a Falcon 9 explicitly upgraded for ease of reuse will be capable of.
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- Although SpaceX has nail multiple LZ-1 recoveries over the last six months, TESS is the first mission to feature a successful drone ship land since October 30 2017. (SpaceX)
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- B1045 soars towards OCISLY, stationed 300 km East of the Florida coast. (SpaceX)
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- Falcon 9 B1045’s picture-perfect, gentle landing aboard drone ship OCISLY, April 2018. (SpaceX)
Over the past six months, SpaceX has aggressively expanded their program of orbital rocket reuse, leaping from just three operational reflights of Falcon 9 boosters in the process’ first half-year (Mar-Oct ’17) to seven operational reflights between the following months of December and April. Today, April 18, the successful launch of NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) marks the final launch of a new Block 4 Falcon 9 booster (B1045) – although we can expect as many as three additional reflights of recovery Block 4 boosters in 2018, all new Falcon 9 boosters from here on out will be Block 5s, a final upgrade to the rocket designed to significantly optimize reliability and reusability. The first Falcon 9 Block 5 is expected to debut sometime in May, currently No Earlier Than (NET) May 4.
Impressively, despite the fairly extensive modifications and upgrades – both for reliability and reusability – included in Falcon 9 Block 5, SpaceX’s Hans Koenigsmann stated that the lengthy test campaign in Texas went well and was in fact “faster than we’ve ever had on new Block upgrades [of Falcon 9].” SpaceX themselves have not yet given a specific date for the debut of Block 5, but Hans did partially confirm recent reports that it is now targeting a debut in “early May” with the launch of Bangabandhu-1. Put simply, so long as things go more or less according to plan, 2018 will in every conceivable way usher in the real future of orbital-class reusable rockets – perhaps enabling the sort of responsive, cheap, and reliable access to space long ago promised by CEO Elon Musk.
Koenigsmann: This TESS booster is planned to fly again on the next CRS mission pending NASA approval. #SpaceX
— Michael Baylor (@MichaelBaylor_) April 15, 2018
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Science galore
TESS will dramatically increase the number of known exoplanets. It will more than double the number found by Kepler. #NASA #TESS #SpaceX #Falcon9
— Chris G (@ChrisG_SpX) April 15, 2018
Despite its diminutive size and 350 kg mass, TESS is expected to dramatically expand the number of detected exoplanets in the universe, and is tasked with surveying the remaining 95% of the sky left unscanned after Kepler’s famous mission. Ultimately, conservative estimates from astronomers expect TESS to add thousands of new exoplanets to humanity’s current catalog, with perhaps as many as 10% of those discovered likely to be Earth-sized, and thus potential candidates for the first habitable planets to be observed beyond the cozy bounds of our own Solar System.
To give a sense of just how far electronics and satellite technology have improved in the decade since the Kepler observatory was launched (2009), that 1050kg spacecraft was designed to stare specifically at one small segment of the sky (0.25%), scanning it ceaselessly for exoplanets. Despite complex technical difficulties, Kepler managed to discover nearly 1100 confirmed exoplanets, with more than 3000 additional candidates waiting to be confirmed by other spacecraft or telescopes.
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- A Falcon 9 fairing during encapsulation, when a launch payload is sealed inside the fairing’s two halves. This small satellite is NASA’s TESS, launched in April 2018. (NASA)
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- Smol TESS seen attached to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 second stage. (SpaceX)
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- Teeny, tiny TESS separates from Falcon 9’s second stage and begins its journey beyond the Moon, ahead of a productive life of science. (SpaceX)
On the other hand, the 350kg TESS, has been designed to sca the entire sky and may well double, triple, or quadruple the number of known exoplanets in the universe. Falcon 9 may undoubtedly be a bit like using a dump truck when a shovel would do, but the tiny size of the payload can be thanked for the exceptionally gentle booster recovery and the equally (relatively) easy refurbishment soon to follow.
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- (SpaceX)
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- (Tom Cross)
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- (Tom Cross)
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- Falcon 9 B1045 prepares for its first launch in mid-April. (SpaceX)
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- SpaceX engineers and technicians have begun an aggressive campaign hoping to recover and reuse fairings ASAP. (Tom Cross)
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- Falcon 9 B1045 before its first launch, carrying NASA’s TESS exoplanet observatory, in April 2018. (Tom Cross)
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SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) got an absolutely crazy price target rating from Raymond James after the company experienced a tough first few weeks following its Initial Public Offering (IPO).
Despite the tumultuous start, SpaceX has plenty of believers, and the company’s massively successful Starship launch last Friday, its 13th test flight of the massive rocket, went so smoothly that Raymond James analysts pushed its price target on the company to roughly 7 times its current trading level.
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
The firm officially put a “Strong Buy” rating and an $800 price target on the stock. It currently trades at around $113. Its all-time high is $225.64, reaching this trading level shortly after shares first went public.
Raymond James’ price target is tied to the firm’s confidence after Starship’s 13th test flight. Analysts at the firm said it was an incremental step that reduces engineering risks, citing the widely successful heat shield test that CEO Elon Musk recently detailed, the smooth deployment of Starlink V3 satellites, and a successful in-space engine relight.
SpaceX also managed to see Starship splash down safely in the Indian Ocean, while the Super Heavy Booster fell down to the Gulf of America with no incidents.
It is interesting to see these launches have such a tremendous impact on the stock and what investors think of it. After SpaceX initially delayed the Starship launch last week, shares fell tremendously. Most probably did not realize that the stand-down is a standard practice, especially if everything is not perfect.
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The mission was initially aborted due to an issue with Raptor engines. This was resolved, and Starship launched last Friday after another delay on Thursday, which was caused by weather.
Now that analysts have seen what SpaceX launches are capable of and how impressive the feat is, firms are adjusting their price targets accordingly, making it known that they have high expectations for the space exploration company.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has responded to reports that Volvo is officially discontinuing the LiDAR sensor on two of its cars.
Volvo announced that it would officially scrap LiDAR systems on its EX90 and ES90 vehicles in various markets. In Norway, owners will get a €1,800 compensation for features that will never arrive due to this decision. There will be no option to remove the unit from vehicles, either.
The issue stems from Volvo’s supplier, Luminar, and its bankruptcy filing. Luminar will no longer be able to supply LiDAR units to Volvo for the EX90 and ES90, effectively axing any use the unit has on vehicles. Volvo will phase out the data collection processes via the LiDAR system, and it will not be utilized whatsoever.
Musk saw the story on X and responded, stating:
“I did try to warn them. Humans drive using neural nets and optical sensors. Same is true for robot cars.”
I did try to warn them.
Humans drive using neural nets and optical sensors. Same is true for robot cars.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2026
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Musk has been publicly vocal about his disdain for LiDAR systems, once calling them “a fool’s errand,” as he has consistently kept the outlook that they are not needed for effective self-driving.
The typical example used as evidence for this by Musk is humans themselves: made with only eyes and memories, humans are capable of navigating a car by using what they can see and what they’ve personally experienced on the road.
Elon Musk argues lidar and radar make self driving cars more dangerous
“Same is true for robot cars,” Musk says, as Teslas have eight exterior cameras that help see everything surrounding the vehicle, and a neural network that analyzes behavior and tendencies with every mile driven.
Tesla is a vision-only self-driving company that ditched sensors and radar several years ago in favor of cameras. Behind this effort, the company has established a reputation for having one of the most robust self-driving platforms in the world.
Musk’s big bet with Tesla on its self-driving program’s strategy has widely paid off. Other companies continue to utilize things like LiDAR, radar, and sensors for effective self-driving, but Tesla has shown that there is more than one way to give consumers a strong and accurate driver assistance suite.
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The real question is: who will be the first company to take Musk’s advice and attempt a self-driving platform based on cameras only, or even license FSD for themselves?
Tesla has started to deploy the 2026 Summer Update to owners across its fleet, and among the biggest changes are improvements to Navigation, a new startup animation for the Model 3 and Model Y, Caraoke scoring, and new capabilities for Grok.
As the update has started making its way to some cars, we can now see a few of the features operating in real-time. We will show you what some of the new features look like in this article, along with some additional details on what changed.
Not all of the new features in the 2026 Summer Update have quite made an appearance, but some of them have, so we’ll show those here:
New Animation Screen for 3/Y
Tesla is rolling out a new startup animation for Tesla Model 3 and Model Y owners. This is present in Launch Edition and Performance Model 3 and Model Y, but other trim levels do not have anything like this.
The new animation screen on Model 3/Y with the 2026 Summer Update
Apparently color will also be customizable: pic.twitter.com/wSdwggtG3S
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 27, 2026
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Owners can adjust the color associated with the startup animation to suit their preferences. It is a surprise that more automakers do not focus on this animation for their vehicles; it can be a great first impression piece and make the car immediately feel more luxurious.
Tesla has included this on more premium trims, but it is nice to see it on the Model 3 and Model Y.
Grok Improvements
Grok can now adjust more things in the car outside of the Navigation system. Now, drivers can adjust anything from climate to driving settings by simply speaking to the AI assistant in the car:
@Tesla‘s AI assistant (Grok) with its new vehicle commands in action.
Set the climate, your destination and vehicle settings all in one go! pic.twitter.com/0bBTqaAk6G
— Not a Tesla App (@NotATeslaApp) July 28, 2026
You don’t even have to push a button, either. Instead, you can just say “Hey, Grok,” if you have it enabled. That feature rolled out with the 2026 Spring Update just a few months back.
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This is a great feature, especially pertinent for the Robotaxi platform, as there will be no buttons inside the Cybercab when it eventually starts giving rides to the public. It also broadens Grok’s capabilities, which were relatively limited in terms of vehicle setting adjustments beforehand.
SpaceX gets an absolutely crazy price target after rough IPO
Elon Musk responds to Volvo’s latest LiDAR decision
