News
SpaceX Falcon 9 sends 15 Starlink satellites to join growing constellation
The thick fog didn’t stop the Falcon 9 from launching 15 V2 mini Starlink satellites last night from California.
The Falcon 9 lifted off at 9:57 p.m. PT (03:57 UTC) from a very foggy Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. These 15 satellites form the Group 6-20 portion of the Starlink constellation.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/k2CT9p8HQT
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 8, 2023
After launching to the Southeast and putting on a show for Southern California, the Falcon 9 first and second stages separated, and while the first stage made its way back through the atmosphere, the second stage performed a dog-leg maneuver that brought it over the Baja Peninsula, Mexico and the proper trajectory for a 43-degree orbital inclination.
It seems, for now, that SpaceX is only comfortable with launching 15 V2 mini Starlinks at a time from California, possibly due to extra performance needed, and still maintain the ability to recover the Falcon 9 first stage as we know they can fit at least 22 of the satellites into the fairing as they do for launches from Florida.
The addition of these 15 satellites to the Starlink Constellation brings the total number launched to 4,918. It will take some time for these 15 to get to their operational orbits as they undergo checkouts. One advantage of the low Earth orbit they are inserted into is if any issues are found, SpaceX is able to safely deorbit them and not create space junk.
As for the first stage on this mission, Booster 1075, it performed its 5th mission, 4 of which have been Starlink missions and the other being the Transport and Tracking Layer (Tranche 0, Flight 1). The first stage successfully landed on the droneship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ about nine and a half minutes after the lift-off.
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship pic.twitter.com/fN8mYlWuev
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 8, 2023
The fairings for this mission were both flying for the 6th time and will attempt to be recovered by Go Beyond, SpaceX’s West Coast fairing recovery ship.
This mission marked the 54th mission of the year for SpaceX and is the 215th overall landing of an orbital class rocket between the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy
Up next for SpaceX is yet again another Starlink launch! A Falcon 9 will launch up to 22 V2 mini Starlinks from Florida no earlier than Thursday evening, pending confirmation from SpaceX.
Questions or comments? Shoot me an email at rangle@teslarati.com, or Tweet me @RDAnglePhoto.
News
Ford considers drastic move with F-150 Lightning: ‘The demand is just not there’
Ford is considering a drastic move with its F-150 Lightning, which was the best-selling EV pickup on the market last quarter, beating out Tesla’s Cybertruck.
Ford has had a tumultuous entrance into its more expanded electric vehicle strategy over the past several years. At one point, the company was widely considered to be the most invested legacy automaker in the transition to electrification, but as the company has seen some real backtracking in terms of its sales and demand, it is cooling down its commitment.
At the end of Q3, it seemed to already be considering making some moves to cool off its EV ambitions, especially as the $7,500 EV tax credit was removed and it appeared that consumers would be less attracted to its vehicles without this sizeable discount.
Now, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, Ford is considering scrapping the F-150 Lightning altogether, as one employee said “the demand is just not there.”
Despite it being the best-selling EV pickup in the U.S. last quarter, the sales simply do not match up with the pricing, and financially, it is not the time to try to dive further into a project that is not making a profit. Ford has been dwindling in its commitment to EVs over the past several quarters, and its profits are reflecting a slowing interest in its electric vehicles.
Simply put, Ford’s combustion engine lineup of pickups in the F-Series is, by far, the best-selling division of trucks globally. Ford brought an awesome product forth with the Lightning, a mirror of the gas-powered F-Series that had a variety of trim levels for whatever the truck would be used for by the consumer.
However, the demand and sales have caused Ford to take a loss on its electric truck: figures from early last year indicated it was losing between $100,000 and $132,000 per vehicle.
It is not an official announcement, as Ford has not publicly said anything regarding its plans for the Lightning at this time.
Elon Musk
Tesla schedules Roadster unveiling event, and you won’t believe when it is
Tesla has tentatively scheduled its unveiling event for the Roadster’s next-generation iteration, and you will not believe the date the company picked for it.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during the 2025 Annual Shareholders Meeting that the company is aiming for an April 1 demo event.
Yes, April Fools’ Day.
🚨 Tesla’s unveiling event for the Roadster Gen 2 is scheduled for April 1, 2026.
Yes, April Fools’ Day. pic.twitter.com/sw09GUYFPV
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 6, 2025
Tesla originally aimed for its “most epic demo” to take place at the end of this year. However, the writing on the wall as 2025 winds down seemed to indicate the company was not quite ready to show off everything it plans to implement into the Roadster.
Its capabilities have been teased quite heavily throughout most of the year, but the biggest hints came last week when Musk appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast.
He said:
“Whether it’s good or bad, it will be unforgettable. My friend Peter Thiel once reflected that the future was supposed to have flying cars, but we don’t have flying cars. I think if Peter wants a flying car, he should be able to buy one…I think it has a shot at being the most memorable product unveil ever. [It will be unveiled] hopefully before the end of the year. You know, we need to make sure that it works. This is some crazy technology in this car. Let’s just put it this way: if you took all the James Bond cars and combined them, it’s crazier than that.”
The Roadster has been somewhat of a letdown, at least in its newest version, thus far. Tesla has routinely delayed the project, putting those who put lofty down payments on the car in a weird limbo, lost at what to do.
One notable pre-orderer cancelled his reservation last week and got in a spat with Musk about it.
Now that there is a definitive date for the Roadster unveiling, Musk and Co. should have a more definitive cutoff date for features and capabilities. Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen said earlier this year that when they showed Musk what they had done with the Roadster, the CEO encouraged them to do even more with it.
This delayed things further.
Musk also said he believes production would begin between 12 and 18 months after the unveiling, putting it out sometime in 2027.
Elon Musk
Tesla (TSLA) shareholders officially approve Elon Musk’s 2025 performance award
To earn his landmark pay package, Musk would be required to lift Tesla’s market capitalization from about $1.1 trillion today to $8.5 trillion over the next decade.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk has officially approved his 2025 Performance Award, a landmark pay package that could make him the world’s first trillionaire and make Tesla the most valuable company in the world by a mile.
The 2025 CEO Performance Award was officially approved by Tesla shareholders at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting.
Elon Musk‘s landmark pay package
As per Tesla, more than 75% of the shareholders approved Elon Musk’s 2025 CEO Performance Award. It was then unsurprising that the approval of Elon Musk’s pay plan received overwhelming applause from the event’s attendees.
The CEO took to the stage with much enthusiasm, welcoming every shareholder to the event and dancing briefly on stage. Optimus also danced on stage smoothly, demonstrating its improved movements to much appause.
Elon Musk’s 10-year targets
To earn his 2025 CEO Performance Award, Musk would be required to grow Tesla’s market capitalization from about $1.1 trillion today to $8.5 trillion over the next decade. At that level, Tesla would surpass every major public company in existence. The compensation plan also requires Tesla’s operating profit to grow from $17 billion last year to $400 billion annually.
Apart from leading Tesla to become the world’s biggest company in history, Musk is also required to hit several product targets for the electric vehicle maker. These include the delivery of 20 million Tesla vehicles cumulatively, 10 million active FSD subscriptions, 1 million Tesla bots delivered, and 1 million Robotaxis in operation.
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