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SpaceX to launch ninth batch of Iridium NEXT satellites
Iridium Communications has chosen SpaceX to launch one last batch of its NEXT communications satellites, rounding out the constellation with up to five more on-orbit spares.
The company says that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch those satellites as part of a rideshare mission that is scheduled to lift off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) no earlier than mid-2023.
Iridium and SpaceX have had a close relationship for as long as Falcon 9 has been flying. In 2010, days after Falcon 9’s first successful launch, the company – led by CEO Matt Desch – awarded SpaceX a head-turning contract worth almost $500 million for the launch of the entire Iridium NEXT constellation. SpaceX kicked off Iridium NEXT launches in early 2017, returning to flight after a Falcon 9 rocket exploded on the launch pad just four months prior.
Less than two years later, SpaceX had completed eight Falcon 9 launches for Iridum and successfully deployed the full 75-satellite NEXT constellation (up from initial plans for 72 satellites) in polar orbit. Now, after what will be a four-and-a-half-year hiatus of joint activities, Iridium wants SpaceX to launch up to five of the six remaining NEXT spares, meaning that Falcon 9 will likely be responsible for launching all but one satellite of the constellation.
When SpaceX completed its eighth and (at the time) final Iridium launch in January 2019, the communications provider was left with nine NEXT satellite spares in orbit and six spares on the ground – all ready to take over (or be launched) in the event of an anomaly. Built by Thales Alenia Space, those satellites – built and launched for approximately $2.9 billion – have proven exceptionally reliable. Close to six years after the first launch, none of the 75 satellites currently in orbit have failed.
Iridium isn’t launching the six remaining ground spares because it needs them, in other words. On top of nixing the cost of storing satellites for years, Iridium’s CEO says that launching those spares now will “make [the NEXT] network even more resilient.” Prior to the September 8th announcement, Iridium’s Q2 2022 earnings report revealed a $35 million contract to launch five of the six remaining NEXT spares – almost certainly referring to its ninth SpaceX launch. Accounting for inflation, Iridium paid SpaceX approximately $8.9 million in 2022 dollars for each of the first 75 NEXT satellites it launched. For its ninth SpaceX launch, Iridium will pay $7 million – 21% less.
In 2020, Iridium signed a nonbinding agreement with startup Relativity Space to potentially launch all six spares on its 3D-printed Terran 1 rocket. Two years later, it appears that Iridium has mostly changed its mind, and no longer wants to worry about launching its NEXT spares “on an as-needed basis.” With a list price of $12 million, Terran 1 would only be able to launch one 860-kilogram (1900 lb) Iridium NEXT satellite at a time, translating to at least $72 million for all six. As is common for new launch vehicles, Terran 1 has also run into many delays, although Relativity says it could debut as soon as October 2022. It’s possible that Terran 1 could still launch the last Iridium NEXT ground spare, but statements published on Twitter by CEO Matt Desch do not inspire confidence.
Ultimately, Iridium seems to have elected to launch most or all of the remaining spares at once, simultaneously saving tens of millions of dollars and adding additional resiliency to its communications services.
Tesla Robotaxi ride-hailing without a Safety Monitor is proving to be a difficult task, according to some riders who made the journey to Austin to attempt to ride in one of its vehicles that has zero supervision.
Last week, Tesla officially removed Safety Monitors from some — not all — of its Robotaxi vehicles in Austin, Texas, answering skeptics who said the vehicles still needed supervision to operate safely and efficiently.
BREAKING: Tesla launches public Robotaxi rides in Austin with no Safety Monitor
Tesla aimed to remove Safety Monitors before the end of 2025, and it did, but only to company employees. It made the move last week to open the rides to the public, just a couple of weeks late to its original goal, but the accomplishment was impressive, nonetheless.
However, the small number of Robotaxis that are operating without Safety Monitors has proven difficult to hail for a ride. David Moss, who has gained notoriety recently as the person who has traveled over 10,000 miles in his Tesla on Full Self-Driving v14 without any interventions, made it to Austin last week.
He has tried to get a ride in a Safety Monitor-less Robotaxi for the better part of four days, and after 38 attempts, he still has yet to grab one:
Wow just wow!
It’s 8:30PM, 29° out ice storm hailing & Tesla Robotaxi service has turned back on!
Waymo is offline & vast majority of humans are home in the storm
Ride 38 was still supervised but by far most impressive yet pic.twitter.com/1aUnJkcYm8
— David Moss (@DavidMoss) January 25, 2026
Tesla said last week that it was rolling out a controlled test of the Safety Monitor-less Robotaxis. Ashok Elluswamy, who heads the AI program at Tesla, confirmed that the company was “starting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader Robotaxi fleet with Safety Monitors,” and that “the ratio will increase over time.”
This is a good strategy that prioritizes safety and keeps the company’s controlled rollout at the forefront of the Robotaxi rollout.
However, it will be interesting to see how quickly the company can scale these completely monitor-less rides. It has proven to be extremely difficult to get one, but that is understandable considering only a handful of the cars in the entire Austin fleet are operating with no supervision within the vehicle.
Tesla has given its biggest hint that Full Self-Driving in Europe is imminent, as a new feature seems to show that the company is preparing for frequent border crossings.
Tesla owner and influencer BLKMDL3, also known as Zack, recently took his Tesla to the border of California and Mexico at Tijuana, and at the international crossing, Full Self-Driving showed an interesting message: “Upcoming country border — FSD (Supervised) will become unavailable.”
FSD now shows a new message when approaching an international border crossing.
Stayed engaged the whole way as we crossed the border and worked great in Mexico! pic.twitter.com/bDzyLnyq0g
— Zack (@BLKMDL3) January 26, 2026
Due to regulatory approvals, once a Tesla operating on Full Self-Driving enters a new country, it is required to comply with the laws and regulations that are applicable to that territory. Even if legal, it seems Tesla will shut off FSD temporarily, confirming it is in a location where operation is approved.
This is something that will be extremely important in Europe, as crossing borders there is like crossing states in the U.S.; it’s pretty frequent compared to life in America, Canada, and Mexico.
Tesla has been working to get FSD approved in Europe for several years, and it has been getting close to being able to offer it to owners on the continent. However, it is still working through a lot of the red tape that is necessary for European regulators to approve use of the system on their continent.
This feature seems to be one that would be extremely useful in Europe, considering the fact that crossing borders into other countries is much more frequent than here in the U.S., and would cater to an area where approvals would differ.
Tesla has been testing FSD in Spain, France, England, and other European countries, and plans to continue expanding this effort. European owners have been fighting for a very long time to utilize the functionality, but the red tape has been the biggest bottleneck in the process.
Tesla Europe builds momentum with expanding FSD demos and regional launches
Tesla operates Full Self-Driving in the United States, China, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.
Elon Musk
SpaceX Starship V3 gets launch date update from Elon Musk
The first flight of Starship Version 3 and its new Raptor V3 engines could happen as early as March.
Elon Musk has announced that SpaceX’s next Starship launch, Flight 12, is expected in about six weeks. This suggests that the first flight of Starship Version 3 and its new Raptor V3 engines could happen as early as March.
In a post on X, Elon Musk stated that the next Starship launch is in six weeks. He accompanied his announcement with a photo that seemed to have been taken when Starship’s upper stage was just about to separate from the Super Heavy Booster. Musk did not state whether SpaceX will attempt to catch the Super Heavy Booster during the upcoming flight.
The upcoming flight will mark the debut of Starship V3. The upgraded design includes the new Raptor V3 engine, which is expected to have nearly twice the thrust of the original Raptor 1, at a fraction of the cost and with significantly reduced weight. The Starship V3 platform is also expected to be optimized for manufacturability.
The Starship V3 Flight 12 launch timeline comes as SpaceX pursues an aggressive development cadence for the fully reusable launch system. Previous iterations of Starship have racked up a mixed but notable string of test flights, including multiple integrated flight tests in 2025.
Interestingly enough, SpaceX has teased an aggressive timeframe for Starship V3’s first flight. Way back in late November, SpaceX noted on X that it will be aiming to launch Starship V3’s maiden flight in the first quarter of 2026. This was despite setbacks like a structural anomaly on the first V3 booster during ground testing.
“Starship’s twelfth flight test remains targeted for the first quarter of 2026,” the company wrote in its post on X.
Tesla Robotaxi ride-hailing without a Safety Monitor proves to be difficult
Tesla gives its biggest hint that Full Self-Driving in Europe is imminent
