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[Update: old photo, not hardware for a new Falcon Heavy] SpaceX’s next Falcon Heavy launch gets closer to reality
Update: The photo of a Falcon Heavy nosecone posted on Instagram on August 30th was actually more than 12 months old, dating back to early preparations for the rocket’s inaugural February 2018 launch. As such, no new hardware has actually been spied arriving in Florida for Falcon Heavy’s second launch, likely sometime in early 2019.
SpaceX’s second-ever Falcon Heavy rocket appears to be entering into the (very) early stages of hardware preparation and integration in anticipation of its second launch, expected to occur as early as December 2018 or January 2019.
The apparent arrival of one of the new rocket’s side booster nosecones at Kennedy Space Center – captured by local NASA engineer Hampton Black (Instagram: @spacecoast_hampton) – is a strong indicator that SpaceX is already gearing up for the production and launch of the next serial Falcon Heavy, this time composed entirely of upgraded Block 5 boosters.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnGz9UiHbNl/?taken-by=spacecoast_hampton
Of note, the individual transport of a Falcon Heavy nosecone to Kennedy Space Center bucks the trend observed during the transport of the first rocket’s two side boosters, both of which were shipped to Florida with nosecones already installed. Why might SpaceX be shipping a new Falcon Heavy nosecone to Florida separately, rather than atop a Falcon booster? The most obvious explanation happens to be that SpaceX is planning on reusing a flight-proven Falcon 9 Block 5 booster for Falcon Heavy’s next launch, perhaps even a booster already residing in Florida (B1047, B1049, and potentially B1051).
This should come as no surprise at all, given the inherent disruption any dedicated Falcon Heavy booster production – 3X the effort for one launch – would have on single-booster Falcon 9 manufacturing. Thanks to the extraordinary loads placed on FH center boosters, those will likely need to have a separate design dedicated to Falcon Heavy, but statements from CEO Elon Musk after the rocket’s successful February 2018 debut indicate that Falcon 9 Block 5 boosters will be interchangeable as side booster with minimal rework.
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- Falcon Heavy’s refurbished side core, spotted 8/21/17 in Louisiana by an observant fan. (reddit /u/neauxgeaux)
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- One of Falcon Heavy’s side boosters seen arriving at LC-39A about a month ago. (Reddit /u/MajorRocketScience)
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- A Falcon Heavy side booster and its nosecone. (Tom Cross)
Inter-booster connection hardware will certainly need to be installed on the outside of any Falcon Heavy-focused Falcon 9 booster, but the only other major hardware modification apparently needed would be the replacement of a booster’s Falcon 9 interstage (wrapped in a black heat-resistant material on Block 5 vehicles) with a Falcon Heavy nosecone.
This is likely why a lone nosecone has been transported to the Cape – it might seem rather premature with Falcon Heavy’s next launch potentially five or more months away, but it’s likely that SpaceX integration engineers and technicians want to physically verify that new procedures work as expect and that the new hardware fit meets SpaceX’s tolerances. Normally, the vast majority of that final integration and verification work would be conducted in situ at the company’s Hawthorne factory, where the Falcon 9 or Heavy booster simply would not ship to McGregor or a launch pad until everything checked out as expected.
It’s entirely possible that this very booster – Falcon 9 B1046 – could be modified for duty as a Falcon Heavy side booster in the near future. August 2018. (Tom Cross)
Rather than shipping a flight-proven Block 5 booster back to Hawthorne or McGregor, SpaceX might instead be able to much more easily ship just the components that need to be swapped out in order to modify a Falcon 9 booster for Falcon Heavy side core duties. If that can, in fact, be done, it should serve to dramatically lower the previously massive work-hour gaps between Falcon Heavy and Falcon 9 launches, potentially making Heavy a much more viable and workhorse-esque rocket for SpaceX and the company’s present and prospective customers.
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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
