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No SpaceX Falcon Heavy payload is safe as NASA Psyche mission announces delay
SpaceX’s first dedicated Falcon Heavy launch for NASA has been hit by a seven-week delay after spacecraft engineers discovered a software anomaly during preflight processing.
Named after the exotic metallic asteroid it’s designed to explore, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft completed its journey from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center launch facilities in late April. To this day, it’s the first and only Falcon Heavy payload to actually reach Kennedy Space Center since mid-2019. At the time of its arrival, it was somewhat unclear when Falcon Heavy would finally end its three-year launch hiatus or what payload(s) would be atop the rocket for the event.
Three weeks later, both things are still unclear, but now for different reasons.
On May 23rd, Spaceflight Now reported that it had received a written statement from NASA confirming that Psyche’s launch had been delayed from August 1st, 2022 to no earlier than (NET) September 20th “after ground teams discovered an issue during software testing on the spacecraft.” After the spacecraft’s arrival at a Kennedy Space Center payload processing facility, teams have spent the last few weeks combing over Psyche and making sure that it survived the journey without issue. At an unknown point, engineers would have needed to power on the spacecraft’s computers to perform extensive diagnostic tests. It’s also possible that a late build of Psyche’s flight software was being analyzed externally before final installation.
Either way, something went wrong. For the moment, all NASA is willing to say is that “an issue is preventing confirmation that the software controlling the spacecraft is functioning as planned.” Although it does seem to center around software, such a vague statement fails to rule out the possibility of a hardware problem, which could help to better explain why NASA and the spacecraft team rapidly chose to delay Psyche’s launch by more than seven weeks.
For unknown reasons, virtually every near-term Falcon Heavy payload has slipped significantly from its original launch target. Within the last few weeks, USSF-44 – meant to launch as early as June 2022 after years of delays – was “delayed indefinitely.” Delayed from Q3 2020, USSF-52 is now scheduled to launch in October 2022. ViaSat-3, once meant to launch on Falcon Heavy in 2020, is now NET September 2022. Jupiter-3, a record-breaking communications satellite that wasn’t actually confirmed to be a Falcon Heavy launch contract until a few weeks ago, recently slipped from 2021 and 2022 to early 2023.
Only USSF-67, which hasn’t had its official launch target updated in more than a year, is reportedly still on track to launch somewhere within its original launch window (H2 2022). If it actually does launch without delay on a Falcon Heavy rocket in November 2022, it will be quite the outlier. Meanwhile, Psyche’s September 20th delay means that it could now conflict with Falcon Heavy’s ViaSat-3 mission, which must use the same launch pad. More likely than not, ViaSat-3 was already likely to slip into Q4, but the situation exemplifies how agonizing scheduling launches for almost half a dozen chronically-delayed payloads must be for SpaceX.
Meanwhile, SpaceX must also store and maintain nine different Falcon Heavy boosters as they are forced to continue waiting for their long-assigned missions. SpaceX’s entire fleet of operational Falcon 9s – including one Falcon Heavy booster temporarily serving as a Falcon 9 – contains 12 boosters, meaning that more than 40% of all Falcon boosters are currently dead weight.
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Tesla’s Sweden standoff draws UAW support as unions widen pressure campaign
In a post shared on social media, the United Auto Workers stated that it stands with IF Metall workers who are striking against Tesla Sweden.
The United Auto Workers (UAW) has publicly expressed solidarity with Swedish union IF Metall as its strike against Tesla continues, adding international attention to the extended labor dispute in the European country.
UAW supports IF Metall’s strike
In a post shared on social media, the United Auto Workers stated that it stands with IF Metall workers who are striking against Tesla Sweden. UAW Region 8 Director Tim Smith stated that the union fully supports IF Metall’s efforts to secure a collective bargaining agreement with the automaker.
“UAW stands with IF Metall workers on strike against Tesla, fighting for a collective bargaining agreement. UAW Region 8 Director Tim Smith pledged the UAW’s full support and solidarity,” the UAW International Union stated in its post.
IF Metall launched its strike against Tesla Sweden in late 2023 over the electric car maker’s refusal to sign a collective agreement. The action has since been supported by other unions through sympathy strikes affecting ports, logistics, and service operations.
Tesla Sweden has maintained that it complies with Swedish labor laws and offers competitive pay and benefits, though the company has not publicly commented on the UAW’s latest show of support.
Tesla owners get union attention
Pro-union groups in Sweden have recently expanded their outreach beyond Tesla’s facilities and workforce. Activists have begun distributing informational leaflets against the EV maker directly on Tesla vehicles parked across Stockholm, as per a report from Swedish outlet Dagens Arbete.
The yellow slips, designed to resemble parking notices, urge regular Tesla owners to pressure the company into signing a collective agreement. Organizers involved in the effort have argued that the leaflets are intended to simply inform consumers rather than single out individual owners. When owners are present, however, activists stated that they explain the dispute verbally.
Tesla has not issued a public response regarding the leaflet distribution campaign as of writing.
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Starlink goes mainstream with first-ever SpaceX Super Bowl advertisement
SpaceX used the Super Bowl broadcast to promote Starlink, pitching the service as fast, affordable broadband available across much of the world.
SpaceX aired its first-ever Super Bowl commercial on Sunday, marking a rare move into mass-market advertising as it seeks to broaden adoption of its Starlink satellite internet service.
Starlink Super Bowl advertisement
SpaceX used the Super Bowl broadcast to promote Starlink, pitching the service as fast, affordable broadband available across much of the world.
The advertisement highlighted Starlink’s global coverage and emphasized simplified customer onboarding, stating that users can sign up for service in minutes through the company’s website or by phone in the United States.
The campaign comes as SpaceX accelerates Starlink’s commercial expansion. The satellite internet service grew its global user base in 2025 to over 9 million subscribers and entered several dozen additional markets, as per company statements.
Starlink growth and momentum
Starlink has seen notable success in numerous regions across the globe. Brazil, in particular, has become one of Starlink’s largest growth regions, recently surpassing one million users, as per Ookla data. The company has also expanded beyond residential broadband into aviation connectivity and its emerging direct-to-cellular service.
Starlink has recently offered aggressive promotions in select regions, including discounted or free hardware, waived installation fees, and reduced monthly pricing. Some regions even include free Starlink Mini for select subscribers. In parallel, SpaceX has introduced AI-driven tools to streamline customer sign-ups and service selection.
The Super Bowl appearance hints at a notable shift for Starlink, which previously relied largely on organic growth and enterprise contracts. The ad suggests SpaceX is positioning Starlink as a mainstream alternative to traditional broadband providers.
Tesla engineers deflected calls from Apple on a daily basis while the tech giant was developing its now-defunct electric vehicle program, which was known as “Project Titan.”
Back in 2022 and 2023, Apple was developing an EV in a top-secret internal fashion, hoping to launch it by 2028 with a fully autonomous driving suite.
However, Apple bailed on the project in early 2024, as Project Titan abandoned the project in an email to over 2,000 employees. The company had backtracked its expectations for the vehicle on several occasions, initially hoping to launch it with no human driving controls and only with an autonomous driving suite.
Apple canceling its EV has drawn a wide array of reactions across tech
It then planned for a 2028 launch with “limited autonomous driving.” But it seemed to be a bit of a concession at that point; Apple was not prepared to take on industry giants like Tesla.
Wedbush’s Dan Ives noted in a communication to investors that, “The writing was on the wall for Apple with a much different EV landscape forming that would have made this an uphill battle. Most of these Project Titan engineers are now all focused on AI at Apple, which is the right move.”
Apple did all it could to develop a competitive EV that would attract car buyers, including attempting to poach top talent from Tesla.
In a new podcast interview with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, it was revealed that Apple had been calling Tesla engineers nonstop during its development of the now-defunct project. Musk said the engineers “just unplugged their phones.”
Musk said in full:
“They were carpet bombing Tesla with recruiting calls. Engineers just unplugged their phones. Their opening offer without any interview would be double the compensation at Tesla.”
Interestingly, Apple had acquired some ex-Tesla employees for its project, like Senior Director of Engineering Dr. Michael Schwekutsch, who eventually left for Archer Aviation.
Tesla took no legal action against Apple for attempting to poach its employees, as it has with other companies. It came after EV rival Rivian in mid-2020, after stating an “alarming pattern” of poaching employees was noticed.
Tesla’s Sweden standoff draws UAW support as unions widen pressure campaign
Starlink goes mainstream with first-ever SpaceX Super Bowl advertisement
