News
SpaceX Falcon Heavy side booster arrives at Texas test facilities
NASASpaceflight.com reports that the first new booster for SpaceX’s next Falcon Heavy launch has arrived at the company’s McGregor, Texas test facilities.
The canonical sign that SpaceX is rapidly progressing towards its next Falcon Heavy launch, the mission – set to carry the US military’s US Space Force 44 (USSF-44) satellite(s) directly to geostationary orbit (GEO) – requires all new boosters. For SpaceX, barring a major surprise in the next five months, USSF-44 will be the first operational direct-to-GEO launch in the company’s history – a milestone years and multiple test flights in the making.
US military officials have begun to at least vaguely support the idea of flying payloads on flight-proven SpaceX rockets but it looks to be a long uphill battle ahead of the company. It took almost half a decade and four-dozen successful booster landings for the US Air Force to even allow SpaceX to attempt to land a Falcon 9 booster after an operational military launch. As a result, the company will likely be building new rockets for its military launches for the indefinite future – Falcon Heavy and its three boosters included.
The photo at the top of this article shows a largely identical Falcon Heavy Block 5 side booster – either B1052 or B1053 – during a late-2018 static fire acceptance test campaign in McGregor, Texas.
Based on NASASpaceflight.com’s aerial photos of the latest rocket to arrive in McGregor, Texas, one would assume that SpaceX was simply testing a new Falcon 9 first stage. Notably, the booster appears to have a Falcon 9 interstage installed, whereas Falcon Heavy side boosters have historically been tested with nosecones installed. However, by analyzing the layout of decals visible on its exterior, author Thomas Burghardt discovered that the booster – believed to be B1064 – is likely the first of two new Falcon Heavy side boosters needed for USSF-44.
For unknown reasons, SpaceX has outfitted, transported, and prepared B1064 for acceptance testing with a years-old interstage installed, effectively making it a Falcon Heavy side booster in Falcon 9 clothing (sans nosecone).
In its current configuration, the process of manufacturing three new Falcon Heavy boosters at SpaceX’s Hawthorne, CA factory takes at least half a year from the start of tank welding to shipment. After each booster is completed, it must ship to McGregor, Texas for at least 4-6 weeks to undergo acceptance tests, including at least one wet dress rehearsal (WDR) and static fire. In other words, if the first of three new Falcon Heavy Block 5 boosters has just arrived in McGregor, SpaceX likely has two or three months of work to go before the entire USSF-44 rocket is on site at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.
Just two weeks ago, a US military official revealed that SpaceX’s USSF-44 Falcon Heavy launch date had slipped from late-2020 (likely November or December) to no earlier than (NET) February 28th, 2021. The cause of the delay is unknown but either way, it should give SpaceX two full months to process Falcon Heavy Flight 4 hardware in Florida (or several weeks of margin wherever needed). After USSF-44, SpaceX’s next Falcon Heavy launch – USSF-52; also expected to fly on all-new boosters – was scheduled to launch NET “early 2021” before the preceding mission’s delay was announced. To achieve that schedule, SpaceX will likely be building and testing new Falcon Heavy boosters – and Falcon Heavy boosters only – from mid-2020 to at least Q1 2021.
On the plus side, as NASASpaceflight.com noted, if SpaceX manages to recover all USSF-44 and USSF-52 boosters, it will quickly find itself with a fleet of six side boosters and two center cores.
Check out Teslarati’s Marketplace! We offer Tesla accessories, including for the Tesla Cybertruck and Tesla Model 3.
Elon Musk
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has ordered the closure of an investigation involving Elon Musk and social media platform X. The inquiry had been pending for about two years and examined whether the platform was used to coordinate attacks against members of the judiciary.
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
According to a report from Agencia Brasil, the investigation conducted by the Federal Police did not find evidence that X deliberately attempted to attack the judiciary or circumvent court orders.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet concluded that the irregularities identified during the probe did not indicate fraudulent intent.
Justice Moraes accepted the prosecutor’s recommendation and ruled that the investigation should be closed. Under the ruling, the case will remain closed unless new evidence emerges.
The inquiry stemmed from concerns that content on X may have enabled online attacks against Supreme Court justices or violated rulings requiring the suspension of certain accounts under investigation.
Justice Moraes had previously taken several enforcement actions related to the platform during the broader dispute involving social media regulation in Brazil.
These included ordering a nationwide block of the platform, freezing Starlink accounts, and imposing fines on X totaling about $5.2 million. Authorities also froze financial assets linked to X and SpaceX through Starlink to collect unpaid penalties and seized roughly $3.3 million from the companies’ accounts.
Moraes also imposed daily fines of up to R$5 million, about $920,000, for alleged evasion of the X ban and established penalties of R$50,000 per day for VPN users who attempted to bypass the restriction.
Brazil remains an important market for X, with roughly 17 million users, making it one of the platform’s larger user bases globally.
The country is also a major market for Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, which has surpassed one million subscribers in Brazil.
Elon Musk
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Amazon after the company opposed SpaceX’s proposal to launch a large satellite constellation that could function as an orbital data center network.
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
Amazon recently urged the FCC to reject SpaceX’s application to deploy a constellation of up to 1 million low Earth orbit satellites that could serve as artificial intelligence data centers in space.
The company described the proposal as a “lofty ambition rather than a real plan,” arguing that SpaceX had not provided sufficient details about how the system would operate.
Carr responded by pointing to Amazon’s own satellite deployment progress.
“Amazon should focus on the fact that it will fall roughly 1,000 satellites short of meeting its upcoming deployment milestone, rather than spending their time and resources filing petitions against companies that are putting thousands of satellites in orbit,” Carr wrote on X.
Amazon has declined to comment on the statement.
Amazon has been working to deploy its Project Kuiper satellite network, which is intended to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service. The company has invested more than $10 billion in the program and has launched more than 200 satellites since April of last year.
Amazon has also asked the FCC for a 24-month extension, until July 2028, to meet a requirement to deploy roughly 1,600 satellites by July 2026, as noted in a CNBC report.
SpaceX’s Starlink network currently has nearly 10,000 satellites in orbit and serves roughly 10 million customers. The FCC has also authorized SpaceX to deploy 7,500 additional satellites as the company continues expanding its global satellite internet network.
Energy
Tesla Energy gains UK license to sell electricity to homes and businesses
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
Tesla Energy has received a license to supply electricity in the United Kingdom, opening the door for the company to serve homes and businesses in the country.
The license was granted to Tesla Energy Ventures Ltd. by UK energy regulator Ofgem after a seven-month review process.
According to Ofgem, the license took effect at 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday and applies to Great Britain.
The approval allows Tesla’s energy business to sell electricity directly to customers in the region, as noted in a Bloomberg News report.
Tesla has already expanded similar services in the United States. In Texas, the company offers electricity plans that allow Tesla owners to charge their vehicles at a lower cost while also feeding excess electricity back into the grid.
Tesla already has a sizable presence in the UK market. According to price comparison website U-switch, there are more than 250,000 Tesla electric vehicles in the country and thousands of Tesla home energy storage systems.
Ofgem also noted that Tesla Motors Ltd., a separate entity incorporated in England and Wales, received an electricity generation license in June 2020.
The new UK license arrives as Tesla continues expanding its global energy business.
Last year, Tesla Energy retained the top position in the global battery energy storage system (BESS) integrator market for the second consecutive year. According to Wood Mackenzie’s latest rankings, Tesla held about 15% of global market share in 2024.
The company also maintained a dominant position in North America, where it captured roughly 39% market share in the region.
At the same time, competition in the energy storage sector is increasing. Chinese companies such as Sungrow have been expanding their presence globally, particularly in Europe.
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
