

News
SpaceX stuns with two simultaneous rocket landings, Musk’s Tesla heads to Mars
In a jaw-dropping tour de force, SpaceX has successfully completed the vast majority of Falcon Heavy’s inaugural test launch. In short, the massive rocket soared through the riskiest components of its first flight with apparent ease, placing its Tesla Roadster payload into a parking orbit around Earth and landing at least two (if not all three) of its first stage boosters.
After lifting off the pad atop a fireball the likes of which Kennedy Space Center has not seen for the better part of a decade, Falcon Heavy smashed through Max-Q (peak atmospheric pressure), saw its side boosters separate perfectly, and finally sent the second stage and Tesla on its way to orbit as all three first stages began to return to land (and sea). Nearly flawless live coverage gave a million or more viewers an extraordinary ride alongside the rockets, with simultaneous views provided of all three booster recoveries, as well as the second stage’s journey to orbit.
- Falcon heavy roars towards orbit. (Tom Cross)
- As the rocket rises above Earth’s atmosphere, the rocket’s exhaust plume starts to expand. (Tom Cross)
- Finally, FH’s side boosters separate from the center core and begin their return to land. (Tom Cross)
Ultimately, the booster stages of Falcon Heavy flew back to Cape Canaveral just like any other “routine” Falcon 9 recovery, albeit with a synchronization so perfect that it looked exactly as if SpaceX had simply duplicated the live feed from one booster. After several minutes of burns and coasts, the booster returned to Earth almost simultaneously at Landing Zones 1 and 2 (LZ-1/LZ-2) in a spectacle without precedent. It’s best that I let the livestream speak for itself through screen captures – it must be witnessed to fully appreciate how incredible it was.
BEHIND THE SCENES: SpaceX Falcon Heavy’s breathtaking leap towards Mars in photos
In the background of the livestream was a near-constant stream of cheers from hundreds (probably thousands) of SpaceX’s Hawthorne factory employees, and the sheer excitement conveyed by the livestream’s hosts and SpaceXer audience was quite literally contagious – I know I was certainly grinning uncontrollably for a solid half an hour. While it is not yet clear if the center booster survived its own recovery attempt, SpaceX (or Elon Musk) will certainly provide an update as soon as possible as to its status. Fingers crossed that it managed to survive its landing aboard the autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY).
- Falcon Heavy roars through Max-Q. (SpaceX)
- Side boosters separate and return back towards their landing pads. (SpaceX)
- (SpaceX)
- Landing burns begin for the side boosters! (SpaceX)
- Nearing the pads, landing legs deploy on both boosters. (SpaceX)
In the meantime, Falcon Heavy’s second stage is set to perform several orbit boosting maneuvers as it circles the Earth, eventually pushing its Roadster and Starman payload beyond Earth orbit and on its way into deep space. While it won’t end up orbiting Mars, the heliocentric (sun) orbit it will be placed in is intended to pass very close to Mars at certain points. Stay tuned as SpaceX releases additional information on the state of the center booster and the upper stage’s progress towards deep space.
Upper stage restart nominal, apogee raised to 7000 km. Will spend 5 hours getting zapped in Van Allen belts & then attempt final burn for Mars.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 6, 2018
- (SpaceX)
- Roadster and Starman in orbit. (SpaceX)
Follow along live as launch photographer Tom Cross and I cover these exciting proceedings as close to live as possible.
Teslarati – Instagram – Twitter
Tom Cross – Instagram
Eric Ralph – Twitter
Elon Musk
Tesla’s new Robotaxi geofence shape is an FU by Elon Musk to the competition
Maybe it’s all pareidolia. But maybe it’s not. After all, Tesla embraced the first geofence expansion for what it appeared to be.

Tesla expanded its Robotaxi geofence in Austin once again early Sunday morning. The new shape seems to be somewhat of a proverbial, and potentially literal, middle finger to the competition.
If you thought the first expansion was a message to the competition and doubters of the company’s ride-hailing service, you probably will believe the second expansion is an even stronger gesture.
Tesla’s first expansion did not go unnoticed, as its shape was particularly recognizable. The company has always operated with a sense of humor, and it embraced what it did. Some, including me, took it as a message to competitors: We can expand in any direction, in any size, at any time. We’ll prove it.”
They picked a shape and went with it:
Tesla’s Robotaxi expansion wasn’t a joke, it was a warning to competitors
It is evident that Tesla is keeping its humor up to continue to show a few things. The first is that it really can expand in any direction it wants and that’s how it is choosing to show it.
The second, well, maybe it’s an edgier way to show doubters that it is really executing on Robotaxi:
Tesla has expanded the Austin RoboTaxi network.
Looks like a giant middle finger.
Giant F U to the competition? 🤷🏻♂️ pic.twitter.com/tcaIxdQk10
— Farzad (@farzyness) August 3, 2025
all I see is Tesla giving the middle finger pic.twitter.com/P4otjxSCQm
— Daniel Harding (@ArchamusDK) August 3, 2025
Maybe it’s all pareidolia. But maybe it’s not. After all, Tesla embraced the first geofence expansion for what it appeared to be. This might be a similar occurrence, and it might be sending another message to the competition, critics, and doubters.
The expansion was a near-doubling of the geofence Tesla offered previously. After the initial geofence covered just about 20 square miles, Tesla was able to more than double it to 42 square miles with the first growth. This new geofence shape was just under double, and is about 80 square miles.
Tesla’s rapid expansion has impressed many, especially considering the service area has roughly doubled for the second time in well under two months. The Robotaxi service was first offered on June 22.
Elon Musk
Tesla executes ‘a must’ with Musk as race to AI supremacy goes on: Wedbush
Dan Ives of Wedbush says Tesla made the right move getting Elon Musk his pay package.

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) executed what Wedbush’s Dan Ives called “a must” this morning as it finalized a new pay package for its CEO Elon Musk.
The move helped give Musk his first meaningful compensation at Tesla since 2017, when the company offered a pay package that was based on performance and proven growth. That package was approved by shareholders on two separate occasions, but was denied to Musk both times by the Delaware Chancery Court.
On Monday, Tesla announced on X that it had created a new package that would give 96 million shares of restricted stock to Musk to compensate him for the “immense value generated for Tesla and all our shareholders.”
🚨 BREAKING: Tesla has announced that its Board has unanimously approved a recommendation from the Special Committee of the Board to grant Elon an award of restricted stock equal to approximately one-third of the compensation he earned under the 2018 CEO Performance Award.
The… https://t.co/g7RKrTymDL pic.twitter.com/dnvkILlz6H
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 4, 2025
The details of the pay package are designed to retain Musk, who has voiced some concerns about his control of Tesla, as “activist shareholders” have used lawsuits to disrupt the previously approved package.
You can read all the details of it here:
Tesla rewards CEO Elon Musk with massive, restricted stock package
Ives says Musk’s retention is ‘a must’
Ives said in a note to investors on Monday that with the raging AI talent war that Tesla made a smart move by doing what it could to retain Musk.
He wrote:
“With the AI talent war now fully underway across Big Tech, we believe this was a strategic move to keep TSLA’s top asset, Musk, would stay focused at the company with his priority being to bolster the company’s growth strategy over the coming years. With this interim award increasing Musk’s voting rights upon this grant, which Musk honed in on and mentioned was increasingly important to incentivize him to stay focused on the matters at hand, this was a strategic move by the Board to solidify Musk as CEO of Tesla over the coming years with this framework for Musk’s pay package and greater voting control removing a major overhang on the story.”
He went on to say:
“While the groundwork is now in place for the next few years, it will be critical for the Tesla Board of Directors to get this long-term compensation strategy in place prior to the company’s November 6th shareholder meeting which would address the elephant in the room and remove a significant overhang on the stock.”
Wedbush maintained its Outperform rating and its $500 price target on the stock.
Elon Musk
Tesla CEO Elon Musk reveals ideal timeline for insane self-driving feature
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has extremely optimistic expectations for Full Self-Driving progress by the end of 2025.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed his ideal timeline for what would likely be the most insane self-driving feature: the ability for drivers to play video games at the wheel.
There are a handful of videos out there of drivers already performing this task. Nobody using Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite should perform these activities, as the company maintains the system is not fully autonomous.
Drivers are responsible for the vehicle and should be prepared to take over.
Tesla has put a lot of faith in its development of Full Self-Driving and has made tremendous strides over the past few years. Capabilities have gotten more refined and accurate through various methods, including data collection and hardware improvements.
Tesla kicks Robotaxi geofence expansion into high gear in Austin
It has gotten so good that Tesla launched a Robotaxi platform in Austin, Texas, on June 22. Passengers can hop in the back of a Model Y and will be transported around the city in a confined geofence that is about 90 square miles in size. There is nobody in the driver’s seat, but there is a Safety Monitor in the passenger’s seat.
Tesla launched a similar experience in California’s Bay Area last week, but the company has placed the Safety Monitor in the driver’s seat for that region for the time being.
Eventually, Tesla will get to a point where no monitor is needed, and the vehicles will be able to drive themselves. Many believe that it is a few years away, but Musk believes Tesla could achieve it very soon.
After a video of someone playing Grand Theft Auto in their Cybertruck while operating Full Self-Driving was shared on the social media platform X, Musk said this capability would be available in “probably 3 to 6 months, depending on regulatory approval in your city and state.”
Probably 3 to 6 months, depending on regulatory approval in your city and state
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 3, 2025
It is important to remember that Musk has been very optimistic regarding autonomy timelines with Tesla projects. We heard for many years that the company would have self-driving vehicles “by the end of the year,” and those projects did not come to fruition.
While there was progress, there were no fully autonomous vehicles or software versions for customers.
With that being said, Tesla has made tremendous strides in its quest for autonomous vehicles this year, and launching a Robotaxi platform was a huge step in the right direction.
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