News
SpaceX makes rocket fairing catch look easy with “autopilot” recovery
SpaceX has made Falcon 9 rocket fairing recovery look easy in a video of the latest nosecone catch, published hours after the company’s successful Starlink-10 launch.
Posted on Twitter by Elon Musk not long after a SpaceX webcast host and engineer revealed that one of two fairing catch attempts had been successful, the video offers the best in-action view yet of an operational fairing recovery. Backed by elevator music, it also certainly carries a clear signature of the CEO’s humor, carrying the torch from previous hits like “How Not to Land an Orbital Rocket Booster“, “Grasshopper vs. Cows“, and the successful launch of a Tesla Roadster and spacesuit-wearing mannequin into interplanetary space.
Lackadaisical theme song aside, Musk also shed some light on the actual process of catching Falcon fairings with giant ships and nets. Those new details point towards a major improvement made in the last six or so months that’s helped enable an unprecedented three successful fairing catches in less than 30 days.
According to Musk, SpaceX caught the Starlink-10 fairing half with both recovery ship GO Ms. Tree and the parasailing fairing half “operating on (SpaceX) autopilot.” While his comments leave a great deal of room for interpretation, they seem to imply that SpaceX has found ways to make fairing recovery almost as automatic as Falcon booster landings. During Falcon first stage recovery, the booster and drone ship technically operate as if the other doesn’t exist – the ship simply station keeps in a very specific location and the booster targets that same specific location.
Fairing recovery, as SpaceX would quickly find out, was a dramatically more complex and touchy ballet of humans, machinery, and rocket parts. Little is known about the specifics of fairing recovery beyond the fact that fairing halves have cold gas thrusters for positioning in vacuum and use GPS-guided parafoils to travel towards a rough landing zone. For most prior attempts, it’s believed that one or several crew members were responsible for manually maneuvering the recovery ship during catch attempts.
Including controlled helicopter drop tests, SpaceX failed a dozen or more consecutive fairing catch attempts and even shipped the entire operation from California to Florida before the first successful catch finally came in June 2019. In an apparent fluke, SpaceX managed to catch another fairing half less than two months later. Five months later, SpaceX secured its third fairing catch – possibly the very same fairing half caught on Monday. Another six months after #3, SpaceX hit a major milestone, simultaneously catching both halves of a Falcon fairing with two separate ships on July 21st, 2020.
Now, just 29 days after that spectacular double catch, SpaceX has caught another Falcon 9 fairing half – tempered only by the fact that sister ship Ms. Chief missed her own catch attempt. While it could certainly be a fluke of luck akin to SpaceX’s back-to-back STP-2 and Amos-17 catches, Musk’s note that “fairing chute control & ship control are closing the loop locally” points to cautious optimism.
Cryptic as ever, the comment seems to imply that SpaceX has debuted – or at least recently introduced – a kind of cooperative, autonomous navigation system that allows Falcon fairings and their recovery ships to communicate and function as a unit. For now, we’ll have to wait for the next catch attempt to get a better idea of just how much of a step forward SpaceX has made. SAOCOM 1B, SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 fairing recovery (and launch), is currently scheduled no earlier than (NET) August 27th.
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Elon Musk
Elon Musk denies Starlink’s price cuts are due to Amazon Kuiper
“This has nothing to do with Kuiper, we’re just trying to make Starlink more affordable to a broader audience,” Musk wrote in a post on X.
Elon Musk has pushed back on claims that Starlink’s recent price reductions are tied to Amazon’s Kuiper project.
In a post on X, Musk responded directly to a report suggesting that Starlink was cutting prices and offering free hardware to partners ahead of a planned IPO and increased competition from Kuiper.
“This has nothing to do with Kuiper, we’re just trying to make Starlink more affordable to a broader audience,” Musk wrote in a post on X. “The lower the cost, the more Starlink can be used by people who don’t have much money, especially in the developing world.”
The speculation originated from a post summarizing a report from The Information, which ran with the headline “SpaceX’s Starlink Makes Land Grab as Amazon Threat Looms.” The report stated that SpaceX is aggressively cutting prices and giving free hardware to distribution partners, which was interpreted as a reaction to Amazon’s Kuiper’s upcoming rollout and possible IPO.
In a way, Musk’s comments could be quite accurate considering Starlink’s current scale. The constellation currently has more than 9,700 satellites in operation today, making it by far the largest satellite broadband network in operation. It has also managed to grow its user base to 10 million active customers across more than 150 countries worldwide.
Amazon’s Kuiper, by comparison, has launched approximately 211 satellites to date, as per data from SatelliteMap.Space, some of which were launched by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. Starlink surpassed that number in early January 2020, during the early buildout of its first-generation network.
Lower pricing also aligns with Starlink’s broader expansion strategy. SpaceX continues to deploy satellites at a rapid pace using Falcon 9, and future launches aboard Starship are expected to significantly accelerate the constellation’s growth. A larger network improves capacity and global coverage, which can support a broader customer base.
In that context, price reductions can be viewed as a way to match expanding supply with growing demand. Musk’s companies have historically used aggressive pricing strategies to drive adoption at scale, particularly when vertical integration allows costs to decline over time.
News
Tesla Giga Berlin makes a statement of solidarity amid IG Metall conflict
The display comes as tensions between Tesla and IG Metall continue to escalate.
Tesla Giga Berlin is sending a strong message of solidarity amid its ongoing legal dispute with German union IG Metall.
In a post on social media platform X, Giga Berlin plant manager André Thierig shared an image of the facility’s lobby covered with a large banner that reads: “Progress. Innovation. Success.” He added that the slogan reflects what the facility has stood for since Day One.
“Our lobby at Giga Berlin covered in a huge banner these days. Progress. Innovation. Success – this is what we stand for since we started production in 2022 and how we will go into our future!” Thierig wrote in his post on X.
The display comes as tensions between Tesla and IG Metall continue to escalate.
The dispute began after Tesla accused a union representative of secretly recording a works council meeting at Giga Berlin. Tesla stated that it filed a criminal complaint after the alleged incident. Police later confirmed they had seized a computer belonging to an IG Metall member as part of their investigation.
“What has happened today at Giga Berlin is truly beyond words! An external union representative from IG Metall attended a works council meeting. For unknown reasons he recorded the internal meeting and was caught in action! We obviously called police and filed a criminal complaint!” Thierig wrote on X at the time.
IG Metall denied the accusation and characterized Tesla’s move as an election tactic ahead of upcoming works council elections. The union subsequently filed a defamation complaint against Thierig. Authorities later confirmed that an investigation had been opened in connection with the matter.
Giga Berlin began production in 2022 and has since become one of Tesla’s key European manufacturing hubs, producing the Model Y, the company’s best-selling vehicle. The facility has expanded capacity over the past years despite environmental protests, labor disputes, and regulatory scrutiny.
Energy
Tesla Megapack Megafactory in Texas advances with major property sale
Stream Realty Partners announced the sale of Buildings 9 and 10 at the Empire West industrial park, which total 1,655,523 square feet.
Tesla’s planned Megapack factory in Brookshire, Texas has taken a significant step forward, as two massive industrial buildings fully leased to the company were sold to an institutional investor.
In a press release, Stream Realty Partners announced the sale of Buildings 9 and 10 at the Empire West industrial park, which total 1,655,523 square feet. The properties are 100% leased to Tesla under a long-term agreement and were acquired by BGO on behalf of an institutional investor.
The two facilities, located at 100 Empire Boulevard in Brookshire, Texas, will serve as Tesla’s new Megafactory dedicated to manufacturing Megapack battery systems.
According to local filings previously reported, Tesla plans to invest nearly $200 million into the site. The investment includes approximately $44 million in facility upgrades such as electrical, utility, and HVAC improvements, along with roughly $150 million in manufacturing equipment.
Building 9, spanning roughly 1 million square feet, will function as the primary manufacturing floor where Megapacks are assembled. Building 10, covering approximately 600,000 square feet, will be dedicated to warehousing and logistics operations, supporting storage and distribution of completed battery systems.
Waller County Commissioners have approved a 10-year tax abatement agreement with Tesla, offering up to a 60% property-tax reduction if the company meets hiring and investment targets. Tesla has committed to employing at least 375 people by the end of 2026, increasing to 1,500 by the end of 2028, as noted in an Austin County News Online report.
The Brookshire Megafactory will complement Tesla’s Lathrop Megafactory in California and expand U.S. production capacity for the utility-scale energy storage unit. Megapacks are designed to support grid stabilization and renewable-energy integration, a segment that has become one of Tesla’s fastest-growing businesses.
Elon Musk denies Starlink’s price cuts are due to Amazon Kuiper
Tesla Giga Berlin makes a statement of solidarity amid IG Metall conflict
