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SpaceX set to launch its first previously-flown Block 5 rocket tonight
At the same time as SpaceX is readying its first Falcon 9 Block 5 booster reuse, the company’s second flight-proven Block 5 launch is already fast approaching and could be a strong contender to beat the company’s record of 72 days between launches of the same rocket.
A critical milestone for Falcon 9 Block 5
Formerly known as Telkom 4, SpaceX’s 1:18 AM EDT August 7th launch of the Merah Putih (Red and White in Indonesian) communications satellite will place the 5800 kg (12,800 lb) craft into a high-energy geostationary transfer orbit and will become the second heaviest GTO launch completed by SpaceX while still recovering the Falcon 9 booster. More importantly, however, Telkom 4 will also mark a critical milestone for Falcon 9 as the first reuse of a Block 5 booster.
https://twitter.com/_TomCross_/status/1025074341040533504
Designed to be many times more reusable and reliable than the already impressive Falcon 9 Full Thrust iterations preceding it, pathfinder booster B1046 could be capable of flying anywhere from 5, 10, or even 100 launches over the course of its flightworthy lifespan. It very well may require some considerable refinements to approach the true goal of orbital Falcon 9 launches with zero refurbishments between flights. CEO Elon Musk discussed those aspirations just before Block 5’s launch debut on May 11:
“We need to basically take the rocket from its landing pad, rotate it horizontal, stow the legs. Take it to the launch pad, attach an upper stage, attach a fairing with a payload. Then transport it out the launch pad, rotate it vertically, load propellant, and fly. And in principle, that is literally all that’s necessary.” – Elon Musk
This is understandably SpaceX’s goal, and it’s unlikely to happen just a few months after Block 5’s debut. Nevertheless, SpaceX appears to be already pushing the envelope of what they’ve previously accomplished with reusable Falcon 9s.
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- B1046 lifts off for the first time on May 4th, 2018. (Teslarati)
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- Falcon 9 B1046 returned to Port Canaveral aboard drone ship OCISLY on May 15. It will launch for the second time on August 4. (Tom Cross)
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- Soon after, B1046 was spotted on its way to a refurbishment facility around a week after its May 11 launch debut. (Instagram /u/tersco)
Breaking records four months after launch debut
While B1046 is tracking towards a booster turnaround of roughly 92 days, compared with the current Block 4 booster record of 72 days, it’s worth noting that more than a majority of that time was likely spent in a state of unique analysis for the inaugural Block 5 rocket, involving extensive disassembly. As stated by Musk, “we need to take [B1046] apart to confirm that it does not need to be taken apart.” He also expected that teardown analysis to be “very rigorous”, indicating that B1046 probably deserves the crown for booster turnaround so long as one only accounts for time spent in transport and undergoing refurbishment.
Still, winning by a technicality is never any fun. On that note, SpaceX appears to be tracking towards a true record-breaking rocket reuse, potentially as few as 40 days between launches. Not one to let its other launch facilities be left out, this record-breaking turnaround attempt will occur on the West Coast with Falcon 9 B1048, the recovery of which has been extensively documented by Teslarati photographer Pauline Acalin over the last two weeks. NASASpaceflight.com confirmed that SpaceX intends to reuse B1048 for this mission for the NET mid-September launch and the record ~50 days between flights could help explain an unusually extensive and lengthy analysis of the rocket after it was lifted off drone ship Just Read The Instructions and placed on its dockside recovery stand.
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- B1047 before the launch of Telstar 19V. (Tom Cross)
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- Sooty B1047 arrives at Pad 39A’s horizontal integration facility (HIF), July 31st. (Reddit – Kent767)
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- Falcon 9 B1048 ahead of its launch debut, July 25th. (Pauline Acalin)
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- After a successful launch and landing, B1048 stands tall in Port of San Pedro before being lowered and transported for its next launch. (Pauline Acalin)
After 10 days of recovery operations and analysis, B1048 was transported to SpaceX’s Hawthorne factory on August 6th, where it will presumably undergo refurbishment in preparation for its next launch. If B1046 and B1048 are representative samples of SpaceX’s growing rocket fleet, their stunningly quick turnarounds (especially for a largely new rocket that debuted less than 3-4 months prior) are likely a sign of things to come as SpaceX gets a handle on the real-world capabilities of its robust Block 5 upgrade.
It’s entirely possible that every Block 5 reuse to come can and will break the previous launch turnaround record, at least up to the point that SpaceX demonstrates a true 24-hour turnaround sometime next year. Stay tuned…
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For years, there have been images and videos across social media platforms that have reminded me of when I was a 15-year-old kid teased by “Xbox 720” videos on YouTube. These videos are of the supposed “Tesla Phone” that Elon Musk was secretly developing in between leading Tesla with its electric cars and SpaceX with its reusable rockets.
Would you buy a Tesla phone ? pic.twitter.com/aaTwvvIJit
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) October 6, 2023
Although Musk has put those rumors to bed several times, it was never completely out of the realm that he could get involved in cell phones in some capacity. Think outside the box and more macro-level, though. Instead of reinventing the computer, Musk reinvented connectivity by developing Starlink with SpaceX.
It could be something similar, TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams said in a note last week, where he hinted SpaceX could be gathering some steam to acquire T-Mobile.
Williams said it would be the “clear choice” for SpaceX if it decided to go through with a network acquisition. He also suggested AT&T.
The move would be possible through selling more of its own stock, which would help SpaceX raise the money to purchase T-Mobile, which would cost roughly $300 billion. It could be one of the moves SpaceX makes post-IPO in terms of an acquisition: it already acquired Cursor AI for $60 billion.
Other analysts, like Dan Ives of Wedbush, believe SpaceX and Tesla will eventually merge into one anyway, and that conglomeration could come as soon as this year, some have said.
The implications of SpaceX purchasing T-Mobile are massive. A combined entity would create a truly ubiquitous network: T-Mobile’s terrestrial 5G towers and Starlink’s growing constellation of Direct-to-Cell satellites. This would essentially eliminate dead zones across the U.S. and potentially globally.
SpaceX would instantly become a full-scale facilities-based carrier with satellite differentiation; a huge advantage. This would pressure AT&T and Verizon heavily.
There are also concerns like a potential reduction in long-term competition, and of course, a deal of that size would face intense scrutiny from government agencies.
The strategic fit is compelling due to the existing Starlink–T-Mobile partnership and complementary technologies (space + terrestrial). It could create a dominant integrated communications player. However, the regulatory, financial, and execution hurdles are enormous — this remains highly speculative with no indication SpaceX is actively pursuing it right now.
Tesla revealed a major new Cybercab detail in a guide it released for First Responders, showing new territory in its beliefs and intentions for the ride-hailing-focused vehicle that entered production in April.
The First Responders Guide is released to give fire departments, paramedics, and other emergency personnel the proper guidance on what to do in the event of an accident, entrapment, or other situation that would require immediate attention.
On one of the pages of the First Responders Guide, Tesla revealed a stark detail about the Cybercab, which could help personnel enter the vehicle more easily in case of an emergency.
Tesla Cybercab has one important piece that AI4 cars might need for FSD
It shows Tesla has no intention of releasing any Cybercab units that were initially proposed for ride-hailing services for the general public with any manual controls, meaning a steering wheel or pedals:
“A Cybercab equipped with steering wheel, brake pedal, and an acceleration pedal is typically an engineering or test vehicle, and operates at SAE Level 2 autonomy. Cybercab is not typically equipped with a steering wheel or acceleration and brake pedals.”
New official Cybercab documentation from Tesla:
“A Cybercab equipped with steering wheel, brake pedal, and an acceleration pedal is typically an engineering or test vehicle, and operates at SAE Level 2 autonomy. Cybercab is not typically equipped with a steering wheel or… https://t.co/P6ut1mZyzr pic.twitter.com/yq6skl9s2J
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 27, 2026
This is a major development for those who continue to believe Tesla planned to release the Cybercab with any sort of manual controls so that passengers could take over if needed. However, when Tesla started manufacturing production versions of the Cybercab in Giga Texas earlier this year, they were spotted without a steering wheel or pedals.
It essentially confirms the company has no intentions of bringing manual controls to the car’s production versions. Some have argued that the likelihood of Tesla having something
There still are some Cybercab units out there with a steering wheel and pedals, and as Tesla said, these cars are engineering or test vehicles, which have Safety Monitors on board to help the car out of a precarious situation or emergency.
Tesla released the Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ suite to owners of Hardware 3 or AI3 vehicles today, adding several new features to the vehicles that were once believed to be capable of unsupervised self-driving.
Now, Tesla has released this modified suite to older Tesla vehicles, adding plenty of new features and capabilities.
Here are the full release notes for the suite:
- Distilled the intelligence from HW4 V14 into HW3. This allows HW3 to directly learn how to handle scenarios using HW4 V14 as a guide. This process unlocks the improvements that have been made to HW4 including Reinforcement Learning (RL) and offline models for HW3.
- Improved both proactive and reactive responsiveness across a wide variety of categories including navigation handling, merges and forks, pedestrian interactions, traffic lights, and vehicle cut-in scenarios.
- Improved general comfort in nominal scenarios through fewer false slowdowns, smoother steering and more consistent lane centering.
- Introduced parking, unparking, and reversing capabilities.
- Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, or at the Curbside.
- Speed Profiles are now available at all times, to further customize driving style preference.
These improvements, according to Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, help distill the driving behavior from AI4’s v14 series into both the camera and compute configurations of AI3.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ for older cars finally gets released
He added:
“It includes destination options and speed profiles on city roads, but more importantly significantly improved safety. We hope you’ll enjoy it, once the build ships wide.”
FSD v14 Lite is now rolling out to AI3 early-access customers. Based on the feedback, will rollout to more customers over the next few weeks.
This build distills the driving behavior from AI4’s v14 series into both the camera and compute config of AI3. It includes destination…
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) June 29, 2026
Tesla will continue to roll out the v14 Lite suite more widely in the coming weeks, the company said.
Tesla Phone? Not quite, but close: analyst
Tesla reveals huge Cybercab detail in new guide for First Responders
