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SpaceX urges White House to foster public-private partnerships in space
Earlier this year, the White House announced plans to reestablish the National Space Council (NSC), an advising body that dates back to the creation of NASA in 1958. The council convened for the first time on October 5 and invited several central figures in US spaceflight, including SpaceX’s President and COO Gwynne Shotwell.
In a brief but powerful speech to the Council, Shotwell urged the US Federal government to apply the lessons learned from NASA’s successful private-public partnerships to efforts to expand human presence in Low Earth Orbit and beyond. Those successful partnerships include NASA COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services), which funded SpaceX to develop its Cargo Dragon spacecraft to resupply the ISS, and the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) that funded SpaceX for the development of their crewed Dragon 2 spacecraft. In terms of efficiency and speed, both programs have indeed been extraordinarily successful, despite often maligned delays.
As a brief example of the insignificance of SpaceX’s Commercial Crew delays, one needs to look no further than NASA’s Space Launch System. Described in early 2011 to be pursuing operational readiness no later than December 2016, SLS is now extremely unlikely to conduct its first launch until well into 2020. A reasonable cost estimate spreads the development costs ($30 billion) over 30 years of operations, assumes an optimistic one launch per year for the vehicle, and arrives at an astounding final figure of $5 billion per SLS launch.
The development funds NASA awarded SpaceX for both Cargo Dragon, Falcon 9, and Crew Dragon were estimated to be no more than $7.3 billion from 2006 to the last Cargo Dragon mission currently scheduled for 2024. Even if this figure swells to $10 billion once operational crewed flights to the ISS begin in 2018 or 2019, the entire cost of NASA’s support of SpaceX would equate to two launches of SLS total.

NASA slipped a sly glimpse of Dragon 2 construction into their live coverage SpaceX’s CRS-12 launch. On the left is a Dragon 2 pressure vessel, while on the right is the vehicle’s “trunk”. (NASA)
Shotwell made sure to avoid the topic of SLS entirely, instead choosing to highlight the benefits of cost and speed public-private partnerships could provide for deep space communications and interplanetary cargo transport. This marks the second time that a ranking member of SpaceX has mentioned a possible public-private program for deep space communications, something that will inevitably need to improve as the commercial spaceflight apparatus extends its reach beyond Earth. SpaceX is currently developing satellite technology to enable a massive orbital Internet constellation around Earth, and the company is obviously interested in leveraging that R&D to strengthen Earth-Mars and Earth-Moon networks into a more robust communications backbone. Secretary of Transport Elaine Chao and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also slipped in words of excitement and interest in SpaceX’s recently revealed concept of point to point Earth transportation with their BFR system.
This meeting of the NSC also focused heavily on the domestic and regulatory apparatus for commercial space operations. Shotwell and Blue Origin’s CEO Bob Smith both suggested that the FAA’s current rules and regulations regarding commercial spaceflight ought to be reviewed and potentially updated to better account for a future of reusable commercial launch vehicles. Shotwell subtly maligned the often-tedious process of applying for FAA launch permits, pointing to the fact that even slight changes to permits would force companies to file entirely new applications, often taking six months or longer. SpaceX, with its rapid development and deployment of reusable rockets and an ever-increasing launch cadence, is more than ever before at odds with the FAA’s slow and unforgiving permitting processes.

SpaceX’s BFR Earth transport concept would undoubtedly clash head-on with the FAA’s current system of rocket regulations. (SpaceX)
Intriguingly, Council members Mike Pence, Mick Mulvaney, and Elaine Chao all expressed a desire to ease the burden of anachronistic regulations on the commercial space industry. More interesting still, the commercial space panel ended with what effectively sounded like a handshake deal between the Vice President, the Secretary of Transportation, and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to review current commercial spaceflight regulations and report the results of those reviews to the NSC in no more than 45 days.
It remains to be seen if this verbal commitment translates into an official review, but it is at a minimum encouraging to hear ranking members of the current White House administration so openly express support for SpaceX, Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada Corp., and American commercial spaceflight in general.
The First Meeting of the National Space Council can be seen in the embed below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh2jVG76S7g

News
Tesla aiming to produce first “legion” of Optimus robots this 2025
Tesla is aiming to start the production of Optimus this year, and its first run will be no joke.

Tesla’s Q1 2025 All-Hands meeting saw CEO Elon Musk share a key update about the company’s most ambitious product yet — Optimus. As per Musk, Tesla is aiming to start the production of Optimus this year, and its first run will be no joke.
Tesla Optimus’ Quick Evolution
Tesla initially announced Optimus during its AI Day event in 2021. At the time, Tesla only had a mockup of the robot and a literal person in a suit to demonstrate what Optimus could look like. By 2022, Tesla had a working prototype of the robot. Optimus’ progress has been rapid since then, with several dozens of the humanoid robots interacting with attendees at the Cybercab’s unveiling last October.
Optimus’ Potential
During the recent All-Hands meeting, Elon Musk reiterated the idea that Optimus could very well be the biggest product of all time, likely being ten times larger than the next-biggest product. Musk also shared an update about Optimus’ production, stating that the first humanoid robot has been manufactured at the Fremont Factory.
A Legion for 2025
When discussing Optimus’ ramp, Musk clarified that Tesla is internally aiming for enough parts to produce 10,000 to 12,000 Optimus robots this year. However, since Optimus is a completely different product, even half of 10,000 units would be a huge victory for Tesla. Tesla also plans to ramp Optimus to a notable degree in 2026, with the company aiming for 50,000 units, or 10 “legions” of humanoid robots, next year.
“So this year, we hopefully will be able to make about 5,000 Optimus robots. We’re technically aiming for enough parts to make 10,000, maybe 12,000, but since it’s a totally new product with a totally new, like everything is totally new, I’ll say we’re succeeding if we get to half go the 10,000.
“But even 5,000 robots, that’s the size of a Roman legion, FYI, which is like a little scary thought. Like a whole legion of robots, I’ll be like ‘whoa.’ But I think we will literally build a legion, at least one legion of robots this year, and then probably 10 legions next year. I think it’s kind of a cool unit, you know? Units of legion. So probably 50,000-ish next year,” Musk said.
Tesla’s Q1 2025 All-Hands Meeting can be viewed below.
News
Tesla Shanghai Megafactory starts exporting Megapacks, first to Australia
Tesla Asia celebrated the Shanghai Megafactory’s first Megapack exports on X.

Tesla has begun exporting Megapack battery systems from its Shanghai Megafactory, with the first shipment departing for Australia on Friday. This marks a key step in Tesla Energy’s expansion into the global energy storage industry, utilizing its new China-based Megafactory to supply several new markets.
Tesla Asia celebrated the Shanghai Megafactory’s first Megapack exports through its official social media account on X.
Tesla Megapacks in Focus
The Tesla Megapack is capable of storing 3.9 MWh of energy, and they are designed for grid use. As per Tesla in its official website, each Megapack battery has enough energy to power an average of 3,600 homes for one hour. The Megapack is designed to be infinitely scalable as well, making it a good fit for large-scale sustainable energy projects.
The Shanghai Megafactory
The Shanghai Megafactory began production in early 2025, a record eight months after its May 2024 groundbreaking. With an initial output of 10,000 units annually, equal to about 40 GWh, the Shanghai Megafactory has the potential to significantly boost Tesla’s battery storage deployments.
As per a report from Xinhua News Agency, Tesla is expecting its energy deployments to rise 50% year-over-year this 2025.
Tesla Leaders on the Shanghai Megafactory
Mike Snyder, vice president of energy and charging at Tesla, previously outlined the potential of the Shanghai Megafactory. “Megafactory gives us the ability to scale production and efficiency. We can lower logistics costs as well as product costs, and grow the business to new markets,” he stated.
The Shanghai Megafactory also seems to be part of Tesla’s efforts to grow its presence in China, which was highlighted by CEO Elon Musk during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang. During their meeting, Musk reportedly stated that “Tesla is willing to deepen cooperation with China and achieve more win-win results.”
Elon Musk
Shark Tank’s O’Leary roasts Tim Walz over Tesla stock hate session

Shark Tank personality and legendary investor Kevin O’Leary roasted former Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz over his comments regarding Tesla shares earlier this week.
Walz, a Minnesota Democrat, said that he recently added Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) to his Apple Stocks app so he could watch shares fall as they have encountered plenty of resistance in 2025 so far. He said that anytime he needs a boost, he looks at Tesla shares, which are down 36 percent so far this year:
If you need a little boost during the day, check out Tesla stock 📉 pic.twitter.com/KBEh6pOZLW
— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) March 19, 2025
Walz, among many others, has been critical of Tesla and Elon Musk, especially as the CEO has helped eliminate excess government spending through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
However, Kevin O’Leary, a legendary investor, showed up on CNN after Walz’s comments to give him a bit of a reality check. O’Leary essentially called Walz out of touch for what he said about Tesla shares, especially considering Tesla made up a good portion of the Minnesota Retirement Fund.
As of June 2024, the pension fund held 1.6 million shares of Tesla stock worth over $319.6 million:
O’Leary continued to slam Walz for his comments:
“That poor guy didn’t check his portfolio and his own pension plan for the state. It’s beyond stupid what he did. What’s the matter with that guy? He doesn’t check the well-being of his own constituents.”
He even called Walz “a bozo” for what he said.
Of course, Walz’s comments are expected considering Musk’s support for the Trump Administration, as the Tesla CEO was a major contributor to the 45th President’s campaign for his second term.
However, it seems extremely out of touch that Walz made these comments without realizing the drop was potentially hurting his fund. While we don’t know if the fund has sold its entire Tesla holdings since June, as a newer, more recent report has not been released yet, it seems unlikely the automaker’s shares are not still making up some portion of the fund.
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