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Here’s what SpaceX’s first Starlink satellite rideshare mission looks like [photo]
By way of customer Planet, SpaceX has published the first view of its inaugural Starlink satellite rideshare mission, revealing three mini fridge-sized Earth imaging satellites perched on a stack of dozens of Starlink spacecraft.
Scheduled to launch no earlier than (NET) 5:21 am (09:21 UTC) on June 13th, SpaceX’s eighth launch of Starlink v1.0 satellites (Starlink V1 L8) could usher in a revolutionary new way for smallsat operators to get their spacecraft in orbit. The company’s first Starlink rideshare customer has become a vocal supporter in the days before the first launch, praising unprecedentedly low launch costs SpaceX is able to offer. In fact, executives of Planet – now the world’s second most prolific satellite launcher after SpaceX – were so surprised at the prices the launch company was charging that they “could not believe what [they] were looking at”.
To account for the mass added by three Planet SkySats (~350 kg or 770 lb), SpaceX revealed earlier today that it had removed two Starlink satellites – each weighing ~260 kg (570 lb) – from the original stack of 60 spacecraft. Aside from confirming that Falcon 9 is balancing at the very edge of its performance envelope to launch ~16 metric tons (~35,000 lb) of satellites while still enabling booster recovery, the removal of two Starlink satellites to make way for rideshare payloads hints at an incredible level of flexibility available to SpaceX.
For customers of the fledgling small satellite rideshare program interested in procuring launch services directly, Planet’s SkySats are almost perfectly sized to extract the most bang for the buck from SpaceX’s current pricing system. Planet likely spent a bit more to have SpaceX build it a custom adapter and deployment mechanism for two launches, but the company’s launch costs for six SkySats – split between two June 2020 Starlink missions – could be as low as $6 million based on SpaceX’s own calculator. Due to the general secrecy of launch prices, it’s hard to accurately compare, but Planet would have had to pay upwards of $40 million – almost seven times as much – to launch six SkySats on dedicated Rocket Lab Electron rockets.
In return for $5-30+ million dollars in savings, Planet’s six new SkySats will have to work to raise their orbits from around 300 to 450 kilometers (190-280 mi) after deploying from SpaceX’s Starlink satellite stack. That work will expend a significant portion of their propellant reserves, likely cutting several months (up to several years) off of their operational lifespans. Believed to cost around $3-5 million each, however, the money Planet has saved by launching SkySats with SpaceX could potentially pay for an entirely new batch of six more satellites (or more).
With cost savings like that at hand, it’s no wonder that Planet’s Mike Safyan – Vice President of Launch – described SpaceX’s Starlink rideshare program as “incredibly competitive” and “one of the more significant programs for the smallsat industry”. Having overseen the launch of hundreds of Planet’s Dove and SkySat satellites over the last nine years, it would be hard to find a more qualified industry voice on the subject. Indeed, the rest of the smallsat industry is also responding positively to SpaceX’s new offering, with dozens of commercial spacecraft already assigned to future rideshare launches.
At this point, SpaceX plans to offer rideshare opportunities on Starlink missions every month for the indefinite future, all while charging as little as a $1 million per slot. Thanks to third-party launch services companies like Spaceflight and Exolaunch, much smaller cubesats and nanosats will also have ways to get into orbit on SpaceX rockets for much less than the company’s base price. Meanwhile, scheduled to launch no earlier than June 22nd, SpaceX’s very next Starlink launch – V1 L9 – is expected to include three more Planet SkySats and two similar BlackSky imaging satellites.
If SpaceX can maintain the impressive inertia of its Starlink launch and rideshare efforts, it’s safe to say that the company is going to be a towering presence in the smallsat launch industry for the foreseeable future.
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Tesla extends FSD Supervised ride-alongs in Europe by three months
Needless to say, it does appear that FSD fever is starting to catch in Europe.
Tesla appears to be doubling down on its European Full Self-Driving (Supervised) push, with the company extending its demo ride-along program by three months until the end of March 2026. The update seems to have been implemented due to overwhelming demand.
Needless to say, it does appear that FSD fever is starting to catch in Europe.
Extended FSD demonstrations
Tesla EU Policy and Business Development Manager Ivan Komušanac shared on LinkedIn that the company is offering ride-along experiences in Germany, France and Italy while working toward FSD (Supervised) approval in Europe.
He noted that this provides a great feedback opportunity from the general public, encouraging participants to record and share their experiences. For those unable to book in December, Komušanac teased more slots as “Christmas presents.”
Tesla watcher Sawyer Merritt highlighted the extension on X, stating that dates now run from December 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, in multiple cities including Stuttgart-Weinstadt, Frankfurt and Düsseldorf in Germany. This suggests that the FSD ride-along program in Europe has officially been extended until the end of the first quarter of 2026.
Building momentum for European approval
Replies to Merritt’s posts buzzed with excitement, with users like @AuzyMale noting that Cologne and Düsseldorf are already fully booked. This sentiment was echoed by numerous other Tesla enthusiasts on social media. Calls for the program’s expansion to other European territories have also started gaining steam, with some X users suggesting Switzerland and Finland as the next locations for FSD ride-alongs.
Ultimately, the Tesla EU Policy and Business Development Manager’s post aligns with the company’s broader FSD efforts in Europe. As per recent reports, Tesla recently demonstrated FSD’s capabilities for Rome officials. Reporters from media outlets in France and Germany have also published positive reviews of FSD’s capabilities on real-world roads.
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Tesla’s six-seat extended wheelbase Model Y L sold out for January 2026
Estimated delivery dates for new Tesla Model Y L orders now extend all the way into February 2026.
The Tesla Model Y L seems to be in high demand in China, with estimated delivery dates for new orders now extending all the way into February 2026.
This suggests that the Model Y L has been officially sold out from the rest of 2025 to January 2026.
Model Y L estimated delivery dates
The Model Y L’s updated delivery dates mark an extension from the vehicle’s previous 4-8 week estimated wait time. A detailed chart shared by Tesla data tracker @Tslachan on X shows the progressions of the Model Y L’s estimated delivery dates since its launch earlier this year.
Following its launch in September, the vehicle was given an initial October 2025 estimated delivery date. The wait times for the vehicle were continually updated over the years, until the middle of November, when the Model Y L had an estimated delivery date of 4-8 weeks. This remained until now, when Tesla China simply listed February 2026 as the estimated delivery date for new Model Y L orders.
Model Y demand in China
Tesla Model Y demand in China seems to be very healthy, even beyond the Model Y L. New delivery dates show the company has already sold out its allocation of the all-electric crossover for 2025. The Model Y has been the most popular vehicle in the world in both of the last two years, outpacing incredibly popular vehicles like the Toyota RAV4. In China, the EV market is substantially more saturated, with more competitors than in any other market.
Tesla has been particularly kind to the Chinese market, as it has launched trim levels for the Model Y in the country that are not available anywhere else, such as the Model Y L. Demand has been strong for the Model Y in China, with the vehicle ranking among the country’s top 5 New Energy Vehicles. Interestingly enough, vehicles that beat the Model Y in volume like the BYD Seagull are notably more affordable. Compared to vehicles that are comparably priced, the Model Y remains a strong seller in China.
Elon Musk
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang commends Tesla’s Elon Musk for early belief
“And when I announced DGX-1, nobody in the world wanted it. I had no purchase orders, not one. Nobody wanted to buy it. Nobody wanted to be part of it, except for Elon.”
NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast on Wednesday and commended Tesla CEO Elon Musk for his early belief in what is now the most valuable company in the world.
Huang and Musk are widely regarded as two of the greatest tech entrepreneurs of the modern era, with the two working in conjunction as NVIDIA’s chips are present in Tesla vehicles, particularly utilized for self-driving technology and data collection.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang regrets not investing more in Elon Musk’s xAI
Both CEOs defied all odds and created companies from virtually nothing. Musk joined Tesla in the early 2000s before the company had even established any plans to build a vehicle. Jensen created NVIDIA in the booth of a Denny’s restaurant, which has been memorialized with a plaque.
On the JRE episode, Rogan asked about Jensen’s relationship with Elon, to which the NVIDIA CEO said that Musk was there when nobody else was:
“I was lucky because I had known Elon Musk, and I helped him build the first computer for Model 3, the Model S, and when he wanted to start working on an autonomous vehicle. I helped him build the computer that went into the Model S AV system, his full self-driving system. We were basically the FSD computer version 1, and so we were already working together.
And when I announced DGX-1, nobody in the world wanted it. I had no purchase orders, not one. Nobody wanted to buy it. Nobody wanted to be part of it, except for Elon.
He goes ‘You know what, I have a company that could really use this.’ I said, Wow, my first customer. And he goes, it’s an AI company, and it’s a nonprofit and and we could really use one of these supercomputers. I boxed one up, I drove it up to San Francisco, and I delivered it to the Elon in 2016.”
The first DGX-1 AI supercomputer was delivered personally to Musk when he was with OpenAI, which provided crucial early compute power for AI research, accelerating breakthroughs in machine learning that underpin modern tools like ChatGPT.
Tesla’s Nvidia purchases could reach $4 billion this year: Musk
The long-term alliance between NVIDIA and Tesla has driven over $2 trillion in the company’s market value since 2016.
Tesla extends FSD Supervised ride-alongs in Europe by three months
Tesla’s six-seat extended wheelbase Model Y L sold out for January 2026
