A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has successfully launched 51 upgraded laser-linked Starlink satellites from its Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) – the first mission of its kind out of the company’s west coast launch facilities.
Known as Starlink Group 2-1, the mission debuted the operational design of new V1.5 Starlink satellites with laser interlinks that will eventually let the constellation route its own communications almost anywhere on Earth – regardless of ground station locations. Aside from potentially allowing SpaceX to flout local regulations in countries with oppressive communications restrictions, firewalls, or censors, those lasers will also give Starlink the ability to easily deliver internet to moving vehicles – including aircraft traveling over oceans – and in even the remotest locations with no ground infrastructure for hundreds of miles.
Independent of its main purpose, the Starlink 2-1 mission also saw SpaceX tie its internal Falcon booster reusability record. Following in the footsteps of younger booster B1051, Falcon 9 B1049, which debuted in September 2018, successfully completed its tenth orbital-class launch and landing with Starlink 2-1. Originally scheduled to launch as early as July, apparent hiccups mass-producing new Starlink V1.5 satellites and their laser interlinks delayed the mission by about two months, causing SpaceX to launch just once in 11 weeks preceding the mission.
In comparison, Falcon 9 B1051 debuted in March 2019 and became the first booster to cross the ten-flight mark in May 2021, just 26 months later. B1049 took almost exactly 36 months to accomplish the same feat – almost 40% slower but still faster than any of the four NASA Space Shuttles that successfully reached similar milestones.
SpaceX also says that Starlink 2-1 is the 24th time the company has successfully launched a flight-proven Falcon 9 payload fairing, reusing a normally expendable component that CEO Elon Musk once likened to a pallet of $6 million in cash. Ultimately, the company gave up on efforts to catch parasailing fairing halves out of the air with giant ship-based nets and has instead refocused on perfecting the reuse of fairings that gently land in the ocean. For the most part, that’s been accomplished by designing Starlink satellites themselves to tolerate a much dirtier, louder launch environment than most other spacecraft, letting SpaceX remove sponge-like foam sound suppression tiles normally found inside fairings and worry less about needing to deep-clean the giant nosecones.
Nevertheless, SpaceX has technically launched 150+ commercial payloads – and one major geostationary commsat (SXM-7) – over three launches with flight-proven fairings, suggesting that there is a path to wider commercial acceptance of the brand new technology and the direct cost savings it brings.
With Starlink 2-1 safely in orbit, SpaceX now likely operates more space-based laser interlinks than the rest of the world combined. Eventually, once enough satellites with laser links are in orbit, SpaceX will be able to dramatically expand Starlink coverage almost independent of the construction of new ground stations – a heavily bureaucratic process that has proven to make for agonizingly slow progress in a number of the 15+ countries with active service. Instead of requiring that the satellite a given user terminal (dish) is communicating with be in direct line of sight of a ground station dish to route a user’s communications, thus connecting them to the internet, a constellation with widespread lasers will allow a dish’s active satellite to relay that connection through other satellites.
As a result, ground stations can be significantly further away from the users they end up supporting. Further, given that SpaceX has no plans to stop building new ground stations despite the bureaucratic hell it can involve, a well-linked Starlink constellation will ultimately be able to beat most wired connections by using lasers to route user communications to the ground stations closest to the real-world servers or services they’re trying to access.
Stay tuned for updates on SpaceX’s next polar Starlink launch(es) with ‘space lasers.’
News
Tesla rolling out Robotaxi pilot in SF Bay Area this weekend: report
Similar to the Austin pilot, the Robotaxi rides will reportedly be a paid service.
Tesla is reportedly preparing to launch a Robotaxi pilot program in the Bay Area this weekend, with invites to a select number of customers reportedly being sent out as early as this Friday.
The update was shared in a report from Insider, which cited an internal memo from the electric vehicle maker.
New Robotaxi service launch
According to Insider, the Robotaxi service in the Bay Area is set to launch as soon as Friday. Thus, some Tesla owners in the area should receive invites to use the driverless ride-hailing service. Similar to the Austin pilot, the Robotaxi rides will reportedly be a paid service.
The publication noted that the Robotaxi service’s geofence in its Bay Area launch will be quite large, as it will include Marin, much of the East Bay, San Francisco, and San Jose. This is not surprising as California has long been saturated with Teslas, and it is home to several of the electric vehicle maker’s key facilities.
Unlike the Austin pilot, the Tesla Robotaxi service’s pilot in the Bay Area will use safety drivers seated in the driver’s seat. These drivers will be able to manually take over using the steering wheel and brakes as needed. As per a spokesperson from the California DMV, the agency recently met with Tesla but the company is yet to submit a formal application to operate fully driverless cars.
Tesla Robotaxi expansion
Interestingly enough, Tesla did tease the release of its Robotaxi service to the Bay Area in its second quarter earnings call. While discussing the service, Tesla VP of Autopilot/AI Software Ashok Elluswamy mentioned that the company will initially be rolling out Robotaxis with safety drivers in the San Francisco Bay Area. He did, however, also highlight that the electric vehicle maker is working hard to get government permission to release the service for consumers.
“The next thing to expand would be in the San Francisco Bay Area. We are working with the government to get approval here and, in the meanwhile, launch the service without the person in the driver seat just to expedite and while we wait for regulatory approval,” he stated.
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Tesla is ready with a perfect counter to the end of US EV tax credits
Tesla executives have mentioned that these more affordable models would resemble the company’s current lineup.
The United States’ electric vehicle tax credit is coming to an end at the end of the third quarter. Tesla, the country’s leading electric vehicle maker, is ready to meet this challenge with a rather simple but clever counter.
Tesla executives outlined this strategy in the recently held Q2 2025 earnings call.
End of the US EV tax credit
While Elon Musk has always maintained that he prefers a market with no EV tax credit, he also emphasized that he supports the rollback of any incentives given to the oil and gas industry. The Trump administration has not done this so far, instead focusing on the expiration of the $7,500 EV tax credit at the end of the third quarter.
Tesla has been going all-in on encouraging customers to purchase their vehicles in Q3 to take advantage of lower prices. The company has also implemented a series of incentives across all its offerings, from the Cybertruck to the Model 3. This, however, is not all, as the company seems to be preparing a longer-term solution to the expiration of the EV tax credit.
Affordable variants
During the Q2 2025 earnings call, Vice President of Vehicle Engineering Lars Moray stated that Tesla really did start the production of more affordable models in June. Quality builds of these vehicles are being ramped this quarter, with the goal of optimizing production over the remaining months of the year. If Tesla is successful, these models will be available for everyone in Q4.
“We started production in June, and we’re ramping quality builds and things around the quarter. And given that we started in North America and our goal is to maximize production with a higher rate. So starting Q3, we’re going to keep pushing hard on our current models to avoid complexity… We’ll be ready with new, more affordable models available for everyone in Q4.,” Moravy stated.
These comments suggest that Tesla should be able to offer vehicles that are competitively priced even after the EV tax credit has been phased out. Interestingly enough, previous comments from Tesla executives have mentioned that these more affordable models would resemble the company’s current lineup. This suggests that the more affordable models may indeed be variations of the Model Y and Model 3, but offered at a lower price.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk reveals Tesla’s next Robotaxi expansion in more ways than one
Tesla Robotaxi is growing in more ways than one. Tesla wants to expand and hopes to reach half the U.S. population by the end of the year.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed the company’s plans for its next expansion of the Robotaxi in terms of both the geofence in Austin and the platform overall, as it looks to move to new areas outside of Texas.
Tesla launched the Robotaxi platform last month on June 22, and has since expanded both the pool of users and the area that the driverless Model Y vehicles can travel within.
The first expansion of the geofence caught the attention of nearly everyone and became a huge headline as Tesla picked a very interesting shape for the new geofence, resembling male reproductive parts.
🚨 Elon Musk says Tesla’s Robotaxi geofence in Austin will get “even bigger and longer” in “a couple weeks or so” pic.twitter.com/0gLeKfURMi
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 23, 2025
The next expansion will likely absolve this shape. Musk revealed last night that the new geofence will be “well in excess of what competitors are doing,” and it could happen “hopefully in a week or two.”
Musk’s full quote regarding the expansion of the geofence and the timing was:
“As some may have noted, we have already expanded our service area in Austin. It’s bigger and longer, and it’s going to get even bigger and longer. We are expecting to greatly increase the service area to well in excess of what competitors are doing, hopefully in a week or two.”
The expansion will not stop there, either. As Tesla has operated the Robotaxi platform in Austin for the past month, it has been working with regulators in other areas, like California, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida, to get the driverless ride-hailing system activated in more U.S. states.
Tesla confirmed that they are in talks with each of these states regarding the potential expansion of Robotaxi.
Musk added:
“As we get the approvals and prove out safety, we will be launching the autonomous ride-hailing across most of the country. I think we will probably have autonomous ride-hailing in probably half the population of the US by the end of the year.”
We know that Tesla and Musk have been prone to aggressive and sometimes outlandish timelines regarding self-driving technology specifically. Regulatory approvals could happen by the end of the year in several areas, and working on these large metros is the best way to reach half of the U.S. population.
Tesla said its expansion of the geofence in Austin is conservative and controlled due to its obsession with safety, even admitting at one point during the Earnings Call that they are being “paranoid.” Expanding the geofence is necessary, but Tesla realizes any significant mistake by Robotaxi could take it back to square one.
Tesla rolling out Robotaxi pilot in SF Bay Area this weekend: report
Tesla is ready with a perfect counter to the end of US EV tax credits
Elon Musk reveals Tesla’s next Robotaxi expansion in more ways than one
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