News
SpaceX follows up Falcon Heavy spectacle with sunrise Falcon 9 launch
SpaceX has followed up Falcon Heavy’s latest spectacle with a Falcon 9 launch shortly after sunrise, producing more ethereal views of the company’s rockets in action.
SpaceX’s visual style is off to a strong start in 2023. All rocket launches are impressive to some degree, but SpaceX has managed to complete Falcon Heavy’s first twilight launch and a Falcon 9 launch backlit by the morning sun less than three days apart. Falcon Heavy kicked off the pair on January 15th with the successful launch of the US Space Force’s USSF-67 mission. Three times more powerful than Falcon 9 and the most capable commercial rocket ever built, Falcon Heavy lifted off shortly after sunset. The fury of its exhaust was amplified by the twilight sky as it rose back into sunlight, producing one of the most visually spectacular launches in SpaceX history.
62 hours later, a Falcon 9 rocket launched from SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) LC-40 pad with the US military’s sixth upgraded GPS III navigation satellite inside its payload fairing. The mission was a flawless success. Falcon 9 booster B1077 touched down on drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas eight and a half minutes after liftoff, completing its second orbital-class launch and landing. 90 minutes after leaving the ground, Falcon 9’s upper stage deployed the GPS III SV06 satellite into a nominal transfer orbit with one end at 392 kilometers and the other around 20,170 kilometers (~12,530 mi) above Earth’s surface. The satellite will use its own propulsion to raise itself into a circular orbit, where it will eventually enter operation and begin distributing more accurate location information.
The update that's rolling out to the fleet makes full use of the front and rear steering travel to minimize turning circle. In this case a reduction of 1.6 feet just over the air— Wes (@wmorrill3) April 16, 2024
For unknown reasons, SpaceX delayed the launch 14 minutes, pushing the T-0 time from 7:10 am to 7:24 am – from just before to just after sunrise. As a result, instead of a brief twilight spectacle, Falcon 9 lifted off with the morning sun low in the sky and almost directly behind the rocket from certain perspectives. Rocket solar transits are possibly even rarer than optimal twilight launches, making for an exceptionally impressive pair of back-to-back SpaceX missions.
Heading toward 100?
GPS III SV06 was SpaceX’s fourth launch in the first 18 days of 2023. That pace is far from unusual after the company’s record-breaking 2022, but the fact that three of those missions launched from one pad – LC-40 – is. Over the last six weeks, SpaceX has launched six Falcon 9 rockets from LC-40 – an average of one launch every seven days. That sustained cadence is unprecedented for a single SpaceX pad, and the company has three.
In 2022, LC-40 managed 33 launches – one launch every 11 days. It’s California (SLC-4E) and Kennedy Space Center (Pad 39A) facilities combined to support 28 launches, for a total of 61 Falcon launches last year. It’s well known that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s target of 100 launches in 2023 is exceptionally ambitious and could be hard to hit. But already, SpaceX’s performance over the last six weeks is making that unprecedented target more and more achievable.
LC-40 is not alone in its improved cadence. For the workhorse pad’s six launches, SLC-4E managed five launches in the same six-week period. Combined, all three SpaceX pads have supported 11 successful launches in the last 42 days, equating to 95 launches per year if sustained for all of 2023. Having already sustained that pace for six weeks, and with an almost unbelievable 2022 under its belt, launching 100 times in 2023 suddenly seems like a real possibility.
Continuing that relentless push, SpaceX’s next mission – Starlink 2-4 – is scheduled to launch as early as 7:23 am PDT (15:23 UTC) tomorrow, January 19th.
News
Tesla dispels reports of ‘sales suspension’ in California
“This was a “consumer protection” order about the use of the term “Autopilot” in a case where not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem.
Sales in California will continue uninterrupted.”
Tesla has dispelled reports that it is facing a thirty-day sales suspension in California after the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) issued a penalty to the company after a judge ruled it “misled consumers about its driver-assistance technology.”
On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that the California DMV was planning to adopt the penalty but decided to put it on ice for ninety days, giving Tesla an opportunity to “come into compliance.”
Tesla enters interesting situation with Full Self-Driving in California
Tesla responded to the report on Tuesday evening, after it came out, stating that this was a “consumer protection” order that was brought up over its use of the term “Autopilot.”
The company said “not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem,” yet a judge and the DMV determined it was, so they want to apply the penalty if Tesla doesn’t oblige.
However, Tesla said that its sales operations in California “will continue uninterrupted.”
It confirmed this in an X post on Tuesday night:
This was a “consumer protection” order about the use of the term “Autopilot” in a case where not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem.
Sales in California will continue uninterrupted.
— Tesla North America (@tesla_na) December 17, 2025
The report and the decision by the DMV and Judge involved sparked outrage from the Tesla community, who stated that it should do its best to get out of California.
One X post said California “didn’t deserve” what Tesla had done for it in terms of employment, engineering, and innovation.
Tesla has used Autopilot and Full Self-Driving for years, but it did add the term “(Supervised)” to the end of the FSD suite earlier this year, potentially aiming to protect itself from instances like this one.
This is the first primary dispute over the terminology of Full Self-Driving, but it has undergone some scrutiny at the federal level, as some government officials have claimed the suite has “deceptive” naming. Previous Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was vocally critical of the use of the name “Full Self-Driving,” as well as “Autopilot.”
News
New EV tax credit rule could impact many EV buyers
We confirmed with a Tesla Sales Advisor that any current orders that have the $7,500 tax credit applied to them must be completed by December 31, meaning delivery must take place by that date. However, it is unclear at this point whether someone could still claim the credit when filing their tax returns for 2025 as long as the order reflects an order date before September 30.
Tesla owners could be impacted by a new EV tax credit rule, which seems to be a new hoop to jump through for those who benefited from the “extension,” which allowed orderers to take delivery after the loss of the $7,500 discount.
After the Trump Administration initiated the phase-out of the $7,500 EV tax credit, many were happy to see the rules had been changed slightly, as deliveries could occur after the September 30 cutoff as long as orders were placed before the end of that month.
However, there appears to be a new threshold that EV buyers will have to go through, and it will impact their ability to get the credit, at least at the Point of Sale, for now.
Delivery must be completed by the end of the year, and buyers must take possession of the car by December 31, 2025, or they will lose the tax credit. The U.S. government will be closing the tax credit portal, which allows people to claim the credit at the Point of Sale.
🚨UPDATE: $7,500 Tax Credit Portal “Closes By End of Year”.
This is bad news for pending Tesla buyers (MYP) looking to lock in the $7,500 Tax Credit.
“it looks like the portal closes by end of the year so there be no way for us to guarantee the funds however, we will try our… pic.twitter.com/LnWiaXL30k
— DennisCW | wen my L (@DennisCW_) December 15, 2025
We confirmed with a Tesla Sales Advisor that any current orders that have the $7,500 tax credit applied to them must be completed by December 31, meaning delivery must take place by that date.
However, it is unclear at this point whether someone could still claim the credit when filing their tax returns for 2025 as long as the order reflects an order date before September 30.
If not, the order can still go through, but the buyer will not be able to claim the tax credit, meaning they will pay full price for the vehicle.
This puts some buyers in a strange limbo, especially if they placed an order for the Model Y Performance. Some deliveries have already taken place, and some are scheduled before the end of the month, but many others are not expecting deliveries until January.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk takes latest barb at Bill Gates over Tesla short position
Bill Gates placed a massive short bet against Tesla of ~1% of our total shares, which might have cost him over $10B by now
Elon Musk took his latest barb at former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates over his short position against the company, which the two have had some tensions over for a number of years.
Gates admitted to Musk several years ago through a text message that he still held a short position against his sustainable car and energy company. Ironically, Gates had contacted Musk to explore philanthropic opportunities.
Elon Musk explains Bill Gates beef: He ‘placed a massive bet on Tesla dying’
Musk said he could not take the request seriously, especially as Gates was hoping to make money on the downfall of the one company taking EVs seriously.
The Tesla frontman has continued to take shots at Gates over the years from time to time, but the latest comment came as Musk’s net worth swelled to over $600 billion. He became the first person ever to reach that threshold earlier this week, when Tesla shares increased due to Robotaxi testing without any occupants.
Musk refreshed everyone’s memory with the recent post, stating that if Gates still has his short position against Tesla, he would have lost over $10 billion by now:
Bill Gates placed a massive short bet against Tesla of ~1% of our total shares, which might have cost him over $10B by now
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 17, 2025
Just a month ago, in mid-November, Musk issued his final warning to Gates over the short position, speculating whether the former Microsoft frontman had still held the bet against Tesla.
“If Gates hasn’t fully closed out the crazy short position he has held against Tesla for ~8 years, he had better do so soon,” Musk said. This came in response to The Gates Foundation dumping 65 percent of its Microsoft position.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk sends final warning to Bill Gates over short position
Musk’s involvement in the U.S. government also drew criticism from Gates, as he said that the reductions proposed by DOGE against U.S.A.I.D. were “stunning” and could cause “millions of additional deaths of kids.”
“Gates is a huge liar,” Musk responded.
It is not known whether Gates still holds his Tesla short position.
Tesla dispels reports of ‘sales suspension’ in California
New EV tax credit rule could impact many EV buyers
