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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.
Tesla has adjusted the functionality of a crucial climate feature as Winter weather has started to arrive throughout some parts of the United States. The new feature was highly requested by owners.
Tesla has a Cabin Overheat Protection feature that helps keep the temperature regulated if it reaches a certain threshold. Inversely, it can be used in cold weather as well, which will automatically warm the cabin if it sinks to a temperature that is too low for the owner’s comfort.
This is a great way to keep the cabin either warmed up just enough or cooled down just enough so that it never gets too hot or too cold. Extreme temperatures could damage certain parts of the vehicle or damage personal belongings that are kept inside the car.
Overheat protection is a great thing to have in hot climates like Arizona or Texas, especially with the Premium trims of the Model 3 and Model Y, which feature a glass roof.
Many owners appreciate the feature, but they argue that using it at home will utilize too much energy, especially during extreme temperatures. For a while, many Tesla fans have requested an option to disable this feature when the car is parked at home, which the company recently added, according to Not a Tesla App.
The feature is part of Software Version 2025.44.3, and the release notes state:
“You can now choose Exclude Home when Cabin Overheat Protection or No A/C is enabled.”
Tesla has been great at listening to what owners want with new features, and this is one that will reserve some charge and prevent unnecessary utilization of available power, especially as the car is parked at home. If owners want to condition the cabin or get the car ready for operation with a comfortable interior, they can utilize the Tesla app to adjust the climate.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed today on the social media platform X that legacy automakers, such as Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, do not want to license the company’s Full Self-Driving suite, at least not without a long list of their own terms.
“I’ve tried to warn them and even offered to license Tesla FSD, but they don’t want it! Crazy,” Musk said on X. “When legacy auto does occasionally reach out, they tepidly discuss implementing FSD for a tiny program in 5 years with unworkable requirements for Tesla, so pointless.”
I’ve tried to warn them and even offered to license Tesla FSD, but they don’t want it! Crazy …
When legacy auto does occasionally reach out, they tepidly discuss implementing FSD for a tiny program in 5 years with unworkable requirements for Tesla, so pointless. 🤷♂️
🦕 🦕
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 24, 2025
Musk made the remark in response to a note we wrote about earlier today from Melius Research, in which analyst Rob Wertheimer said, “Our point is not that Tesla is at risk, it’s that everybody else is,” in terms of autonomy and self-driving development.
Wertheimer believes there are hundreds of billions of dollars in value headed toward Tesla’s way because of its prowess with FSD.
A few years ago, Musk first remarked that Tesla was in early talks with one legacy automaker regarding licensing Full Self-Driving for its vehicles. Tesla never confirmed which company it was, but given Musk’s ongoing talks with Ford CEO Jim Farley at the time, it seemed the Detroit-based automaker was the likely suspect.
Tesla’s Elon Musk reiterates FSD licensing offer for other automakers
Ford has been perhaps the most aggressive legacy automaker in terms of its EV efforts, but it recently scaled back its electric offensive due to profitability issues and weak demand. It simply was not making enough vehicles, nor selling the volume needed to turn a profit.
Musk truly believes that many of the companies that turn their backs on FSD now will suffer in the future, especially considering the increased chance it could be a parallel to what has happened with EV efforts for many of these companies.
Unfortunately, they got started too late and are now playing catch-up with Tesla, XPeng, BYD, and the other dominating forces in EVs across the globe.
Tesla is backtracking on a strange adjustment it made to its in-car Navigation feature after numerous complaints from owners convinced the company to make a change.
Tesla’s in-car Navigation is catered to its vehicles, as it routes Supercharging stops and preps your vehicle for charging with preconditioning. It is also very intuitive, and features other things like weather radar and a detailed map outlining points of interest.
However, a recent change to the Navigation by Tesla did not go unnoticed, and owners were really upset about it.
For trips that required multiple Supercharger stops, Tesla decided to implement a naming change, which did not show the city or state of each charging stop. Instead, it just showed the business where the Supercharger was located, giving many owners an unwelcome surprise.
However, Tesla’s Director of Supercharging, Max de Zegher, admitted the update was a “big mistake on our end,” and made a change that rolled out within 24 hours:
The naming change should have happened at once, instead of in 2 sequential steps. That was a big miss on our end. We do listen to the community and we do course-correct fast. The accelerated fix rolled out last night. The Tesla App is updated and most in-car touchscreens should…
— Max (@MdeZegher) November 20, 2025
The lack of a name for the city where a Supercharging stop would be made caused some confusion for owners in the short term. Some drivers argued that it was more difficult to make stops at some familiar locations that were special to them. Others were not too keen on not knowing where they were going to be along their trip.
Tesla was quick to scramble to resolve this issue, and it did a great job of rolling it out in an expedited manner, as de Zegher said that most in-car touch screens would notice the fix within one day of the change being rolled out.
Additionally, there will be even more improvements in December, as Tesla plans to show the common name/amenity below the site name as well, which will give people a better idea of what to expect when they arrive at a Supercharger.
Tesla adjusts crucial feature as winter weather arrives
Tesla CEO Elon Musk sends rivals dire warning about Full Self-Driving
