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Renderings of SpaceX clawboat’s huge net upgrade is a taste of what’s to come
After several close-but-no-cigar attempts at snatching a Falcon 9 payload fairing out of the air, SpaceX’s iconic recovery vessel Mr Steven is currently laid up at the company’s newly-acquired Berth 240 dock space, roughly a week into the process of upgrading his arms to support a much larger net. CEO Elon Musk recently hinted that the boat’s net would be expanded by a factor of four, but what would such a dramatic growth look like?
To give a better idea of what to expect from Mr Steven’s arm and net upgrades, Teslarati’s Reese Wilson modeled and rendered the fairing recovery vessel with one such interpretation. The dimensions and aspect ratios may not be a mirror-image of the real-world Mr Steven, but the visual effect of the net upgrade is still fundamentally the same.
Mr Steven is currently laid up at Berth 240 in a sadly armless state. (Pauline Acalin)
With respect to these renders, the actual net growth is somewhat less than the full fourfold area upgrade mentioned by Musk in early June – the concept art’s net is closer to 2.5 or 3 times larger than Mr Steven’s original net. This slight inaccuracy may actually be serendipitous, as a true 4X net could be downright unwieldy without the addition of some sort of complex retraction mechanism, versus the simple but functional (and infinitely reliable) implementation of fixed steel arms at the current net’s scale.
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- A side-by-side comparison of Mr Steven before (top) and after (bottom) installation of a net with roughly 2.5X greater catching area. (Reese Wilson)
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- Incredibly, this artist rendering of a much larger net installed on Mr Steven was perhaps two or more times smaller than the solution now installed on the vessel. (Reese Wilson)
Dramatic modifications nevertheless are all but guaranteed, as Mr Steven appears to have had the entire arm apparatus – including the steel base attaching them to his cargo deck – completely removed and placed on the side of the dock, still less permanent than the apparent decision to plasma or torch cut each arm off of that base, one of which is visible dockside at Berth 240. It may be possible to re-weld those severed arms onto the base, but it’s arguably more likely that entirely new arms, an entirely new base, or both will be fabricated, and those larger arms will themselves require a much larger net.
Ultimately, the fairing recovery vessel has gotten as close as 50 meters to gently catching a parasailing rocket fairing minutes after launch, an extraordinarily tiny error compared to the broader scope of the task at hand. Upon separation from Falcon 9’s upper stage, each payload fairing half is routinely traveling at speeds of 1.5 to 2 kilometers per second and reach apogees anywhere from 100 to 130 kilometers, all while traveling the better part of a thousand miles (800 mi/1300 km for Iridium-6) to reach Mr Steven’s net. As such, “missing” by 50 meters is an extraordinary achievement.
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- A fairing floats gently into the welcoming embrace of Mr Steven’s upgrade net and arms. (Reese Wilson)
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- With any luck, viewers may get a live view of the vessel’s next recovery attempts. (Reese Wilson)
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- Mr Steven is currently undergoing arm surgery (upgrades) at SpaceX’s future BFR factory lot, known as Berth 240. (Elon Musk)
A fairing floats gently into the welcoming embrace of Mr Steven’s upgrade net and arms. (Reese Wilson)
With the vessel’s current net roughly 30 meters or 100 feet square (Mr Steven is 60m/200ft bow to stern), give or take 25%, a full fourfold upgrade would double each dimension, which could singlehandedly cut the error margin required for fairing recovery (currently 50 meters) by more than 50% if it remains square. If SpaceX finds a way to functionally achieve something close to a fourfold increase in area with a more rectangular aspect ratio (assuming that the fairing’s present error is more a matter of glideslope inaccuracy than properly pointing the half at Mr Steven), a rectangular net with a width ~50% and length ~300% larger – say 40 meters by 80 meters – would completely close the error gap between reliably missing and reliably catching Falcon fairings. To compare, a common football (soccer for our American readers) field is typically 70 meters by 100 meters.
Time will tell, and we’ll find out soon whether those arm and net upgrades can be available for SpaceX’s next California launch, currently scheduled on the morning of July 20th.
One half of SpaceX’s Iridium-6/GRACE-FO just moments before touchdown on the Pacific Ocean. (SpaceX)
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Tesla Cybertruck Lead Engineer Wes Morrill revealed the company has made several changes to the all-electric pickup, which he calls a “living thing, constantly evolving and improving.”
Cybertruck is manufactured at Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas just outside of Austin, and over the past few years, Tesla has continued to make small changes to the pickup to improve everything from cost, reliability, serviceablility, and manufacturability.
“The finish line isn’t getting to production. A product is a living thing, constantly evolving and improving,” Morrill added.
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Some of those changes are yet to be revealed, but perhaps the most notable one was the change Tesla made to the aero shield that sits underneath the truck. In the past, it was aluminum, but now the Cybertruck is using a self-reinforcing polypropylene.
Morrill said that the polypropylene is “stretched into fibers and then laminated into the form,” and is much more durable, much lighter, and significantly cheaper than aluminum when it is manufactured this way.
It also enabled some improvements in the geometry of the Cybertruck, improving the manufacturing around the bolts and edges, in addition to minor form changes. These all benefitted the Cybertruck in more ways than one: specifically with durability and improved drag.
I was surprised by how interested people were to find out we made a relatively benign change to the Cybertruck aero shield, a part of the car most people never even see. So I’ll share some more details.
Here are two photos, the left is one of the latest trucks off the… pic.twitter.com/F5cZo2CZKf
— Wes (@wmorrill3) September 7, 2026
Typically, Teslas are not necessarily identified by model year because these changes are fluid and occur when the company sees fit to implement them. It is not like other automotive companies, which usually make sweeping manufacturing changes when building a new model year.
Instead, Teslas are recognized by their “generation” or “era.” For example, those with a newer Model Y might refer to their car as a “Juniper.” This is the same with Model 3, as many refer to the new body style as the “Highland.”
Tesla’s manufacturing changes are proof of the company’s constant need to improve its products and move things forward with its vehicles. There is no need to drag one’s feet and wait until next year if the product can be made better right now, and that’s precisely what Tesla did with the Cybertruck.
Elon Musk
Tesla Cybercabs narrowly miss deadly Amazon cargo plane crash
An Amazon cargo plane crash near Miami’s airport stopped feet from dozens of Tesla Cybercabs.
An Amazon Prime Air Boeing 767 cargo jet overran the runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday afternoon, killing five people and injuring five more. The jet, operated by North Carolina based carrier 21 Air as Flight 7598, touched down around 2 p.m. after arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico, then crossed the airport perimeter, plowed across NW 67th Avenue and struck multiple vehicles before catching fire, according to the Associated Press.
Photos and video from the scene show the aircraft’s nose stopped within meters of a fenced staging lot holding dozens of gold painted Tesla Cybercabs, the steering wheel free robotaxi Tesla began putting on public roads in Austin last week. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue has confirmed the plane struck “multiple vehicles” but has not said whether any Cybercabs were among them, and neither Tesla nor airport officials have addressed the fleet directly.
The Cybercabs had not yet entered commercial service in Miami. Tesla’s existing Robotaxi operation there runs on modified Model Y vehicles and has been unsupervised since Ashok Elluswamy confirmed the detail on X in July.
Footage of the plane crash from earlier today | #ONLYinDADE pic.twitter.com/iGoOtnd6cD
— ONLY in DADE (@ONLYinDADE) September 6, 2026
Elon Musk offered the briefest of reactions. Replying to a Zero Hedge post about the Cybercabs sitting so close to the wreckage, he wrote a single word: “Weird.” He has not commented further, and Tesla has not issued a statement.
The timing puts Tesla’s newest vehicle near an unrelated but highly visible tragedy just days after its Austin debut, a launch that had already drawn scrutiny from federal regulators. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an audit how Tesla certified the Cybercab as compliant with federal vehicle safety standards, a process Teslarati covered after the vehicle’s September 3 launch event. That inquiry concerns the car’s lack of a steering wheel and pedals, not the Miami crash.
Investigators from the FAA and NTSB are focused on the plane, not the parking lot beside it. Flight data reviewed by outlets including Simple Flying show the 767 touched down around 170 knots, well above the 135 to 140 knot range typical for the aircraft, though investigators have not determined a cause. Amazon said it is working with authorities and that its priority is the safety of everyone affected.
Whether any Cybercabs were damaged, and what Tesla plans for the fleet parked near one of the country’s busiest airports, remain open questions.
Tesla has reached a notable benchmark in its autonomous driving program after its Robotaxi fleet surpassed one million miles of unsupervised operation. The company made the announcement during its Cybercab event in Austin on September 3.
Tesla Vice President of AI Ashok Elluswamy told attendees he was happy to report the fleet had achieved one million miles of unsupervised Robotaxi operation as a testament to safety.
The new total marked a sharp increase from the 380,000 unsupervised miles Tesla disclosed during its second-quarter 2026 earnings update in late July.
In roughly six weeks, the company added about 620,000 miles. That acceleration followed Tesla’s decision to remove in-vehicle safety monitors from most of its operations outside the San Francisco Bay Area.
Credit: Tesla
Tesla first launched Robotaxi service in Austin in June 2025 with safety drivers present. It later began fully unsupervised rides and expanded into Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa. The San Francisco Bay Area remains the exception, where a safety monitor still rides in the vehicle under California permitting rules.
The company has not released a city-by-city breakdown of the one million unsupervised miles.
The milestone arrived as Tesla began offering public Cybercab rides in Austin. The purpose-built vehicle has no steering wheel or pedals and is designed only for autonomous ride-hailing. Production versions joined the existing fleet of modified Tesla vehicles already operating in the service.
Tesla’s unsupervised mileage is growing at a double-digit weekly rate according to earlier company comments, yet its fleet size remains modest compared with established competitors. Waymo has accumulated more than 200 million fully autonomous rider-only miles. Tesla has described its own unsupervised operations as having recorded zero notable incidents in the period leading up to the July update.
The one-million-mile figure reflects Tesla’s shift from supervised testing to broader driverless service in multiple states. It also highlights the company’s strategy of using both existing Model Y vehicles and the new Cybercab to scale its network.
Credit: Tesla
Whether the rapid recent growth continues will depend on further city expansions, regulatory approvals, and the performance of the purpose-built Cybercab in everyday paid rides. Tesla has not specified how many of the latest miles involved the new vehicle versus the rest of the fleet.
The announcement underscores Tesla’s progress toward a larger robotaxi network while illustrating the remaining gap in total autonomous experience relative to longer-operating rivals.
Tesla Cybertruck engineer reveals new changes in ‘constantly evolving’ pickup
Tesla Cybercabs narrowly miss deadly Amazon cargo plane crash
