NASA says SpaceX has finished encapsulating its DART asteroid redirection spacecraft inside Falcon 9’s fairing and opened up its West Coast launch pad hangar to give VIPs and mission team members a tour of their rocket.
Measuring 70m (230ft) tall, 550 metric tons (1.2M lb) fully fueled, and capable of producing more than 775 tons (1.71M lbf) of thrust at liftoff, Falcon 9 remains on track to launch NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission no earlier than 10:21 pm PST, Wednesday, November 23rd (06:21 UTC 24 Nov). While there are multiple conflicting reports of the spacecraft’s launch mass, it will likely weigh between 600 and 650 kg (1300-1450 lb) – a minuscule 0.1% of the rocket’s total mass at liftoff. In simpler terms, Falcon 9 launching DART is a bit like a semi-truck carrying a single piece of wood.
Nevertheless, just like that semi-truck scenario, it might not be the most efficient choice of vehicle but sometimes a one-size-fits-all rocket like Falcon 9 can make a lot of sense.
Notably, despite being outsized by at least a factor of 2-3, Falcon 9’s DART launch will ultimately cost NASA about $73M – about a quarter of the mission’s total ~$250M cost. Nominally headed to interplanetary space, there isn’t a smallsat launcher (i.e. Firefly Alpha, Relativity Terran-1, Virgin Orbit LauncherOne, ABL Space RS-1, etc.) currently in development that’s expected to be able to launch a ~600 kg payload onto the interplanetary trajectory Falcon 9 will send DART on. If there were, it might theoretically cost NASA just ~$20M to launch DART but it will also take years for any of the new small to midsize rockets that might have enough performance to establish a track record of reliability, meaning that NASA would have to accept significant risk for that potential discount.
It’s worth noting that based on several comments from executives indicating that a flight-proven Falcon 9 costs about $15-25M to launch, SpaceX could almost certainly charge NASA half as much to launch DART while still breaking even, with its routine reusability making the potential economic advantage of smaller rockets much murkier. Additionally, despite the potential to save another $30-50M, NASA is still likely saving at least $80-100 million by launching on a $73M Falcon 9 rocket rather than the United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) cheapest Atlas V offering, which NASA has paid around $150-175M for in recent years.
While SpaceX has technically launched two similarly tiny NASA payloads to very high orbits ~300,000 and ~900,000 km (150,000-600,000 mi) away from Earth in 2015 and 2018, as well as CEO Elon Musk’s Tesla Roadster on an Earth escape trajectory with Falcon Heavy, data from JPL recently confirmed that DART will be Falcon 9’s first truly interplanetary launch. After reaching a normal low Earth parking orbit, Falcon 9’s expendable upper stage will ultimately boost the small spacecraft free of Earth’s gravity, sending it into a heliocentric orbit that will eventually intersect with the binary Didymos-Dimorphos asteroid system.
As early as September 2022, DART will slam into asteroid moon Dimorphos while traveling a staggering 6.6 kilometers per second (4.1 mi/s) in an attempt to shift its orbit around the larger Didymos asteroid. In effect, NASA is using the asteroid system a bit like an isolated sandbox to (hopefully) exaggerate any effects. If successful, DART will prove that kinetic impactors offer a viable way to change the course of asteroids and comets, potentially paving the way for the creation of a true planetary defense program.
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Lucid unveils Lunar Robotaxi in bid to challenge Tesla’s Cybercab in the autonomous ride hailing race
Lucid’s Lunar robotaxi is gunning for Tesla’s Cybercab in the autonomous ride hailing race
![Lucid Lunar robotaxi concept [Credit: Rendering by TESLARATI]](https://www.teslarati.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/lucid-lunar-robotaxi-concept-teslarati-rendering.jpg)
Lucid Group pulled back the curtain on its purpose-built autonomous robotaxi platform dubbed the Lunar Concept. Announced at its New York investor day event, Lunar is arguably the company’s most ambitious concept yet, and a direct line of sight toward the autonomous ride haling market that Tesla looks to control.
At Lucid Investor Day 2026, the company introduced Lunar, a purpose-built robotaxi concept based on the Midsize platform.
A comparison to Tesla’s Cybercab is unavoidable. The concept of a Tesla robotaxi was first introduced by Elon Musk back in April 2019 during an event dubbed “Autonomy Day,” where he envisioned a network of self-driving Tesla vehicles transporting passengers while not in use by their owners. That vision took another major step in October 2024 when, Musk unveiled the Cybercab at the Tesla “We, Robot” event held at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California, where 20 concept Cybercabs autonomously drove around the studio lot giving rides to attendees.
Fast forward to today, and Tesla’s ambitions are finally materializing, but not without friction. As we recently reported, the Cybercab is being spotted with increasing frequency on public roads and across the grounds of Gigafactory Texas, suggesting that the company’s road testing and validation program is ramping meaningfully ahead of mass production. Tesla already operates a small scale robotaxi service in Austin using supervised Model Ys, but the Cybercab is designed from the ground up for high-volume, low-cost production, with Musk stating an eventual goal of producing one vehicle every 10 seconds.
At Lucid Investor Day 2026, the company introduced Lunar, a purpose-built robotaxi concept based on the Midsize platform.
Into this landscape steps Lucid’s Lunar. Built on the company’s all-new Midsize EV platform, which will also underpin consumer SUVs starting below $50,000. The Lunar mirrors the Cybercab’s core philosophy of having two seats, no driver controls, and a focus on fleet economics. The platform introduces Lucid’s redesigned Atlas electric drive unit, engineered to be smaller, lighter, and cheaper to manufacture at scale.
Unlike Tesla’s strategy of building its own ride hailing network from scratch, Lucid is partnering with Uber. The companies are said to be in advanced discussions to deploy Midsize platform vehicles at large scale, with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi publicly backing Lucid’s engineering credentials and autonomous-ready architecture.
In the investor day event, Lucid also outlined a recurring software revenue model, with an in-vehicle AI assistant and monthly autonomous driving subscriptions priced between $69 and $199. This can be seen as a nod to the software revenue stream that Tesla has long championed with its Full Self-Driving subscription.
Tesla’s Cybercab is targeting a price point below $30k and with operating costs as low as 20 cents per mile. But with regulatory hurdles still ahead, the window for competition is open. Lucid’s Lunar may not have a launch date yet, but it arrives at a pivotal moment, and when the robotaxi race is no longer viewed as hypothetical. Rather, every serious EV player needs to come to bat on the same plate that Tesla has had countless practice swings on over the last seven years.
Elon Musk
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court has ordered the closure of an investigation involving Elon Musk and social media platform X. The inquiry had been pending for about two years and examined whether the platform was used to coordinate attacks against members of the judiciary.
The decision was issued by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes following a recommendation from Brazil’s Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet.
According to a report from Agencia Brasil, the investigation conducted by the Federal Police did not find evidence that X deliberately attempted to attack the judiciary or circumvent court orders.
Prosecutor-General Paulo Gonet concluded that the irregularities identified during the probe did not indicate fraudulent intent.
Justice Moraes accepted the prosecutor’s recommendation and ruled that the investigation should be closed. Under the ruling, the case will remain closed unless new evidence emerges.
The inquiry stemmed from concerns that content on X may have enabled online attacks against Supreme Court justices or violated rulings requiring the suspension of certain accounts under investigation.
Justice Moraes had previously taken several enforcement actions related to the platform during the broader dispute involving social media regulation in Brazil.
These included ordering a nationwide block of the platform, freezing Starlink accounts, and imposing fines on X totaling about $5.2 million. Authorities also froze financial assets linked to X and SpaceX through Starlink to collect unpaid penalties and seized roughly $3.3 million from the companies’ accounts.
Moraes also imposed daily fines of up to R$5 million, about $920,000, for alleged evasion of the X ban and established penalties of R$50,000 per day for VPN users who attempted to bypass the restriction.
Brazil remains an important market for X, with roughly 17 million users, making it one of the platform’s larger user bases globally.
The country is also a major market for Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service, which has surpassed one million subscribers in Brazil.
Elon Musk
FCC chair criticizes Amazon over opposition to SpaceX satellite plan
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr criticized Amazon after the company opposed SpaceX’s proposal to launch a large satellite constellation that could function as an orbital data center network.
Carr made the remarks in a post on social media platform X.
Amazon recently urged the FCC to reject SpaceX’s application to deploy a constellation of up to 1 million low Earth orbit satellites that could serve as artificial intelligence data centers in space.
The company described the proposal as a “lofty ambition rather than a real plan,” arguing that SpaceX had not provided sufficient details about how the system would operate.
Carr responded by pointing to Amazon’s own satellite deployment progress.
“Amazon should focus on the fact that it will fall roughly 1,000 satellites short of meeting its upcoming deployment milestone, rather than spending their time and resources filing petitions against companies that are putting thousands of satellites in orbit,” Carr wrote on X.
Amazon has declined to comment on the statement.
Amazon has been working to deploy its Project Kuiper satellite network, which is intended to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink service. The company has invested more than $10 billion in the program and has launched more than 200 satellites since April of last year.
Amazon has also asked the FCC for a 24-month extension, until July 2028, to meet a requirement to deploy roughly 1,600 satellites by July 2026, as noted in a CNBC report.
SpaceX’s Starlink network currently has nearly 10,000 satellites in orbit and serves roughly 10 million customers. The FCC has also authorized SpaceX to deploy 7,500 additional satellites as the company continues expanding its global satellite internet network.
![Lucid Lunar robotaxi concept [Credit: Rendering by TESLARATI]](https://www.teslarati.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/lucid-lunar-robotaxi-concept-teslarati-rendering-80x80.jpg)
Lucid unveils Lunar Robotaxi in bid to challenge Tesla’s Cybercab in the autonomous ride hailing race
Brazil Supreme Court orders Elon Musk and X investigation closed
