News
SpaceX, NASA hold press conference, historic astronaut launch clears final hurdles before readiness
With less than a month to go before the historic first crewed flight – and final human rating certification test – of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Demonstration 2 mission, NASA and SpaceX jointly held a full day of pre-mission press conferences on Friday, May 1st. Throughout the day many minor, but crucial, details were revealed.
Two primary technical concerns remained prior to Crew Dragon’s debut astronaut mission- the final drop test of the Crew Dragon Mark III parachutes and NASA’s clearance of SpaceX’s resolution of an in-flight engine-out anomaly suffered during the ascent phase of a previous Starlink mission.
Falcon 9 Merlin 1D engine-out anomaly
During the March 18th Starlink launch of a four-time flown Falcon 9 first-stage booster, a brief anomalous engine flare was witnessed during the ascent. Although ultimately successful in the deployment of the stack of 60 satellites, the first-stage booster failed to stick the landing aboard the autonomous spaceport drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” resulting in a total loss. SpaceX CEO, Elon Musk, responded to comments posted to Twitter confirming the in-flight, early shutdown anomaly of one of the nine Merlin 1D engines.
Musk provided assurance that a thorough investigation would be conducted by SpaceX prior to any return to flight. Musk also noted that the first-ever engine failure of a Merlin 1D engine proved its robustness and the importance of redundancy provided by the other eight engines.
Just prior to the next Starlink mission on April 22nd marking a recycled Falcon 9 booster’s return to flight, Musk once again took to Twitter to provide insight into the early shutdown, in-flight anomaly. Musk stated that a small amount of isopropyl alcohol, used for cleaning the Merlin 1D engines, had been trapped in a sensor dead leg – later clarified as “an area it couldn’t float through” by SpaceX webcast host Lauren Lyons – and was ignited during flight causing the early shutdown of one Merlin 1D engine.
As identified during the April 22nd launch broadcast, out of an abundance of caution SpaceX decided to forgo that cleaning process for the April 22nd mission. However, no information was divulged regarding NASA’s response to either the anomaly or the resolution. Ultimately, the first stage Falcon 9 booster of the Starlink-6 performed flawlessly and even managed to stick the landing aboard the awaiting drone ship.
During Friday’s Commercial Crew and International Space Station overview news conference, a question regarding NASA’s response to the anomaly posed by Jeff Foust – reporter for SpaceNews.com – was directed to NASA’s Commercial Crew Program program manager, Kathy Lueders. She was asked to expand on the final technical constraints remaining prior to the launch of the Crew Dragon DM-2. Lueders responded positively stating that NASA had “reviewed the anomaly resolution…and cleared the engines on our launch vehicle” referring to the Falcon 9 booster slated to support DM-2, noting that the engine-out issue had been satisfactorily resolved and is now behind them.
One more drop test
Early in Friday’s Commercial Crew and International Space Station overview news conference – and later confirmed during remarks made by Lueders – SpaceX Chief Operating Officer, Gwynne Shotwell noted that a final 27th drop test of the Crew Dragon Mk III parachutes was scheduled to be completed later in the day. During a later Q&A interview with the crew of DM-2 – NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley – Hurley commented that the final drop test had begun, however, he wasn’t quite sure if it had been completed successfully or not.
Just after the closing remarks of the crew Q&A interview, SpaceX announced via social media the successful completion of the 27th and final drop test of the all-important Mk III parachutes.
The May 1st final parachute drop test followed a worrisome stumble of the parachute program on March 24th. SpaceX announced that a Crew Dragon test article had become unstable forcing the helicopter pilot to prematurely release the test article out of an abundance of caution to maintain the safety of the helicopter crew. SpaceX noted that “while the test article was lost, this was not a failure of the parachute system and most importantly no one was injured.”
The confirmation of the successful May 1st drop test and the resolution of the Merlin 1D engine anomaly close out one of the final chapters of prerequisites prior to returning human spaceflight to American soil.
The only hurdles that remain to be cleared are various agency-level readiness reviews. According to Lueders, a SpaceX Flight Readiness Review is tentatively scheduled for Friday, May 8th followed by a NASA Flight Readiness Review on May 11th. Just one week ahead of launch, the final joint Launch Readiness Review is tentatively scheduled to be completed Wednesday, May 20th at which point DM-2 will bring crewed astronaut spaceflight back to American soil for the first time in nearly a decade.
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News
Tesla exec hints at a wild fix for Robotaxi’s biggest weather problem
Tesla VP Lars Moravy says focused lasers could keep robotaxi cameras clear instead of wipers.
Tesla may one day use lasers instead of wiper blades to keep its robotaxi cameras clear. Lars Moravy, Tesla’s Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, floated the idea in a new episode of Jay Leno’s Garage released Monday, where he and design chief Franz von Holzhausen walked Leno through the Model Y L.
“If you fire them in a focused area, you can clean the sheet of water and create a barrier,” Moravy said. “When you think about autonomy, it might be a good solution to only clean the area where the camera is.” He added that clearing an entire windshield would take too many lasers to be practical.
🚨 Jay Leno has released a new episode breaking down the Model Y L. You can watch it here: https://t.co/umMp85UEaB — TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 9, 2026
The comment brings back one of Tesla’s stranger patents. The company filed for “Pulsed Laser Cleaning of Debris Accumulated on Glass Articles in Vehicles and Photovoltaic Assemblies” in May 2019, and the U.S. Patent Office granted it in September 2021. An updated divisional version was granted on March 31, 2026. The system detects debris on the glass, identifies what it is, and pulses the laser at a calibrated rate so the beam never penetrates deeper than the glass itself. The filing names windshields, side windows, camera lenses and solar panels as possible targets.
Lasers were once rumored for the Cybertruck, which appeared at its November 2019 unveiling with no wipers at all. Tesla eventually settled on a single oversized blade, and Elon Musk admitted the wiper was the part of the truck that troubled him the most. That production line is now scheduled to shut down around mid 2027 to make room for more Cybercab output.
What has changed since then is who is in the vehicle. A privately owned car has a driver who can notice a smeared windshield and do something about it. A Cybercab heading to its next pickup has nobody on board to check. Tesla has been chipping away at that problem with conventional hardware. Model Y Robotaxis in Austin were spotted with washers on their side repeater cameras in January, and a lens cleaning patent granted in May describes a fluid and wiper assembly for vehicle cameras and Optimus’ eyes. A laser would remove the fluid and the blades, both of which need regular replacement across a fleet.
The same episode gave Leno his first ride on Full Self-Driving (Supervised). The Model Y L pulled over on its own when an ambulance approached with its sirens on. “We got it on self-driving mode! I’m not touching anything,” Leno said. Moravy and von Holzhausen also explained that owners remain responsible while using FSD (Supervised), while Tesla takes responsibility for Robotaxi rides because it acts as the operator. Tesla launched the Model Y L in the U.S. in July at $61,990.
Moravy gave no timeline, and he described the laser setup as something Tesla is considering rather than a confirmed feature. The fleet it would serve keeps getting bigger, though. Tesla launched unsupervised Robotaxi service in San Antonio on Monday, its eighth city, and expanded its Austin service area to roughly 443 square miles on the same day. Several of those markets, including Houston, Miami and Tampa, see heavy seasonal rain.
Tesla launched unsupervised Robotaxi service in San Antonio, Texas, on November 9, 2026, with the first rides beginning at 5 a.m. local time.
The company’s official Robotaxi account on X posted the announcement just after midnight, sharing a map that outlines a large operational zone covering much of the city. The geofence is roughly 274 to 275 square miles, making it Tesla’s largest day-one Robotaxi service area to date.
🚨 Tesla just announced that Robotaxi is available in San Antonio, TX
First rides at 5am local time! https://t.co/azck6NlD8H
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 9, 2026
The zone centers on downtown, covers nearly everything inside Loop 410, and extends north to Loop 1604 between Interstate 10 and U.S. 281, with further reach west past State Highway 151, east beyond I-35, and south toward I-37. This area encompasses about one million residents and hundreds of thousands of jobs.
San Antonio International Airport lies inside the geofence, though Tesla is not currently offering airport pickups or drop-offs. This hopefully will happen soon, as ride-sharing to and from the airport can be expensive.
The launch makes San Antonio Tesla’s eighth unsupervised Robotaxi city and its fifth in Texas, joining Austin, Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth. Florida markets in Miami, Orlando, and Tampa are also live.
🚨 Here’s every active geofence, by size (not including the Bay Area geofence):
• Austin: 435 sq mi (first ride Jun 22, 2025) · Cybercabs live, expanded today • San Antonio: ~275 sq mi (first ride Nov 9, 2026) • Houston: 254 sq mi (Apr 18, 2026) • Fort Worth: 143 sq mi (Nov 2, 2026) • Dallas: 81 sq mi (Apr 18, 2026) • Miami: 31 sq mi (Jul 3, 2026) • Orlando: 26 sq mi (Jul 21, 2026) • Tampa: 24 sq mi (Jul 21, 2026)
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 9, 2026
Service uses modified Model Y vehicles operating without a safety driver in the vehicle, consistent with recent unsupervised expansions. Cybercab two-seaters remain limited primarily to Austin for now. It’s worth noting that Dept. of Transportation officials in Texas have already ok’d the Cybercab’s operation in Austin, and one official called it “a tangible example of how quickly our transportation system is evolving.”
San Antonio was previously listed among near-term targets in Tesla’s October 2026 Robotaxi safety materials, alongside Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Jacksonville. The rapid Texas rollout follows Fort Worth’s unsupervised debut on November 2 and builds on Austin’s original launch in June 2025.
The 274-square-mile debut remains substantially larger than Waymo’s local footprint and marks continued progress in Tesla’s unsupervised autonomy efforts after starting the year with no such rides. The company has stated ambitions for broader 24/7 operations by the end of 2026 as vehicle counts and software reliability improve.
Tesla has started to perform earthworks engineering on the roughly 3,000-acre site in Fort Bend County, Texas, advancing the massive $10 billion Project Crystal Sun plan to build a vertically integrated solar manufacturing complex.
Flyover drone footage from S.E. Robinson, Jr. released this morning shows the location under development. Tesla has crews on site performing large clearings, but you can also see equipment staging areas, the use of an existing homestead, and active leveling across a substantial portion of the property.
Tesla has started construction on Project Crystal Sun, its $10B vertically integrated solar factory near Houston, Texas.
The plant will make everything from silicon ingots and wafers to finished cells and panels, with operations targeted for Q1 2029.
@SERobinsonJr with a great flyover of the facility:
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 9, 2026
Public filings first submitted in July under Texas’s Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation Act describe a plant that would manufacture the full solar chain: everything from silicon ingots, wafers, coated cells, and finished modules.
Tesla projects 9,712 permanent jobs by 2033, ramping from roughly 1,900 positions in the first year of operations, plus a peak of about 1,147 construction jobs. Construction is targeted for 2026–2028, with commercial production beginning in the first quarter of 2029. An accompanying economic analysis estimates the project could add roughly $107 billion to Texas GDP over several decades.
Local incentives have cleared major hurdles. Lamar Consolidated Independent School District unanimously approved school-tax limitations in September, and Fort Bend County commissioners approved a package of abatements and related agreements in late October that could extend equipment tax breaks for as long as 35 years.
Tesla had previously indicated it was evaluating a competing out-of-state location.
The effort fits broader statements by Musk that Tesla and SpaceX are each working toward 100 gigawatts of annual U.S. solar manufacturing capacity. If built as described, Project Crystal Sun would stand as one of the largest domestic attempts to create a fully integrated solar supply chain on American soil.
While Tesla has not issued a formal groundbreaking announcement, the visible site preparation and high-profile social media activity represent a concrete step forward for a project that has moved from confidential filings to active earthworks in a matter of months.
Tesla exec hints at a wild fix for Robotaxi’s biggest weather problem
Tesla Robotaxi enters its newest city, reaching San Antonio
