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SpaceX’s ninth Starlink launch gets a boost from first all-women weather crew
SpaceX’s second Starlink launch of the month is currently tracking towards a June 13th liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
In order for a rocket launch to get off the ground, however, a perfect mix of ingredients must come together. One of the most crucial ingredients is the weather. Behind the scenes, the U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron of the 45th Space Wing Operations Group – based out of Patrick Air Force Base – works diligently to monitor and predict weather conditions leading up to and at the time of liftoff. Every rocket launch that lifts off from Kennedy Space Center or Cape Canaveral Air Force Station utilizes the weather monitoring services provided by the 45th Weather Squadron and SpaceX – the most prolific US launch company is – no different.
For SpaceX’s upcoming Starlink V1 L8 Rideshare Program mission, the entire weather team on console is female, a first in program history. The team is made up of six women all responsible for specific roles that must coordinate and work cohesively to monitor the weather and determine when it is safe to launch the Falcon 9.
The diverse team is comprised of military personnel and civilian weather officers. It is overseen by Maj Emily Graves, Launch Weather Commander, and orchestrated by Capt. Nancy Zimmerman, Launch Weather Director. A Lead Launch Weather Officer, Arlena Moses, coordinates information between the launch customer, SpaceX, and the 45th while three other members constantly monitor and decipher mountains of weather data.
Airman 1st class Hannah Mulcahey serves as Duty Forecaster and Jessica Williams serves as Radar Launch Weather Officer. Williams is responsible for monitoring information produced by a series of systems every three minutes. She monitors radar data for the amount of precipitation, clouds that are present in the area, and the thickness of the clouds among other things. This information is used to determine whether or not the rocket’s flight path is safe for the duration of the mission. Thick clouds can be an indicator of an unstable atmosphere capable of producing electricity – either naturally as cloud produced lightning or lightning produced by a rocket thrusting through the unstable atmosphere called triggered lightning.
Should radar information be too ambiguous or overexaggerated, the Reconnaissance Launch Weather Officer, Melody Lovin, coordinates the mission with a reconnaissance aircraft known as Weather One. For SpaceX’s upcoming launch, Weather One will only be activated if there is going to be bad weather present for launch, a small possibility if the launch date slips. Other launch customers such as NASA or United Launch Alliance will sometimes have Weather One in the air on standby throughout the duration of the countdown to launch dependent on mission constraints.
When Launch Weather Director, Capt Nancy Zimmerman, was asked during a media teleconference about how this historical assignment came about, she stated that it was pure coincidence. “It was happenstance. The flight commander of space lift, my supervisor, actually created a team, as he always does, and was like ‘Huh, this is actually an all-female team. Have we ever done this?’ And looking back through the database, you know, it hasn’t been done and he was like ‘Well, should we do this?’ and I said ‘Yes, let’s do it.’” Zimmerman said .
A primary factor enabling an all-female led launch weather team is simply that the workforce of the 45th Weather Squadron is now comprised of more females than ever before. According to Lovin, “We simply have more women on the team. Before we only had one and that was from the year 2000 to 2018 and 2018 came around and a lot of resident launch weather officers left and they also decided to expand the unit.” She went on to state that the massive uptick in launches from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Kennedy Space Center was a driving factor of the weather unit expansion, “when they expanded the unit they hired three more women, so that means we have six women on the team.”
The personnel of the 45th Weather Squadron work day in and day out to monitor and forecast weather conditions ensuring safe air and space operation all year round. When it comes to rocket launches, watching the weather begins early and is done frequently. Weather patterns in central Florida can change rapidly causing a rocket launch attempt to be scrubbed completely, which is what occurred with SpaceX’s first attempt to launch NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station.
Understanding and tracking developing weather patterns of central Florida allows the 45th Weather Squadron to create launch mission execution forecasts that outline a possibility of violation (POV) of specific launch weather constraints ahead of a launch attempt and any planned backup attempts. These comprehensive forecasts cover everything from systems like frontal boundaries that influence area weather to the type of clouds expected at the time of launch. The forecasts are put together based on a series of ten Lightning Launch Commit Criteria rules and a series of user-defined constraint rules that are specific to each mission and launch vehicle such as SpaceX’s Falcon 9 or United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V for example.
The ten lightning launch commit criteria rules have been in place since the 1980s when an Atlas-Centaur rocket was ultimately lost due to triggered lightning. The rocket launched into a highly unstable and electrified atmosphere full of thick clouds creating the conditions necessary to trigger a lightning strike of the vehicle. It lost its navigation system and began to dangerously veer from its course. It was then destroyed in-flight by launch teams.
Given the high degree of uncertainty of Florida weather, a well-versed team of highly trained weather professionals is a necessary piece of the puzzle that is rocket launching. For the first time, that team is made up of incredibly inspiring females that undoubtedly will make the correct GO/NO GO call on launch day.
For SpaceX’s first Starlink SmallSat Rideshare Program mission, targeted to launch no earlier than (NET) Saturday, June 13 at 5:21 a.m. EDT (09:21 UTC), the 45th Weather Squadron team predicts a 30% chance of violation – meaning that weather is 70% GO for launch. The primary concern is a bank of cumulus clouds expected to be in the area. You can view the full launch mission execution forecast on the 45th Weather Squadron’s website.
Check out Teslarati’s newsletters for prompt updates, on-the-ground perspectives, and unique glimpses of SpaceX’s rocket launch and recovery processes.
News
Tesla adds awesome new driving feature to Model Y
Tesla is rolling out a new “Comfort Braking” feature with Software Update 2026.8. The feature is exclusive to the new Model Y, and is currently unavailable for any other vehicle in the Tesla lineup.
Tesla is adding an awesome new driving feature to Model Y vehicles, effective on Juniper-updated models considered model year 2026 or newer.
Tesla is rolling out a new “Comfort Braking” feature with Software Update 2026.8. The feature is exclusive to the new Model Y, and is currently unavailable for any other vehicle in the Tesla lineup.
Tesla writes in the release notes for the feature:
“Your Tesla now provides a smoother feel as you come to a complete stop during routine braking.”
🚨 Tesla has added a new “Comfort Braking” update with 2026.8
“Your Tesla provides a smoother feel as you come to a complete stop during routine braking.” https://t.co/afqCpBSVeA pic.twitter.com/C6MRmzfzls
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) March 13, 2026
Interestingly, we’re not too sure what catalyzed Tesla to try to improve braking smoothness, because it hasn’t seemed overly abrupt or rough from my perspective. Although the brake pedal in my Model Y is rarely used due to Regenerative Braking, it seems Tesla wanted to try to make the ride comfort even smoother for owners.
There is always room for improvement, though, and it seems that there is a way to make braking smoother for passengers while the vehicle is coming to a stop.
This is far from the first time Tesla has attempted to improve its ride comfort through Over-the-Air updates, as it has rolled out updates to improve regenerative braking performance, handling while using Full Self-Driving, improvements to Steer-by-Wire to Cybertruck, and even recent releases that have combatted Active Road Noise.
Tesla holds a unique ability to change the functionality of its vehicles through software updates, which have come in handy for many things, including remedying certain recalls and shipping new features to the Full Self-Driving suite.
Tesla seems to have the most seamless OTA processes, as many automakers have the ability to ship improvements through a simple software update.
We’re really excited to test the update, so when we get an opportunity to try out Comfort Braking when it makes it to our Model Y.
News
Tesla finally brings a Robotaxi update that Android users will love
The breakdown of the software version shows that Tesla is actively developing an Android-compatible version of the Robotaxi app, and the company is developing Live Activities for Android.
Tesla is finally bringing an update of its Robotaxi platform that Android users will love — mostly because it seems like they will finally be able to use the ride-hailing platform that the company has had active since last June.
Based on a decompile of software version 26.2.0 of the Robotaxi app, Tesla looks to be ready to roll out access to Android users.
According to the breakdown, performed by Tesla App Updates, the company is preparing to roll out an Android version of the app as it is developing several features for that operating system.
🚨 It looks like Tesla is preparing to launch the Robotaxi app for Android users at last!
A decompile of v26.2.0 of the Robotaxi app shows some progress on the Android side for Robotaxi 🤖 🚗 https://t.co/mThmoYuVLy
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) March 13, 2026
The breakdown of the software version shows that Tesla is actively developing an Android-compatible version of the Robotaxi app, and the company is developing Live Activities for Android:
“Strings like notification_channel_robotaxid_trip_name and android_native_alicorn_eta_text show exactly how Tesla plans to replicate the iOS Live Activities experience. Instead of standard push alerts, Android users are getting a persistent, dynamically updating notification channel.”
This is a big step forward for several reasons. From a face-value perspective, Tesla is finally ready to offer Robotaxi to Android users.
The company has routinely prioritized Apple releases because there is a higher concentration of iPhone users in its ownership base. Additionally, the development process for Apple is simply less laborious.
Tesla is working to increase Android capabilities in its vehicles
Secondly, the Robotaxi rollout has been a typical example of “slowly then all at once.”
Tesla initially released Robotaxi access to a handful of media members and influencers. Eventually, it was expanded to more users, so that anyone using an iOS device could download the app and hail a semi-autonomous ride in Austin or the Bay Area.
Opening up the user base to Android users may show that Tesla is preparing to allow even more users to utilize its Robotaxi platform, and although it seems to be a few months away from only offering fully autonomous rides to anyone with app access, the expansion of the user base to an entirely different user base definitely seems like its a step in the right direction.
News
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.
Tesla adds awesome new driving feature to Model Y
Tesla finally brings a Robotaxi update that Android users will love
![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)
