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SpaceX’s next Starship prototype is already closing in on its first tests
Continuing a trend of massive steel rockets built in a matter of days and weeks instead of months, SpaceX’s next Starship prototype is already closing in on its first tests.
SpaceX’s newest vehicle is set to pick up where the third full-scale Starship prototype – coincidentally known as SN3 – left off after operator error lead to its premature destruction on April 3rd. Now a pile of scrap metal, that ship only made it partway through cryogenic proof testing when its upper tank – almost fully filled with chemically-neutral liquid nitrogen – toppled over and pulled the rest of the prototype with it. With (hopefully) improved test procedures, Starship SN4 is now set to carry that torch forward.
Following the late Starship SN1 and SN3 prototypes, SN4 is on track to be the third full-scale, functional Starship prototype built in a handful of weeks thanks to major factory upgrades SpaceX has completed in recent months. While the loss of any particular prototype is undoubtedly a setback each time it happens, such a high rate and (apparently) low cost of production means that no single failure should be a major disruption, allowing SpaceX to iterate incredibly quickly as it learns from a flurry of real-world tests.
Like SN3, SpaceX’s next prototype will soon be fully stacked and transported down the road from the factory to a nearby launch and test facility, both situated directly on the South Texas Gulf Coast. Based on SN1 and SN3, SN4 could be just a week or so away from that transport milestone. SN3, for example, reached Starship SN4’s current state of assembly around March 20th. Eight days later, the vehicle was moved to the launch pad for its first tests.
On April 12th, SpaceX technicians flipped Starship SN4’s aft-most section, doubling as a bottom dome of its liquid oxygen tank and a mounting point for three Raptor engines. Starship SN3 passed the same point around March 18th, just ten days before it was moved to the launch pad. Per SN3’s assembly schedule, it should be just 2-3 days before SpaceX wraps up Starship SN4’s engine section by adding another two rings, followed by the engine section’s integration with the rest of the rocket approximately 5-7 days from now.
Based on Starship SN3’s behavior before a badly-designed test triggered the series of events that destroyed it, the ship appeared to be performing extremely well with its upper (methane) tank almost completely full of super-cool liquid nitrogen. If Starship SN4 does a similarly good job and makes it through the rest of the test that SN3 was unable to, SpaceX has three Raptors already tested and ready to go for their first triple-engine static fire ever.
At this point, those engines are simply waiting in a nearby hangar for a Starship prototype to be declared flight (or at least static fire) worthy. Even more excitingly, should both the engines and the Starship in question perform flawlessly during those tests, the first flights are expected to follow very soon after. Whether it’s able to summit that particular hurdle, Starship SN4’s current rate of production suggests that the ship will be ready to kick off testing later this month, perhaps less than three weeks after its predecessor kicked the bucket. Stay tuned!
Elon Musk
Starlink passes 9 million active customers just weeks after hitting 8 million
The milestone highlights the accelerating growth of Starlink, which has now been adding over 20,000 new users per day.
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service has continued its rapid global expansion, surpassing 9 million active customers just weeks after crossing the 8 million mark.
The milestone highlights the accelerating growth of Starlink, which has now been adding over 20,000 new users per day.
9 million customers
In a post on X, SpaceX stated that Starlink now serves over 9 million active users across 155 countries, territories, and markets. The company reached 8 million customers in early November, meaning it added roughly 1 million subscribers in under seven weeks, or about 21,275 new users on average per day.
“Starlink is connecting more than 9M active customers with high-speed internet across 155 countries, territories, and many other markets,” Starlink wrote in a post on its official X account. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell also celebrated the milestone on X. “A huge thank you to all of our customers and congrats to the Starlink team for such an incredible product,” she wrote.
That growth rate reflects both rising demand for broadband in underserved regions and Starlink’s expanding satellite constellation, which now includes more than 9,000 low-Earth-orbit satellites designed to deliver high-speed, low-latency internet worldwide.
Starlink’s momentum
Starlink’s momentum has been building up. SpaceX reported 4.6 million Starlink customers in December 2024, followed by 7 million by August 2025, and 8 million customers in November. Independent data also suggests Starlink usage is rising sharply, with Cloudflare reporting that global web traffic from Starlink users more than doubled in 2025, as noted in an Insider report.
Starlink’s momentum is increasingly tied to SpaceX’s broader financial outlook. Elon Musk has said the satellite network is “by far” the company’s largest revenue driver, and reports suggest SpaceX may be positioning itself for an initial public offering as soon as next year, with valuations estimated as high as $1.5 trillion. Musk has also suggested in the past that Starlink could have its own IPO in the future.
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NVIDIA Director of Robotics: Tesla FSD v14 is the first AI to pass the “Physical Turing Test”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine.
NVIDIA Director of Robotics Jim Fan has praised Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14 as the first AI to pass what he described as a “Physical Turing Test.”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine. And just like smartphones today, removing it now would “actively hurt.”
Jim Fan’s hands-on FSD v14 impressions
Fan, a leading researcher in embodied AI who is currently solving Physical AI at NVIDIA and spearheading the company’s Project GR00T initiative, noted that he actually was late to the Tesla game. He was, however, one of the first to try out FSD v14.
“I was very late to own a Tesla but among the earliest to try out FSD v14. It’s perhaps the first time I experience an AI that passes the Physical Turing Test: after a long day at work, you press a button, lay back, and couldn’t tell if a neural net or a human drove you home,” Fan wrote in a post on X.
Fan added: “Despite knowing exactly how robot learning works, I still find it magical watching the steering wheel turn by itself. First it feels surreal, next it becomes routine. Then, like the smartphone, taking it away actively hurts. This is how humanity gets rewired and glued to god-like technologies.”
The Physical Turing Test
The original Turing Test was conceived by Alan Turing in 1950, and it was aimed at determining if a machine could exhibit behavior that is equivalent to or indistinguishable from a human. By focusing on text-based conversations, the original Turing Test set a high bar for natural language processing and machine learning.
This test has been passed by today’s large language models. However, the capability to converse in a humanlike manner is a completely different challenge from performing real-world problem-solving or physical interactions. Thus, Fan introduced the Physical Turing Test, which challenges AI systems to demonstrate intelligence through physical actions.
Based on Fan’s comments, Tesla has demonstrated these intelligent physical actions with FSD v14. Elon Musk agreed with the NVIDIA executive, stating in a post on X that with FSD v14, “you can sense the sentience maturing.” Musk also praised Tesla AI, calling it the best “real-world AI” today.
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Tesla AI team burns the Christmas midnight oil by releasing FSD v14.2.2.1
The update was released just a day after FSD v14.2.2 started rolling out to customers.
Tesla is burning the midnight oil this Christmas, with the Tesla AI team quietly rolling out Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.2.2.1 just a day after FSD v14.2.2 started rolling out to customers.
Tesla owner shares insights on FSD v14.2.2.1
Longtime Tesla owner and FSD tester @BLKMDL3 shared some insights following several drives with FSD v14.2.2.1 in rainy Los Angeles conditions with standing water and faded lane lines. He reported zero steering hesitation or stutter, confident lane changes, and maneuvers executed with precision that evoked the performance of Tesla’s driverless Robotaxis in Austin.
Parking performance impressed, with most spots nailed perfectly, including tight, sharp turns, in single attempts without shaky steering. One minor offset happened only due to another vehicle that was parked over the line, which FSD accommodated by a few extra inches. In rain that typically erases road markings, FSD visualized lanes and turn lines better than humans, positioning itself flawlessly when entering new streets as well.
“Took it up a dark, wet, and twisty canyon road up and down the hill tonight and it went very well as to be expected. Stayed centered in the lane, kept speed well and gives a confidence inspiring steering feel where it handles these curvy roads better than the majority of human drivers,” the Tesla owner wrote in a post on X.
Tesla’s FSD v14.2.2 update
Just a day before FSD v14.2.2.1’s release, Tesla rolled out FSD v14.2.2, which was focused on smoother real-world performance, better obstacle awareness, and precise end-of-trip routing. According to the update’s release notes, FSD v14.2.2 upgrades the vision encoder neural network with higher resolution features, enhancing detection of emergency vehicles, road obstacles, and human gestures.
New Arrival Options also allowed users to select preferred drop-off styles, such as Parking Lot, Street, Driveway, Parking Garage, or Curbside, with the navigation pin automatically adjusting to the ideal spot. Other refinements include pulling over for emergency vehicles, real-time vision-based detours for blocked roads, improved gate and debris handling, and Speed Profiles for customized driving styles.
Starlink passes 9 million active customers just weeks after hitting 8 million
NVIDIA Director of Robotics: Tesla FSD v14 is the first AI to pass the “Physical Turing Test”
