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SpaceX outfits first orbital-class Starship booster with grid fins, Raptor engines
In the space of two days, SpaceX has outfitted Starship’s first orbital-class Super Heavy booster with four car-sized grid fins, stacked the rocket to its full height, and begun the process of installing up to 29 Raptor engines.
As part of what CEO Elon Musk has described as a “Starbase Surge,” SpaceX has reportedly sent hundreds of employees normaly stationed in California, Florida, and Central Texas to Boca Chica. There, SpaceX has been working for months to build Starship’s first orbital launch pad and first orbital-class ship and booster and prepare all three for an inaugural “Orbital Test Flight” as quickly as possible. Originally scheduled to occur no later than July 2021, Musk’s extremely ambitious target unsurprisingly came and went but SpaceX appears to be well on its way to an “aim for the Moon; miss; fall among the stars” situation as all the parts of Starship’s orbital launch debut begin to come together.
In the last few days, it’s become abundantly clear that SpaceX is likely moving faster than even its most optimistic followers expected.
On July 30th, after less than two days of assembly, Super Heavy Booster 4’s completed (upper) methane tank stack – 13 rings and ~25m (85 ft) tall was briefly rolled out of SpaceX’s Boca Chica ‘high bay.’ A few hours later, the booster tank was rolled back in and SpaceX technicians kicked off the installation of four car-sized steel grid fins. A day and a half later, all four fins were installed.
Unlike the famous cast titanium grid fins on Falcon boosters, Super Heavy’s fins are built out of welded steel (much heavier but magnitudes cheaper) and not designed to retract, meaning that they will remain in their deployed configuration at all times. While also allowing for a much simpler design, B4’s fixed (but rotatable) grid fins will also make it dramatically easier to catch Super Heavy boosters – as Elon Musk has said is the plan – on their grid fins using a giant tower with arms.
Almost immediately after the last grid fin was installed, SpaceX moved Super Heavy B4’s larger (aft) liquid oxygen tank stack onto a stand optimized for transport and stacked the newly finned methane tank on top of the rocket, raising it to its full ~65m (~215 ft) height. After stacking, it takes a team of SpaceX welders at least several hours to join the two steel booster sections into one monolithic rocket.
At the same time as technicians were working to complete Booster 4’s airframe, SpaceX accepted delivery of no less than five Raptor engines, raising the total number of engines delivered in the last five days to at least 18 – including two Raptor Vacuum variants for Starship S20.
In a sign of the breakneck pace SpaceX is working at, teams began installing Raptor engines on Booster 4 before its two halves were fully welded together. In a matter of hours, no less than 12 Raptor Boost (RB) engines have been rolled out of one of SpaceX’s three Boca Chica factory tents and lined up for installation on the first flightworthy Super Heavy. Requiring 29 engines total, it’s not implausible that SpaceX is attempt to fully outfit Booster 4 with all of its Raptors before rolling the rocket down the road to the orbital launch pad.
According to Elon Musk, SpaceX could attempt to install the Super Heavy booster on the pad’s launch mount/table (integrated just days ago) as early as “~Tuesday” and the company has already filed for transport-related road closure on Monday afternoon.
Elon Musk
SpaceX pursues 5G-level connectivity with Starlink Mobile V2 expansion
SpaceX noted that the upcoming Starlink V2 satellites will deliver up to 100 times the data density of the current first-generation system.
SpaceX has previewed a major upgrade to Starlink Mobile, outlining next-generation satellites that aim to deliver significantly higher capacity and full 5G-level connectivity directly to mobile phones.
The update comes as Starlink rebrands its Direct-to-Cell service to Starlink Mobile, positioning the platform as a scalable satellite-to-mobile solution that’s integrated with global telecom partners.
SpaceX noted that the upcoming Starlink V2 satellites will deliver up to 100 times the data density of the current first-generation system. The company also noted that the new V2 satellites are designed to provide significantly higher throughput capability compared to its current iteration.
“The next generation of Starlink Mobile satellites – V2 – will deliver full cellular coverage to places never thought possible via the highest performing satellite-to-mobile network ever built.
“Driven by custom SpaceX-designed silicon and phased array antennas, the satellites will support thousands of spatial beams and higher bandwidth capability, enabling around 20x the throughput capability as compared to a first-generation satellite,” SpaceX wrote in its official Starlink Mobile page.
Thanks to the higher bandwidth of Starlink Mobile, users should be able to stream, browse the internet, use high-speed apps, and enjoy voice services comparable to terrestrial cellular networks.
In most environments, Starlink says the upgraded system will enable full 5G cellular connectivity with a user experience similar to existing ground-based networks.
The satellites function as “cell towers in space,” using advanced phased-array antennas and laser interlinks to integrate with terrestrial infrastructure in a roaming-like architecture.
“Starlink Mobile works with existing LTE phones wherever you can see the sky. The satellites have an antenna that acts like a cellphone tower in space, the most advanced phased array antennas in the world that connect seamlessly over lasers to any point in the globe, allowing network integration similar to a standard roaming partner,” SpaceX wrote.
Starlink Mobile currently operates with approximately 650 satellites in low-Earth orbit and is active across more than 32 countries, representing over 1.7 billion people through partnerships with mobile network operators. Starlink Mobile’s current partnerships span North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, allowing reciprocal access across participating nations.
News
Tesla FSD (Supervised) fleet passes 8.4 billion cumulative miles
The figure appears on Tesla’s official safety page, which tracks performance data for FSD (Supervised) and other safety technologies.
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system has now surpassed 8.4 billion cumulative miles.
The figure appears on Tesla’s official safety page, which tracks performance data for FSD (Supervised) and other safety technologies.
Tesla has long emphasized that large-scale real-world data is central to improving its neural network-based approach to autonomy. Each mile driven with FSD (Supervised) engaged contributes additional edge cases and scenario training for the system.
The milestone also brings Tesla closer to a benchmark previously outlined by CEO Elon Musk. Musk has stated that roughly 10 billion miles of training data may be needed to achieve safe unsupervised self-driving at scale, citing the “long tail” of rare but complex driving situations that must be learned through experience.
The growth curve of FSD Supervised’s cumulative miles over the past five years has been notable.
As noted in data shared by Tesla watcher Sawyer Merritt, annual FSD (Supervised) miles have increased from roughly 6 million in 2021 to 80 million in 2022, 670 million in 2023, 2.25 billion in 2024, and 4.25 billion in 2025. In just the first 50 days of 2026, Tesla owners logged another 1 billion miles.
At the current pace, the fleet is trending towards hitting about 10 billion FSD Supervised miles this year. The increase has been driven by Tesla’s growing vehicle fleet, periodic free trials, and expanding Robotaxi operations, among others.
With the fleet now past 8.4 billion cumulative miles, Tesla’s supervised system is approaching that threshold, even as regulatory approval for fully unsupervised deployment remains subject to further validation and oversight.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk fires back after Wikipedia co-founder claims neutrality and dubs Grokipedia “ridiculous”
Musk’s response to Wales’ comments, which were posted on social media platform X, was short and direct: “Famous last words.”
Elon Musk fired back at Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales after the longtime online encyclopedia leader dismissed xAI’s new AI-powered alternative, Grokipedia, as a “ridiculous” idea that is bound to fail.
Musk’s response to Wales’ comments, which were posted on social media platform X, was short and direct: “Famous last words.”
Wales made the comments while answering questions about Wikipedia’s neutrality. According to Wales, Wikipedia prides itself on neutrality.
“One of our core values at Wikipedia is neutrality. A neutral point of view is non-negotiable. It’s in the community, unquestioned… The idea that we’ve become somehow ‘Wokepidea’ is just not true,” Wales said.
When asked about potential competition from Grokipedia, Wales downplayed the situation. “There is no competition. I don’t know if anyone uses Grokipedia. I think it is a ridiculous idea that will never work,” Wales wrote.
After Grokipedia went live, Larry Sanger, also a co-founder of Wikipedia, wrote on X that his initial impression of the AI-powered Wikipedia alternative was “very OK.”
“My initial impression, looking at my own article and poking around here and there, is that Grokipedia is very OK. The jury’s still out as to whether it’s actually better than Wikipedia. But at this point I would have to say ‘maybe!’” Sanger stated.
Musk responded to Sanger’s assessment by saying it was “accurate.” In a separate post, he added that even in its V0.1 form, Grokipedia was already better than Wikipedia.
During a past appearance on the Tucker Carlson Show, Sanger argued that Wikipedia has drifted from its original vision, citing concerns about how its “Reliable sources/Perennial sources” framework categorizes publications by perceived credibility. As per Sanger, Wikipedia’s “Reliable sources/Perennial sources” list leans heavily left, with conservative publications getting effectively blacklisted in favor of their more liberal counterparts.
As of writing, Grokipedia has reportedly surpassed 80% of English Wikipedia’s article count.
SpaceX pursues 5G-level connectivity with Starlink Mobile V2 expansion
Tesla FSD (Supervised) fleet passes 8.4 billion cumulative miles
