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SpaceX installs Raptor Vacuum engine on first orbital-class Starship
Update: Providing the best views yet of the Raptor Vacuum installation process, SpaceX began installing one of Starship S20’s six engines (one of at least two recently trucked to the launch site) on Monday morning.
It remains to be seen exactly how many engines will be installed on Ship 20 or how many will be ignited during its first static fire test but barring the delivery of more Raptors, signs currently point to an initial test of two engines – one sea-level-optimized Raptor Center (RC) and one Raptor Vacuum with a much larger nozzle. Whenever Ship 20 does fire up those engines, it will be the first static fire of a RVac engine installed on a Starship and the first simultaneous, side-by-side static fire of two different Raptor variants. Since publishing time, SpaceX has cancelled a Tuesday road closure, pushing Starship S20’s first static fire attempt to no earlier than (NET) Wednesday evening.
For the third time in two months, SpaceX has begun installing Raptor engines on its first orbital-class Starship prototype – hopefully for good.
In no uncertain terms, Starship 20’s (S20) path to what could be its last Raptor installations has been about as windy and mysterious as they come. Starship 20 (S20) left the Starbase factory floor for the first time in early August – all six Raptors installed in another program first – for a brief fit check and photo op. After spending about an hour installed on top of Super Heavy Booster 4 (B4), Ship 20 was removed and returned to the build site, where teams removed all six engines and finished wiring and plumbing the vehicle.
Days before the ship’s long-anticipated trip to Starbase’s suborbital launch site for qualification testing, the mount SpaceX prepared for the process quickly had hydraulic rams – used to safely simulate Raptor thrust – were abruptly removed. Starship S20 was then installed on the Pad B mount, where SpaceX proceeded to reinstall six Raptors. Weeks later, after slow heat shield repairs neared completion, SpaceX again removed Ship 20’s Raptors and reinstalled the hydraulic rams it had removed – unused – the month prior. Finally, on September 30th, some seven weeks after the prototype arrived at the suborbital launch site, SpaceX put Starship S20 through its first major test – a lengthy ‘cryoproof’.
Now, ten days after completing a seemingly flawless cryoproof test on its first try, SpaceX has once again trucked multiple Raptors – at least one sea level and one vacuum engine – from the Starbase build site to Starship S20’s suborbital test stand. From the outside looking in, it’s hard not to view the contradictory path S20 took to its first tests – and is still taking to its first static fire(s) – as an unusually visible sign of some kind of internal tug of war or major communication failure between different SpaceX groups or executives.
It’s impossible to determine anything specific beyond the apparent fact that several of the steps taken from Ship 20’s first factory departure to its first cryoproof and static fire tests could have probably been deleted entirely with no harm done and many dozens of hours of work saved. At the end of the day, Starship S20 completed cryoproof testing without issue on the first try and is now seemingly on track to begin its first static fire test campaign later this month.
At the moment, SpaceX has three possible static fire test windows scheduled from 5pm to midnight CDT on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (Oct 12-14). A similar Monday window was canceled days ago on October 7th, suggesting that more cancellations are probably on the horizon. For now, there’s a chance that Starship S20 – with anywhere from two to all six Raptor engines installed – will fire up for the first time before next weekend. It’s hard to say how exactly SpaceX will proceed. It’s not inconceivable that SpaceX will install all six engines and gradually ramp up to a full six-engine static fire over several tests.
Given that SpaceX has already static fired three Raptor Center (RC) engines on multiple Starship and Super Heavy prototypes, odds are good that Starship S20’s test campaign will be similar – beginning with a three-Raptor static fire, in other words. SpaceX could then add one, two, or all three Raptor Vacuum engines into the fray for one or more additional tests with 4-6 engines total. It’s also possible that suborbital launch mount and pad limitations will prevent more than three engines from firing at once, in which case SpaceX would presumably perform two separate tests of Ship 20’s Raptor Center and Raptor Vacuum engines.
Given that two Raptor variants have never been static fired simultaneously on the same vehicle, it’s hard to imagine that SpaceX won’t also want to perform one or several combined static fires with Raptor Vacuum and Raptor Center engines on Ship 20.
Elon Musk
SpaceX just got pulled into the biggest Weapons Program in U.S. history
SpaceX joins the Golden Dome software group, deepening its role in America’s most expensive defense program.
SpaceX has joined a nine-company group developing the core operating software for the Golden Dome, America’s next-generation missile defense system. According to a Bloomberg report, SpaceX is focused on integrating satellite communications for military operations and is working alongside eight other defense and artificial intelligence companies, including Anduril Industries, Palantir Technologies, and Aalyria Technologies, to build software connecting missile defense capabilities.
The Golden Dome concept dates back to President Trump’s 2024 campaign, and on January 27, 2025, he signed an executive order directing the U.S. Armed Forces to construct the system before the end of his term. The system is planned to employ a constellation of thousands of satellites equipped with interceptors, with data centers in space providing automated control through an AI network.
FCC accepts SpaceX filing for 1 million orbital data center plan
Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein, director of the Golden Dome initiative, has described the software layer as a “glue layer” that would enable officers to manage and control radars, sensors, and missile batteries across services. The consortium is aiming to test the platform this summer.
Trump selected a design in May 2025 with a $175 billion price tag, expected to be operational by the end of his term in 2029, though the Congressional Budget Office projected the cost could reach $831 billion over two decades.
The Golden Dome role is only the latest in a string of military wins for SpaceX. As Teslarati reported, the U.S. Space Force awarded SpaceX a $178.5 million task order on April 1, 2026 to launch missile tracking satellites for the Space Development Agency, covering two Falcon 9 launches beginning in Q3 2027. That came on top of more than $22 billion in government contracts held by SpaceX as of 2024, per CEO Gwynne Shotwell, spanning NASA resupply missions, classified intelligence satellites through its Starshield program, and military broadband.
The accumulation of defense contracts, now including a seat at the table on the most expensive weapons program in U.S. history, positions SpaceX as the dominant infrastructure provider for American national security in space. With a SpaceX IPO still on the horizon, each new contract adds weight to what is already one of the most consequential companies in aerospace history, raising real questions about how much of America’s defense architecture will depend on a single private operator before it ever trades publicly.
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Tesla pulls back the curtain on Cybercab mass production
Tesla’s Cybercab drives itself off the Gigafactory Texas line in a striking new production video.
Tesla has provided a first look from inside a production Cybercab as it drove itself off the assembly line at Gigafactory Texas. The video footage, posted on X, opens on the factory floor with robotic arms and assembly equipment visible through the Cybercab windshield, and follows the car through a branded tunnel marked “Cybercab”, before autonomously navigating itself to a holding lot.
The first Cybercab rolled off the Giga Texas production line on February 17, 2026, with Musk writing on X, “Congratulations to the Tesla team on making the first production Cybercab.” April marked the official shift to volume production. The Giga Texas line is being prepared to produce hundreds of units per week, with 60 units already spotted on the Gigafactory campus earlier this month.
Purpose-built for autonomy
Cybercab in production now at Giga Texas pic.twitter.com/Y9qG3KyWBa
— Tesla (@Tesla) April 23, 2026
The Cybercab was first revealed publicly at Tesla’s “We, Robot” event in October 2024 at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California, where 20 pre-production units gave attendees rides around the studio lot. Musk said he believed the average operating cost would be around $0.20 per mile, and that buyers would be able to purchase one for under $30,000. The two-seat design is deliberate. Musk noted that 90 percent of miles driven involve one or two people, making a compact two-passenger vehicle the most efficient configuration for a fleet-scale robotaxi. Eliminating rear seats also removes complexity and cost, supporting that sub-$30,000 target.
Tesla’s annual production goal is 2 million Cybercabs per year once several factories reach full design capacity. The Cybercab has no steering wheel, no pedals, and relies entirely on Tesla’s vision-based FSD system. What the video shows is the first evidence of that system working not as a demo, but as a production reality, driving itself off the line and into the world.
🚗 Our first ride in Tesla Cybercab last October: pic.twitter.com/kGqIqgJPRn https://t.co/BITCXFhbVd
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) April 22, 2025
Elon Musk
Elon Musk talks Tesla Roadster’s future
Elon Musk confirmed the Roadster as Tesla’s last manually driven car, with a debut coming soon.
During Tesla’s Q1 2026 earnings call on April 22, Elon Musk made a brief but notable comment about the long-awaited next generation Roadster while describing Tesla’s future vehicle lineup. “Long term, the only manually driven car will be the new Tesla Roadster,” he said. “Speaking of which, we may be able to debut that in a month or so. It requires a lot of testing and validation before we can actually have a demo and not have something go wrong with the demo.”
That single statement is the entire Roadster update from yesterday’s call, and while it represents another timeline shift, it comes as no surprise with Tesla heads-down-at-work on the mass rollout of its Robotaxi service across US cities, and the industrial scale production of the humanoid Optimus.
The fact that Musk specifically framed the Roadster as the last manually driven Tesla is significant on its own. As the rest of the lineup moves toward full autonomy, the Roadster becomes something rare in the Tesla-sphere by keeping the driver in control. Driving enthusiasts who buy a $200,000 supercar are not doing so to be passengers. They want the physical connection to the road, the feel of acceleration under their own input, and the experience of controlling something with that level of performance. FSD, however capable it becomes, removes that entirely. The Roadster signals that Tesla understands this distinction and is building a car specifically for the people who consider driving itself the point.
Tesla isn’t joking about building Optimus at an industrial scale: Here we go
The specs for the Roadster Musk has teased over the years are genuinely unlike anything in production. The base model targets 0 to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds, a top speed above 250 mph, and up to 620 miles of range from a 200 kWh battery. The optional SpaceX package takes it further, rumored to add roughly ten cold gas thrusters operating at 10,000 psi, borrowed directly from Falcon 9 rocket technology. With thrusters, Musk has claimed 0 to 60 mph in as little as 1.1 seconds. In a 2021 Joe Rogan interview he went further, stating “I want it to hover. We got to figure out how to make it hover without killing people.” Tesla filed a patent for ground effect technology in August 2025, suggesting the hover concept has not been abandoned. The starting price remains $200,000, with the Founders Series requiring a $250,000 full deposit. Some reservation holders placed those deposits in 2017 and are approaching a full decade of waiting.
With production now targeted for 2027 or 2028 at the earliest, the Roadster remains Tesla’s most audacious promise and its longest-running delay. But if what Musk is testing lives up to even half of what he has described, the demo alone should be worth waiting for.
Elon Musk says the Tesla Roadster unveiling could be done “maybe in a month or so.”
He said it should be an extraordinary unveiling event. pic.twitter.com/6V9P7zmvEm
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) April 22, 2026
SpaceX just got pulled into the biggest Weapons Program in U.S. history
Tesla pulls back the curtain on Cybercab mass production
