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SpaceX’s Raptor engine nears flight-readiness for BFR spaceship hop tests

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In a presentation that revealed plans for a private mission to the Moon in as early as 2023, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk dedicated a couple minutes to BFR’s booster and spaceship rocket engine of choice, Raptor. Musk had nothing but praise for SpaceX’s propulsion engineers and technicians, stating that he was “really excited” about the propulsion system’s advanced design.

Judging from a total of 1200 seconds of hot-fires completed just under a year ago, it’s safe to assume that Raptor has soared beyond that measure. Most recently, photos captured earlier this summer showed that a new prototype was installed on SpaceX’s horizontal Raptor test stand in McGregor, Texas, looking nearly identical to the deep black Raptor nozzle shown in Monday’s presentation. Previous Raptor prototypes seen during testing or at the test stand appeared to have a nozzle closer to SpaceX’s silver Merlin 1Ds, whereas this newest iteration’s nozzle doesn’t seem to reflect the powerful spotlights surrounding it.

Perhaps not a coincidence, SpaceX’s propulsion engineering lead Tom Mueller stated in May 2018 that flight-ready Raptors were already “in work”, with the implication being that the finalized Raptor design had been completed and that manufacturing work was beginning in earnest. Barring an unexpected shift in testing strategies, SpaceX will optimize and verify Raptor’s flight design over the course of several hundred seconds of static fire tests, eventually leading into the same practices used for Falcon 9.

 

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“This is a stupidly hard problem and SpaceX engineering has done a great job with this design.” In a May 2018 tweet, Musk added that “this engine is something special.” – Elon Musk, 09/17/18

Prior to being installed on any BFR prototypes, all Raptors will thus go through acceptance testing in Texas, potentially followed by a full-up static fire of the first completed BFR spaceships. Falcon 9 boosters – capable of roughly 7600 kN (1.7 million lbf) of thrust – are routinely tested in McGregor, while a full BFR spaceship with 2017-grade Raptors (1700 kN at sea level) would produce 12,000 kN (2.7 million lbf) of thrust with all Raptors firing. However, due to the sheer difficulty of transporting something 9 meters in diameter by road, it’s more likely that SpaceX will need to build up a dedicated static fire and hop test facility near the coast of Texas, at a spot called Boca Chica.

Getting to hop tests

As it turns out, massive propellant storage tanks (vacuum insulated) have already begun arriving at SpaceX’s Boca Chica facilities, currently dedicated to a duo of tracking and communications radars to be used for Crew Dragon communications. Over the course of the next 12 or so months, SpaceX is thus likely to expand and develop its Boca Chica facilities, culminating – if all goes well – sometime late next year with the first shipment of a prototype BFR spaceship from Port of Los Angeles, through the Panama Canal, to Port of Brownsville, Texas.

“I’m really excited about this engine design, I think the SpaceX propulsion team has done an amazing job – the SpaceX structures and aero team has done a phenomenal job in the design of this.”

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“Even others in the aerospace industry don’t know what question to ask – once we could frame the question [with precision], the answers [for Raptor and BFR R&D] flowed.” – Elon Musk, 09/17/18

A gif of Raptor throttling over the course of a 90+ second static-fire test in McGregor, Texas. (SpaceX)

SpaceX has already completed the first composite segment (both a section of the fuselage and of a propellant tank) of the first BFR spaceship prototype, and Musk further stated that BFR’s structural engineers and technicians would begin fabricating the spaceship prototype’s propellant tank domes and engine section “soon”. A vast amount of work remains to be completed before that prototype will begin to look anything like an actual spaceship, and the exact fidelity SpaceX is hoping to achieve with it is unclear.

If the company tries to get as close as possible to a finished product (within reason, of course) before beginning propulsive hop tests in Texas, a very late-2019 debut of that test campaign could be a practical goal. It’s not a perfect comparison, but Falcon 9 is perhaps the best prior example of SpaceX’s speed of development, moving from structural fabrication and testing (albeit with Falcon 5 in mind) in 2006 and 2007 to a full-up orbital launch of the first Falcon 9 in mid-2010, with milestones like the first static fire of a booster octaweb and nine Merlin 1C engines 6-12 months prior.


For prompt updates, on-the-ground perspectives, and unique glimpses of SpaceX’s rocket recovery fleet check out our brand new LaunchPad and LandingZone newsletters!

Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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Amazon shuts out Elon Musk’s Grok Bot so he may just build his own rival store

Musk promises SpaceX will cover Grok Bot purchase errors, tells users to shop beyond Amazon.

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Concept rendering showing a silhouette of Elon Musk, arms folded, overlooking a sprawling modern Amazon warehouse via Grok
Concept rendering showing a silhouette of Elon Musk, arms folded, overlooking a sprawling modern Amazon warehouse via Grok

Elon Musk said SpaceX will reimburse users if Grok Bot botches a purchase or leaks their card details. A few hours later he was telling users to take their shopping elsewhere after Amazon shut the agent out.

The first post was a reply to an X user who said Grok Bot booked him a flight after he sent a photo of his credit card. “This works well,” Musk wrote. “If Grok @Bot makes a mistake with a purchase or leaks your card (never happened yet), SpaceX will make you whole,” said Musk.

The second came after another user posted the error his Grok Bot hit on Amazon: “Continued access by an unauthorized AI agent violates Amazon’s Conditions of Use, to which our customers have agreed.” The user said his bots can no longer order from the site. Musk answered, “Just ask Grok @Bot to buy what you want someplace else and get a better deal. There are far more purchasing websites than just Amazon!” He later added, “Maybe we should start a competitor to Amazon,” a possible hint at an X shopping service.

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The Amazon block did not start Thursday. A reply to Musk on October 10 said Amazon was blocking the bot, and Musk responded that Grok would find another way, then showed an order it placed on Lego’s website.

The latest reimbursement promise builds on late August when Musk told a Tesla investor weighing whether to give Grok Bot access to his bank accounts, “If Grok Bot messes up, we will make you whole,” as Teslarati covered when SpaceXAI added its Finance integration. That promise goes further than the company’s consumer terms, which make users responsible for what their agents do and generally cap liability at the greater of fees paid or $100. Neither Thursday post says those terms have changed, so for now it remains a statement on X rather than a published policy.

The two posts matter to Tesla owners because Grok Bot is no longer limited to a phone. Tesla brought it into its vehicles on September 22, and it is now enabled across every Cybercab and the rest of the Model Y Robotaxi fleet, as noted when Teslarati looked at why Grok Bot may be the Cybercab’s real advantage. A rider who asks for groceries or a coffee order is relying on retailers that let the agent in. Amazon has now said it will not, and Musk’s answer is to route around it.

Amazon has not commented publicly on the block in the posts Teslarati reviewed, and it is unclear whether Musk will follow through on a rival store.

So, how many of you do the vast majority of shopping on Amazon and hate that you do? Let us know how you feel about an Amazon alternative in our Facebook post.

 

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Elon Musk says Tesla’s Roadster demo could be a bang, quite literally

Musk says tonight’s Roadster demo will be a banger, maybe literally. The clues add up.

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tesla roadster elon musk flying

Elon Musk spent Wednesday and Thursday stacking teases on top of Tesla’s Roadster event, and the wording is getting harder to read as routine hype. Tesla streams the unveil tonight at 7:55 p.m. Central on X. Musk has called it “a candidate for greatest product demo of all time,” then added that “this demo will be a BANGER, probably metaphorically, though some chance literally.”

The “some chance literally” part is the line to watch. The Roadster has been tied to a SpaceX option package since 2018, and as we reported when the date was announced, the system is reportedly codenamed A71 and uses cold gas thrusters fed by a composite overwrapped pressure vessel, the same tank design SpaceX uses on Falcon 9. Musk has said a thruster equipped car could reach 60 mph in about 1.1 seconds. Cold gas thrusters firing at full output are loud, and reports ahead of the event say the car will be unmanned with spectators kept several hundred yards back. A literal bang could simply mean a demonstration that sounds like one, though it is also an admission that something could go wrong on stage.

Then there is “Timing is everything,” which Musk posted a day earlier. Stocktwits noted that 7:55 p.m. is 19:55 on a 24 hour clock, which echoes 1955, the year Marty McFly travels to in Back to the Future. Musk has made that connection before. In 2019 he replied to an animation of a flying DeLorean by saying the new Roadster “will actually do something like this.” Nothing from Tesla confirms the movie reference, but the stream time was chosen by someone, and Tesla has not been shy about this kind of wink.

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Also, Tesla said it moved the event because it “can only be held outdoors,” and Musk then wrote that the demo was postponed “due to high winds,” as Teslarati covered at the time. A car running a standing start in front of a crowd shrugs off wind. A car that leaves the ground does not. The venue near SpaceX’s McGregor test site and the FAA airspace closures reported around the original date point the same way, though we also noted the delay could be a plain safety precaution. Musk has also described the new Roadster as “beyond movies, beyond imagination, beyond human, yet still made by humans on Earth.”

The only official figures remain the 2017 ones: 620 miles of range, a top speed above 250 mph, a 1.9 second 0 to 60 time, and prices of $200,000 for the base car and $250,000 for the Founders Series. Production is expected at Giga Texas in 2027 or 2028. Tesla has said the event will cover pricing, specifications and production targets, and its livestream preview has the full rundown. Tesla reports third quarter earnings on October 21, so whatever lands tonight will be fresh going into that call. We will have live coverage as soon as the stream starts.

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Elon Musk breaks his silence on the Starlink impact to Ukraine drones

Musk says the US military and president set Starshield limits, not SpaceX, amid Ukraine complaints.

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Elon Musk says the speed limit cutting out Ukraine’s military Starlink terminals is not SpaceX’s decision. In a post on X Wednesday, Musk wrote that “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.” He added that Starlink is a commercial service limited to civilian or defensive activities and “cannot be used for offensive military action, as doing so would be inappropriate for a commercial company.”

He was replying to Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s former defense minister, who had thanked Musk for restoring connectivity at speeds up to 160 km/h and said removing the Starshield limit entirely is “now critical for Ukraine’s defense.”

The complaint started Tuesday night, when Ukrainian officials said military terminals began losing service above roughly 100 mph. Presidential adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov said the defense forces got no warning and several missions were disrupted, as Teslarati reported earlier Wednesday. The 7th Rapid Reaction Corps told Reuters connections dropped for 10 to 20 seconds at speeds well below the limit, which made drones harder to control. Poland’s foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, asked Musk on X whether he is “playing politics with your products again.”

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That is why the Starlink and Starshield distinction matters. SpaceX introduced Starshield in 2022 as the government version of Starlink, with an initial focus on Earth observation, communications and hosted payloads. It won a Space Force contract in 2023 with a $70 million ceiling. In December 2024, the Pentagon moved Ukraine’s terminals onto Starshield, covering about 3,000 units across two contracts. Ukraine’s military connections therefore run through a service that Musk now says sits under Washington’s control.

SpaceX pitches subscription model for Trump’s Golden Dome

While Musk’s post describes who holds authority, it does not infer that anyone ordered the limit, and neither SpaceX nor the US government has confirmed who set it. Ukrainian officials have pointed to the timing, which follows President Trump’s push for an energy ceasefire and Musk’s Saturday post that “Zelensky has gone too far.” The BBC noted Trump denied threatening to restrict intelligence sharing with Kyiv, and no evidence has been presented that Washington requested the cap.

The episode also revives a promise from 2025. After Poland accused him of threatening Ukraine’s access, Musk said Starlink “will never turn off its terminals” and would not be used as a bargaining chip. Poland has since supplied more than 29,000 terminals to Ukraine. Teslarati also covered Kyiv’s search for Starlink alternatives in 2025, and the latest dispute gives that search new urgency.

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