News
SpaceX readies for upcoming February launches
Although no major announcements from SpaceX regarding its upcoming February 14th and February 28th missions have been released, small details about the company’s progress have been picked up through social media and press inquiries as SpaceX fans count down to the next launches.
Under Construction: Launch Pads
First up is the construction status of historic Launch Complex 39A, the pad that SpaceX has been renovating from its Apollo-era days. Upon completion, this pad will host the Falcon Heavy vehicle once development has completed along with all upcoming Falcon 9 Florida launches until other pads currently under construction become available. Some of the pad progress being made in preparation for launch has been tracked by fans and shared on social media.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BQHUvzjFLz8/
Next are the reconstruction plans for Launch Complex 40 to repair the damage caused from the September 1, 2016 launch pad fire. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell confirmed in a recent Reuters article that this pad will be repaired for Falcon 9 use rather than refitted for Falcon Heavy. Shotwell quoted a $100 million dollar price tag to make a complete switch, an amount not justified given the 50% less cost estimate to only repair the damaged pad.
Countdown to Launch: NASA
Other than rescheduling the mission ahead of the EchoStar 23 launch, SpaceX’s upcoming February 14, 2017 CRS-10 launch to the International Space Station (ISS) has not had any major updates (or rescheduling) published. The pre-launch static fire is tentatively scheduled for February 8th, and this will be the first SpaceX rocket to launch from pad 39A.
Also, at KSC, the Falcon 9 S1 for CRS-10 is hoping to Static Fire on Feb 8 (NET), pending completion of 39A work. https://t.co/sJzLf6XZyM
— NSF – NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) February 1, 2017
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As an interesting note for fans, however, NASA included this launch in its NASA Social program wherein 50 social media communicators were selected to attend a two-day behind the scenes event. Per NASA’s web site, selected participants will have the opportunity to:
- View the launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket
- Tour NASA facilities at Kennedy Space Center
- Speak with representatives from NASA
- View and take photographs of the Falcon 9 rocket at SpaceX’s Launch Complex 39A
- Meet fellow space enthusiasts who are active on social media
- Meet members of NASA’s social media team
NASA opens events up to social media participants regularly, and past events have included other launches, the arrival of the Juno spacecraft at Jupiter, and behind the scenes opportunities during major discussion panels and announcements.
A Twitter search for tweets containing the @NASASocial handle will reveal several of the winners who chose to announce their acceptance into the February 14th SpaceX launch event. The hashtags #NASASocial and #Dragon will also be used.
Countdown to Launch: EchoStar 23
The February 28, 2017 launch of EchoStar 23 will attempt to set a spaceflight record by launching with the first recovered and refurbished rocket core. As previously reported, the recovered core being used will aim to make history twice, one being the first core landed on an autonomous droneship off the coast of Florida, and the other being the first recovered rocket core to be re-flown.
SpaceX’s facility in McGregor, Texas has been busy testing the first stage core for re-use in the EchoStar 23 mission. Residents near the location who are active on unofficial SpaceX social media outlets aren’t shy to tell all about the tests as they hear them. Some residents even provide regular reports of the activity, including the number and length of the fires, and further speculate what else the company is up to.
SpaceX took to social media itself regarding these tests and published a photo of one on its Instagram account.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BP8zK2DFxhq/?taken-by=spacex
No News is Good News
As the dates move closer, the scheduling for the upcoming launches will likely adjust as many factors affecting them are still in the air. Weather is always a question, and the status of launch pad 39A is still unknown.
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Despite the numerous, multi-front approach SpaceX is tackling to meet all of its launch and construction objectives, the company is still confident it will be able to meet its fast-paced launch schedule over the next year.
SpaceX will report second quarter results after the market closes on Tuesday, August 4, marking the first time the company has opened its books to the public since its record IPO in June. Management will host a live audio only webcast at 4:30 p.m. ET, streamed on X, with no dial in option.
The debut carries more weight than a typical first quarter as a public company. Two trading days after the release, on August 6, the first tranche of SpaceX’s lockup expires, freeing roughly 911.5 million insider and employee shares, worth well over $100 billion at current prices and the largest such release in Wall Street history. A second, larger tranche tied to the stock trading 30 percent above its $135 IPO price never triggered, since shares have spent most of July trading below that price.
Wall Street’s models point to revenue near $6.9 billion for the quarter, up sharply from the $4.69 billion SpaceX reported in the first quarter, with a narrower per share loss than the $1.27 posted three months earlier, according to estimates compiled by Motley Fool. Those numbers will be the first look at how SpaceX’s three segments, Starlink, launch and AI, are performing independently.
SpaceX scores another massive Pentagon deal to support military satellites
Investors heading into the call have a specific list of questions. How many net new Starlink subscribers did SpaceX add after ending March with 10.3 million, and is average revenue per user holding up as the service expands into lower income markets. How much of the AI segment’s revenue reflects contract signings with Anthropic, Google and Reflection AI this year, deals that combined could annualize to nearly $28 billion if fully ramped. Whether capital expenditures, which nearly doubled in the AI segment alone between 2024 and 2025, are still accelerating or starting to plateau. And whether management offers any forward guidance at all, something SpaceX has never done publicly.
The report will also land days after Elon Musk publicly denied a Wall Street Journal report describing internal planning to separate Tesla’s China business ahead of a potential Tesla-SpaceX merger. Whether Musk or SpaceX executives address that speculation on the call, even indirectly, maybe something investors will be listening for on Tuesday.
As Teslarati reported after Musk’s own warning to short sellers last week, the CEO has made clear he expects skeptics to be proven wrong over time. Tuesday will be the first chance for the numbers themselves to make that case.
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Elon Musk
SpaceX’s Starship just got filmed by its own cargo
SpaceX released new footage of Starship in space captured by the Starlink satellites it deployed.
SpaceX released a new video Friday evening showing Starship from an angle showcased by its own Starlink satellites, watching the rocket drift away in orbit.
The 65 second clip, posted on X, stitches together footage from four cameras mounted on a single Starlink V3 satellite. It opens with a close view of Starship’s 171 foot upper stage, still catching sunlight, then pulls back as the two spacecraft separate.
The footage comes from Starship’s 13th flight test, which launched July 24 from Starbase after a scrubbed attempt and an abort caused by an engine issue the week before. When Flight 13 finally flew, it carried the first batch of functional Starlink V3 satellites Starship has ever deployed, twenty of them, with six equipped with cameras meant to scan the ship’s heat shield during reentry.
View of Starship in space from a Starlink V3 satellite on Flight 13.
This composite is made of imagery from four separate cameras on a single satellite. Six of the satellites were equipped with cameras to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit imagery down to operators to… pic.twitter.com/sNTHHz5vLr
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 31, 2026
Flight 13 checked most of its boxes. Starship deployed all 20 satellites, relit a Raptor engine in space, and splashed down softly in the Indian Ocean off Western Australia. Musk’s longer term plan calls for a Starlink V3 constellation of 100,000 satellites, according to a recent FCC filing, with Starship as the only vehicle capable of launching them at the volume that requires. Each Starship flight is designed to carry up to 60 V3 satellites once the vehicle reaches routine service, well beyond what Falcon 9 can carry in a single mission.
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Starship is next expected to fly with an attempt at catching the ship itself with the launch tower’s mechanical arms, a maneuver SpaceX has so far reserved for the Super Heavy booster.
Tesla flexed the new features of the Model Y L with a dedicated media event at the company’s Diner on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles.
The Model Y L is the extended-wheelbase version of the all-electric crossover, which has been voted the best-selling car in the world on three occasions. The vehicle is already rolling off production lines at Gigafactory Texas, and first deliveries are slated to take place later this year.
Tesla brings Model Y L ‘Launch Series’ to the U.S. at $61,990
Teslarati was invited to the event, but due to some scheduling conflicts, we could not make it to Los Angeles. Instead, we will have our hands on a media unit sometime in August, so we’ll be able to spend some more extended time with the Model Y L.
However, plenty of those who made it to LA shared some cool features that set the Model Y L apart from the Model Y.
Multi-Row Climate Control
Tesla fitted the Model Y L with full climate control on all three rows on the front screen. It can be adjusted by selecting which row you’d like to modify on the right-hand side of the touch screen:
The Model Y L has a little row of icons on the right side of the climate screen so the front passenger can more quickly jump to whatever row they want to control. pic.twitter.com/uJS44mgCvk
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) July 30, 2026
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Better Rear Window Visibility
One of the strangest things about the Model Y, especially the Juniper iteration, is the rear window has extremely limited visibility when looking into the rearview mirror.
Tesla has improved upon this with the Model Y L:
This is a drastic difference. https://t.co/wTdhitD5aA pic.twitter.com/z6hFs0Jkss
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 30, 2026
PowerShare will be included
Model Y L will come with PowerShare in North America, with an 11.5kW output to your home. Tesla said it would require Powerwall 3 for operation.
Wireless Charging Pad
There has been some speculation that Tesla would upgrade the wireless charging pads in the United States, but this is not the case.
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Tesla owner fixes common feature complaint with crafty DIY retrofit
Tesla confirmed that it does not come with the cooled pads as the Y L in China does. This is because North America has not adopted Qi charging yet.
Thermal Management Improvements
These improvements in the Model Y L were seen with thermal management:
- Up to 15% faster cabin cooling
- +23% thermal efficiency gained in hot weather, 7 miles of real-world range gained
- 8x more solar energy reflection off of glass roof
- 30% reduction in solar energy entering the cabin
Some of the thermal management improvements in the new Model Y L Premium:
• Up to 15% faster cabin cooling
• Up to 15 min faster cabin cooling in sunny conditions
• +23% thermal efficiency gained in hot weather +7 miles of real-world range gained
• +10 miles recovered after… pic.twitter.com/jZirFWFdtO— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) July 31, 2026
Demand
Tesla said the Model Y L is almost sold out in the U.S. It comes with
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- 1 year of FSD Supervised
- 1 year of Supercharging
- 1 year of Premium Connectivity
- Free exterior paint color, interior, and wheel option at no additional cost
SpaceX’s biggest test yet arrives this week and it’s not a rocket launch
SpaceX’s Starship just got filmed by its own cargo
