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SpaceX recovered fairing appears at future Mars rocket factory in LA
In an unexpected turn of events, the first fairing half recovered by SpaceX – just after the Feb. 22 launch of PAZ – appeared at the company’s just-leased facilities at LA’s Port of San Pedro, also known as Berth 240 or SpaceX’s preferred location for the first BFR (Mars rocket) factory.
If there was any doubt before that SpaceX was not serious about the Port proposal released in March, or that individuals with SpaceX shirts at 240 were a mere coincidence, the arrival of an entire fairing half and two fairly large cranes ought to confirm the reality of the company’s active presence at the facility. After heading down to the port at dawn to capture Mr Steven’s arrival post-launch (providing a fairing surprise of its own), Teslarati photographer Pauline Acalin made a quick detour to Berth 240 to check up on any potential activity at the SpaceX-leased site.
SpaceX’s first recovered fairing spotted at the BFR factory (Pauline Acalin)
Lo and behold, she found a lone recovered fairing half sitting just off the side of the public Port access road, behind the plot’s fenced enclosure. A giant Z (a la PAZ) on the fairing’s face identified it beyond any doubt to be the half that soft-landed intact just over a month ago. For such a unique pathfinder as the first apparently intact fairing half to be recovered, its uncovered storage out in the open dockside air tells us a fair bit about the reality of its condition: while it’s still surprising that this half did not spend more time (perhaps no time at all) in SpaceX’s Hawthorne facilities, this almost guarantees that the fairing suffered some form of catastrophic and irreparable damage at some point during its recovery.
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- PAZ’ fairing half in all its sooty, damaged glory. (Pauline Acalin)
RIP fairing half
If this fairing were in a flightworthy state, it would undoubtedly be safely stowed inside SpaceX’s Hawthorne facilities for many weeks or even months of careful testing and analysis to properly characterize the condition of the first fairing to be recovered in one piece.
Another possibility: perhaps SpaceX has already managed that characterization and refinement through the many different fairing fragments recovered during past (unsuccessful) attempts. Ultimately, it should come as little surprise that the fairing wound up damaged – the range of conditions it was subjected to boggle the mind. Its damage may have come from post-recovery handling, perhaps something as simple as the surface tension of seawater or some water intrusion inflating its density and overloading the fairing’s structure while it was craned or dragged aboard Mr. Steven. Its loss would appear to confirm that Mr. Steven’s seemingly elaborate net system exists for very specific and technical reasons, instead of, say, a group of engineers realizing that they could convince their managers to let them build a giant claw-boat. Sometimes the crazy solution can be the right solution!
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- A closeup of the landed fairing. This particularly fairing is the first flight of Fairing 2.0, a recent upgrade. (Elon Musk)
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- The first fairing to ever return to land intact proudly sails into Port of San Pedro aboard Mr Steven. (Pauline Acalin)
Either way, SpaceX technicians have unequivocally begun to tear down the PAZ half’s many interior components, ranging from baffles and soundproofing panels to parafoil connectors and cold-gas maneuvering thrusters. It’s conceivable that some of those parts can be reused on future missions, partly thanks to the fact that this half remained intact after landing, keeping its interior mostly dry. Given the sheer size of the cranes brought on-site on Saturday (March 31), it seems implausible that they are there just for PAZ’ fairing – more likely, they have been rented or purchased by SpaceX and will be used for a variety of tasks related to the demolition and construction outlined in the Port’s Berth 240 lease and use-case approval.
This is almost certainly the first time that SpaceX’s Berth 240 has hosted real rocket hardware, and hopefully foreshadows a bright and busy future of reusable rocket recovery, refurbishment, and manufacturing (hopefully with BFR!).
NBD, just scrapping a fairing in an abandoned shipyard. (Pauline Acalin)
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The in-car Tesla Theater is among the most unique features available within the cars. When charging, parked, camping, or just hanging out, vehicle occupants can access a variety of streaming platforms on the large center screen, helping keep them entertained during downtime.
However, the Theater might be getting plenty more streaming platforms, something that owners have requested for some time.
Tesla owners recently discovered that visiting Apple TV in the vehicle browser can launch a fullscreen interface that looks and behaves like a dedicated application rather than an ordinary webpage:
Today I learned that if you go to Apple TV in the Tesla browser, it will open up an actual Apple TV app, fully functional. Not just the site.
Apparently there are more apps than just the few that show on the apps page. pic.twitter.com/os1Ypfm4JR
— Jason W (@jmwilt21) August 20, 2026
The experience drops the usual address bar and browser chrome, presenting catalogs, continue watching rows, and playback controls in the same window Tesla Theater already uses for its listed services. Independent testers soon found similar treatment for HBO Max, Paramount+, Peacock, Disney+, and Prime Video when those sites are opened from the car browser.
This shift is a plausible early signal that Tesla is widening Theater support without a formal software note. Theater has long been a set of web views rather than native applications, so recognizing extra domains and stripping the browser frame is a small server-side change that can expand the catalog quickly.
Owners still lack permanent Theater icons for the newly recognized services, and video remains limited to Park, yet the smoother launch is a meaningful step toward a broader lounge while charging.
Tesla Theater arrived with software version 10 in September 2019. The first video services were Netflix, YouTube, and Hulu, available only while parked and originally tied to WiFi. Spotify arrived in the same era as music rather than Theater video. Disney+ joined officially in July 2021 with the 2021.24 update, giving owners another major catalog on the center screen. Twitch and TikTok later appeared among the default Theater tiles, and Tesla Tutorials remained a persistent educational tile.
Not every addition stayed put. In December 2023, a Holiday software build removed the Disney+ tile for many United States owners after a public dispute involving advertising on X. Hulu stayed visible even though Disney owned it. Visiting disneyplus.com in the browser often restored the tile, which suggested the removal was a recognition list change rather than a complete block. Owners have also reported occasional blank Theater grids after updates, usually fixed by language toggles, resets, or later firmware.
Tesla axes Disney+ from vehicles with Musk-Iger rivalry, but there’s a workaround
Code archives from 2024 listed many unused source names, including Apple TV and Prime Video, that never became official icons, which now looks like groundwork for the current fullscreen browser behavior.
Now that this hint toward an expanded Theater experience has been recognized, Tesla could follow through with these additional shortcuts as a sign that more streaming platforms are available in Teslas than ever before.
Tesla recently received its largest order for the all-electric Semi from Einride, a Swedish transport service, for 500 units, a groundbreaking invoice to receive before the first deliveries begin.
Even more remarkable, Einride CEO Roozbeh Charli said in a recent interview that he expects his company to take delivery of all 500 — the entire order — before the end of 2027. He even expects to have 75 Tesla Semi units in the Einride fleet before the end of this year.
🚨 Einride CEO Roozbeh Charli on the Tesla Semi partnership:
“If we start with the Amazon announcement that we did earlier this year, that was on the back of having gone through a proving period together with them and proving out our technology. Then we took that next step in… pic.twitter.com/oazkXjwoig
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 28, 2026
Charli said the Tesla partnership was part of a broader push, along with its earlier partnership with Amazon. Einride is assisting Amazon with the use of its Saga AI platform, which helps eliminate questions about budgeting and forecasting for logistics companies.
The Semi, as well as Tesla’s production and subsequent delivery of the units to Einride, will help the company “to have a good supply of vehicles that we can deploy on the [Saga AI] platform,” Charli said. “Tesla is also a relationship we’ve had for a while, and as the Tesla Semi deliveries are firming up, we decided to do a larger commitment to that and deploy that on our platform.”
In its initial announcement, Einride said it anticipated taking delivery of the trucks over the next two years, but now it appears the company is expecting all 500 units within the next 16 months.
Built at a dedicated factory in Sparks, Nevada, the Tesla Semi has been perhaps the biggest and most intensive testing process the company has ever had for a single vehicle model. For the past several years, Tesla has been working with many companies, most notably Frito-Lay and PepsiCo, to gain knowledge on the performance on regional routes.
Tesla plans to launch the Semi officially on September 24, five months after production started ramping.
Additionally, drivers have said they are happy about the Semi’s performance and that its numerous safety and productivity features have made their jobs and routes much easier.
Tesla Cybercab is using a unique strategy for picking up the correct rider, which is a crucial part of ride-hailing to ensure people end up in the right place and are charged the correct price.
Cybercab will utilize an RGB strip in its front light bar that will illuminate in a variety of different colors to mark itself.
This identifying mark will also appear in the Robotaxi app, giving riders in the same location a notable distinction in an effort to avoid any confusion regarding who should get in each vehicle.
🚨 Tesla is using different light bar colors to help riders understand which vehicle is theirs
Pretty cool strategy pic.twitter.com/eGMpEMeRpc
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 27, 2026
Other ride-hailing services use similar strategies: Lyft and Uber rides are recognizable through driver identity, vehicle type and color, as well as license plate. Waymo will display the rider’s initials on top of the vehicle, letting them know that the specific vehicle for them has arrived.
Tesla’s strategy is unique and interesting, but there are some flaws. Cybercab’s main purpose is aimed toward being an autonomous ride for all, including those who have disabilities like being blind or even color blind.
Tesla will likely have something in the pipeline for those who cannot see colors or have limited vision. There will definitely be multiple ways to identify which vehicle is the one that “you” specifically ordered.
Cybercab is set to start giving public rides next Thursday, September 3, in Austin, as it announced a dedicated event last week and invited many members of the Tesla community.
Additionally, members of the public will be invited as well. Tesla has been offering employee rides in Cybercab for nearly two months.
Tesla Theater might be getting plenty more streaming platforms
Tesla Semi’s biggest adoptee gives an update on production timeline
