SpaceX
SpaceX rocket fairing reappears on Mr Steven after six week hiatus
A hop and a skip away from SpaceX’s first Falcon 9 Block 5 recovery, the company’s famous fairing recovery vessel Mr Steven was caught by Teslarati photographer Pauline Acalin performing some unusual maneuvers at sea, hauling what can only have been the intact fairing half recovered after SpaceX’s March 30 launch of Iridium NEXT-5.
Why exactly the fairing half was aboard Mr Steven for high-speed trials and eventual delivery to Berth 240 – SpaceX’s future Mars rocket factory – is not entirely clear. The most obvious explanation is that these new operations are in some way related to Falcon 9 payload fairing drop tests hinted at recently by CEO Elon Musk, tests that would allow the company to hone the accuracy of the autonomous parafoils currently used to recover them. In light of Mr Steven’s newly upgraded net, the goal is to gently catch each fairing before they touch down on the ocean’s surface – per SpaceX’s Hans Koenigsmann, even partial immersion in seawater precludes any future attempts at reuse.
SpaceX technicians offload the Iridium fairing half from Mr Steven while docked at Berth 240, SpaceX’s BFR (Mars rocket) factory in-waiting. (Pauline Acalin)
While we originally speculated that water intrusion into the fairing halves’ aluminum honeycomb composite structures – a common failure mode in the history of the material’s use in aerospace – would pose a problem for fairing reuse sans net capture, the actual reason Koenigsmann gave was the fact that the environment inside Falcon fairings must be kept extraordinarily clean to avoid damaging the highly sensitive satellite and spacecraft payloads housed inside. In retrospect, it makes a whole lot of sense that cleaning a fairing thoroughly enough after exposure to seawater/sea spray and its multitudes of organic material, minerals, and simple saltwater could pose an extremely expensive (if not outright intractable) problem for routine reusability. Hence Mr Steven and his wonderfully analog recovery hardware (i.e. a giant net).
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- Fairing aboard, Mr Steven performed rapid turns and high-speed sprints with the fairing half aboard. (Pauline Acalin)
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- Mr Steven and his fancy net 2.0, caught on May 7. Bright yellow…for style. (Pauline Acalin)
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- On May 16, he arrived at Berth 240 with fairing half in tow. (Pauline Acalin)
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- Note the distinctive yellow netting draped over the fairing stand aboard Mr Steven. It’s unclear if this is actually the new yellow net spotted last week, or if it’s actually webbing dedicated to securing the fairing cradle. (Pauline Acalin)
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- It’s unclear why the Iridium fairing has been brought once again to Berth 240, aside perhaps from temporary storage. (Pauline Acalin)
After approximately six weeks of rest after its return to Port of San Pedro aboard Mr Steven, the fairing half found itself speeding around the mouth of Port of San Pedro aboard the net boat Mr Steven on May 16, after which it was carefully offloaded at SpaceX’s recently-leased Berth 240 facilities, set to one day become the company’s first Mars rocket and spaceship factory (currently housed in a giant tent a few miles away).
A careful scan of the day’s aviation activities showed no tracked helicopter flights that could have been involved in fairing drop tests, and it’s equally implausible that SpaceX would choose (or be permitted) to attempt to catch a 1000 kg autonomous parafoil a handful of miles from densely populated Los Angeles. Mr Steven’s distinctive yellow net – a brand new upgrade – was also visibly strewn about the vessel’s deck, over top of a basic wooden fairing stand, atop of which sat the sooty Iridium fairing half. Given the lengthy journey, it has made to be aboard Mr Steven, May 16’s unusual day of testing is presumably just the beginning of a number of outings, perhaps culminating in fairing drop and catch tests with a helicopter.
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- Regardless of why it’s there, the contrast of the dilapidated urban landscape and cutting-edge flight-proven rocket hardware is absolutely breathtaking.(Pauline Acalin)
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- Jump maybe 6 months ahead, and one can already begin to imagine that the first BFS test article may end up being craned aboard a barge before the exact same backdrop. (Pauline Acalin)
Regardless, the whole event was an incredible spectacle, caught in awesome detail by Pauline Acalin. One can only begin to imagine what other sights might one day – perhaps fairly soon – grace the dramatic dockside space SpaceX now owns at Berth 240.
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- It’s difficult to imagine how Mr Steven’s already vast net could plausibly be expanded by a factor of two in each dimension. I certainly can’t wait to see how SpaceX engineers and technicians tackle the task. (Pauline Acalin)
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- Fairing aboard, Mr Steven performed rapid turns and high-speed sprints with the fairing half aboard. (Pauline Acalin)
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- Mr Steven and the Iridium fairing half berthed at SpaceX’s Berth 240. (Pauline Acalin)
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- Mr Steven returns to port with the Iridium fairing half aboard. (Pauline Acalin)
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- Mr Steven out and about with a recovered but unreusable fairing half in May 2018, presumably for some sort of practice. (Pauline Acalin)
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- Mr Steven returns to port with the Iridium fairing half aboard. (Pauline Acalin)
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Elon Musk
Elon Musk shares updated Starship V3 maiden launch target date
The comment was posted on Musk’s official account on social media platform X.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shared a brief Starship V3 update in a post on social media platform X, stating the next launch attempt of the spacecraft could take place in about four weeks.
The comment was posted on Musk’s official account on social media platform X.
Musk’s update suggests that Starship Flight 12 could target a launch around early April, though the schedule will depend on several remaining milestones at SpaceX’s Starbase launch facility in Texas.
Among the key steps is testing and certification of the site’s new launch tower, launch mount, and tank farm systems. These upgrades will support the next generation of Starship vehicles.
Booster 19 is expected to roll to the launch site and be placed on the launch mount before returning to the production facility to receive its 33 Raptor engines. The booster would then return for a static fire test, which could mark the first time a Super Heavy booster equipped with Raptor V3 engines is fired on the pad.
Ship 39 is expected to undergo a similar preparation process. The vehicle will likely return to the production site to receive its six engines before heading to Massey’s test site for static fire testing.
Once both stages are prepared, the booster and ship will roll out to the launch site for the first full stack of a V3 Super Heavy and V3 Starship. A full wet dress rehearsal is expected to follow before any launch attempt.
Elon Musk has previously shared how SpaceX plans to eventually recover Starship’s upper stage using the launch tower’s robotic arms. Musk noted that the company will only attempt to catch the Starship spacecraft after two successful soft landings in the ocean. The approach is intended to reduce risk before attempting a recovery over land.
“Should note that SpaceX will only try to catch the ship with the tower after two perfect soft landings in the ocean. The risk of the ship breaking up over land needs to be very low,” Musk wrote in a post on X.
Such a milestone would represent a major step toward the full reuse of the Starship system, which remains a central goal for SpaceX’s long-term launch strategy.
News
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell details xAI power pledge at White House event
The commitment was announced during an event with United States President Donald Trump.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell stated that xAI will develop 1.2 gigawatts of power at its Memphis-area AI supercomputer site as part of the White House’s new “Ratepayer Protection Pledge.”
The commitment was announced during an event with United States President Donald Trump.
During the White House event, Shotwell stated that xAI’s AI data center near Memphis would include a major energy installation designed to support the facility’s power needs.
“As you know, xAI builds huge supercomputers and data centers and we build them fast. Currently, we’re building one on the Tennessee-Mississippi state line. As part of today’s commitment, we will take extensive additional steps to continue to reduce the costs of electricity for our neighbors…
“xAI will therefore commit to develop 1.2 GW of power as our supercomputer’s primary power source. That will be for every additional data center as well. We will expand what is already the largest global Megapack power installation in the world,” Shotwell said.
She added that the system would provide significant backup power capacity.
“The installation will provide enough backup power to power the city of Memphis, and more than sufficient energy to power the town of Southaven, Mississippi where the data center resides. We will build new substations and invest in electrical infrastructure to provide stability to the area’s grid.”
Shotwell also noted that xAI will be supporting the area’s water supply as well.
“We haven’t talked about it yet, but this is actually quite important. We will build state-of-the-art water recycling plants that will protect approximately 4.7 billion gallons of water from the Memphis aquifer each year. And we will employ thousands of American workers from around the city of Memphis on both sides of the TN-MS border,” she noted.
The Ratepayer Protection Pledge was introduced as part of the federal government’s effort to address concerns about rising electricity costs tied to large AI data centers, as noted in an Insider report. Under the agreement, companies developing major AI infrastructure projects committed to covering their own power generation needs and avoiding additional costs for local ratepayers.
Elon Musk
SpaceX to launch Starlink V2 satellites on Starship starting 2027
The update was shared by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and Starlink Vice President Mike Nicolls.
SpaceX is looking to start launching its next-generation Starlink V2 satellites in mid-2027 using Starship.
The update was shared by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and Starlink Vice President Mike Nicolls during remarks at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain.
“With Starship, we’ll be able to deploy the constellation very quickly,” Nicolls stated. “Our goal is to deploy a constellation capable of providing global and contiguous coverage within six months, and that’s roughly 1,200 satellites.”
Nicolls added that once Starship is operational, it will be capable of launching approximately 50 of the larger, more powerful Starlink satellites at a time, as noted in a Bloomberg News report.
The initial deployment of roughly 1,200 next-generation satellites is intended to establish global and contiguous coverage. After that phase, SpaceX plans to continue expanding the system to reach “truly global coverage, including the polar regions,” Nicolls said.
Currently, all Starlink satellites are launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. The next-generation fleet will rely on Starship, which remains in development following a series of test flights in 2025. SpaceX is targeting its next Starship test flight, featuring an upgraded version of the rocket, as soon as this month.
Starlink is currently the largest satellite network in orbit, with nearly 10,000 satellites deployed. Bloomberg Intelligence estimates the business could generate approximately $9 billion in revenue for SpaceX in 2026.
Nicolls also confirmed that SpaceX is rebranding its direct-to-cell service as Starlink Mobile.
The service currently operates with 650 satellites capable of connecting directly to smartphones and has approximately 10 million monthly active users. SpaceX expects that figure to exceed 25 million monthly active users by the end of 2026.
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