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SpaceX’s next West Coast Starlink launch likely delayed as drone ship returns to port

Pictured here in October 2020, drone ship OCISLY will likely have to wait a bit longer for its next West Coast booster recovery. (Richard Angle)

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Update: Less than a day after departing Port of Long Beach, California, SpaceX drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY) has turned around and appears to be on its way back, signaling a last-minute delay for the company’s second West Coast Starlink launch.

Normally, SpaceX doesn’t halt drone ship trips downrange for just a day or two of launch delays, suggesting that Starlink 2-3 could slip at least several days beyond its current October 17th and 18th target and backup dates.

A pair of notices to mariners (NTMs) published earlier this week reveal that SpaceX could conduct its second West Coast Starlink launch as early as Sunday, October 17th.

Used to delineate certain regions mariners should temporarily avoid or heed caution in, NTMs – while cryptic – often reveal roughly when a rocket launch or spacecraft reentry is expected to occur days or weeks before NASA, the US military, or any companies involved announce an official target. That now appears to be the case for SpaceX’s “Starlink Group 2-3” mission, which is set to be the second dedicated launch of polar Starlink satellites. Presumably identical to Starlink 2-1, which successfully launched on a Falcon 9 rocket on September 14th, Starlink 2-3 will likely carry another 51 upgraded Starlink V1.5 satellites.

Each fitted with several custom SpaceX-built lasers known as optical interlinks or OILs, Starlink Group 2 satellites will (roughly) orbit Earth’s poles instead of its equator and will eventually use those lasers to allow the rest of the Starlink constellation to route user communications entirely in space. Whereas current Starlink internet users must live within a few hundred miles of a SpaceX ground station to access the network, a constellation of satellites with laser interlinks could serve anyone on Earth – practically independent of ground station location – by routing user communications through any number of laser-linked satellites.

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Once all ~1600 Starlink V1.0 satellites are replaced with V1.5 spacecraft, SpaceX will have effectively created a second internet independent of the millions of miles of copper and fiber optic cables that nearly all modern users rely on. Of course, SpaceX’s Starlink V1.5 and V2.0+ constellation will mainly function as an extension of that existing network, but it will allow unprecedented feats of routing – latency that no wired network can physically match, in other words.

The primary draw for a laser-linked constellation, though, is the ability to connect users to the internet almost regardless of location. On top of hundreds of millions of rural and underserved or unserved customers worldwide, even including those trapped inside restrictive national ‘firewalls,’ an interlinked constellation will allow SpaceX to deliver unprecedentedly high-quality connectivity to ships, planes, trains, and road vehicles. Currently only served by mediocre and marginally reliable geostationary providers at great cost, disrupting those captive markets with a service as many leagues above as Starlink could singlehandedly secure SpaceX billions of dollars of annual revenue.

Soon after the notices to mariners appeared, Next Spacefight’s Michael Baylor confirmed that the Starlink 2-3 mission is scheduled to launch out of Vandenberg Air/Space Force Base no earlier than (NET) 10:34 am PDT (UTC-7) on Sunday, October 17th. The launch window is open for one hour and, like Starlink 2-1, will likely involve a Falcon 9 booster landing attempt a few hundred miles downrange on drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY).

It remains to be seen which Falcon booster is assigned to the launch or if SpaceX will static fire it several days before.

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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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Tesla called ‘biggest meme stock we’ve ever seen’ by Yale associate dean

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) is being called “the biggest meme stock we’ve ever seen” by Yale School of Management Senior Associate Dean Jeff Sonnenfeld, who made the comments in a recent interview with CNBC.

Sonnenfeld’s comments echo those of many of the company’s skeptics, who argue that its price-to-earnings ratio is far too high when compared to other companies also in the tech industry. Tesla is often compared to companies like Apple, Nvidia, and Microsoft when these types of discussions come up.

Fundamentally, yes, Tesla does trade at a P/E level that is significantly above that of any comparable company.

However, it is worth mentioning that Tesla is not traded like a typical company, either.

Here’s what Sonnenfeld said regarding Tesla:

“This is the biggest meme stock we’ve ever seen. Even at its peak, Amazon was nowhere near this level. The PE on this, well above 200, is just crazy. When you’ve got stocks like Nvidia, the price-earnings ratio is around 25 or 30, and Apple is maybe 35 or 36, Microsoft around the same. I mean, this is way out of line to be at a 220 PE. It’s crazy, and they’ve, I think, put a little too much emphasis on the magic wand of Musk.”

Many analysts have admitted in the past that they believe Tesla is an untraditional stock in the sense that many analysts trade it based on narrative and not fundamentals. Ryan Brinkman of J.P. Morgan once said:

“Tesla shares continue to strike us as having become completely divorced from the fundamentals.”

Dan Nathan, another notorious skeptic of Tesla shares, recently turned bullish on the stock because of “technicals and sentiment.” He said just last week:

“I think from a trading perspective, it looks very interesting.”

Nathan said Tesla shares show signs of strength moving forward, including holding its 200-day moving average and holding against current resistance levels.

Sonnenfeld’s synopsis of Tesla shares points out that there might be “a little too much emphasis on the magic wand of Musk.”

Elon Musk just bought $1 billion in Tesla stock, his biggest purchase ever

This could refer to different things: perhaps his recent $1 billion stock buy, which sent the stock skyrocketing, or the fact that many Tesla investors are fans and owners who do not buy and sell on numbers, but rather on news that Musk might report himself.

Tesla is trading around $423.76 at the time of publication, as of 3:25 p.m. on the East Coast.

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Tesla makes big change to Full Self-Driving doghouse that drivers will like

Now, it is changing the timeframe of which strikes will be removed, cutting it in half. The strikes will be removed every 3.5 days, as long as no strikes are received during the time period.

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tesla cabin facing camera
Tesla's Cabin-facing camera is used to monitor driver attentiveness. (Credit: Andy Slye/YouTube)

Tesla is making a big change to its Full Self-Driving doghouse that drivers will like.

The doghouse is a hypothetical term used to describe the penalty period that Tesla applies to drivers who receive too many infractions related to distracted driving.

Previously, Tesla implemented a seven-day ban on the use of Full Self-Driving for those who received five strikes in a vehicle equipped with a cabin camera and three strikes for those without a cabin camera.

It also forgave one strike per week of Full Self-Driving use, provided the driver did not receive any additional strikes during the seven-day period.

Now, it is changing the timeframe of which strikes will be removed, cutting it in half. The strikes will be removed every 3.5 days, as long as no strikes are received during the time period.

The change was found by Not a Tesla App, which noticed the adjustment in the Owner’s Manual for the 2025.32 Software Update.

The system undoubtedly helps improve safety as it helps keep drivers honest. However, there are definitely workarounds, which people are using and promoting for monetary gain, and you can find them on basically any online marketplace, including TikTok shop and Amazon:

People are marketing the product as an FSD cheat device, which the cabin-facing camera will not be able to detect, allowing you to watch something on a phone or look through the windshield at the road.

The safeguards implemented by Tesla are designed to protect drivers from distractions and also protect the company itself from liability. People are still using Full Self-Driving as if it were a fully autonomous product, and it is not.

Tesla even says that the driver must pay attention and be ready to take over in any scenario:

“Yes. Autopilot is a driver assistance system that is intended to be used only with a fully attentive driver. It does not turn a Tesla into a fully autonomous vehicle.

Before enabling Autopilot, you must agree to “keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times” and to always “maintain control and responsibility for your vehicle.” Once engaged, Autopilot will also deliver an escalating series of visual and audio warnings, reminding you to place your hands on the wheel if insufficient torque is applied or your vehicle otherwise detects you may not be attentive enough to the road ahead. If you repeatedly ignore these warnings, you will be locked out from using Autopilot during that trip.

You can override any of Autopilot’s features at any time by steering or applying the accelerator at any time.”

It is good that Tesla is rewarding those who learn from their mistakes with this shorter timeframe to lose the strikes. It won’t be needed forever, though, as eventually, the company will solve autonomy. The question is: when?

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Elon Musk teases the capabilities of the Tesla Roadster once again

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Elon Musk has once again teased the capabilities of the Tesla Roadster, fueling the anticipation that many have for the vehicle, despite it still having no public production or delivery date.

The Roadster is among the most anticipated vehicles in the automotive sector currently, and as Tesla has teased its capabilities, from a lightning-fast 1.1-second 0-60 MPH acceleration to potential hovering with cold-gas thrusters, people are eager to see it.

Although the design seemed to be finalized, there was still more work to be done. Earlier this year, as Tesla was showcasing some of the Roadster’s capabilities to Musk, he stated that it was capable of even more.

This pushed back its production date even further, much to the chagrin of those who have been waiting years for it.

Musk continues to tease us all, and as we sit here waiting hopelessly for it to be revealed, he said today that it is “something special beyond a car.”

Musk’s words were in response to a video posted by Tesla China, showing the Roadster in a new promotional video created by a fan.

The Roadster was planned to be released in 2020, but here we are in 2025, and there is still no sign of the vehicle entering production. However, Tesla did say earlier this year that it would host a demo event for the Roadster, where the company would showcase its capabilities.

Lars Moravy said earlier this year:

“Roadster is definitely in development. We did talk about it last Sunday night. We are gearing up for a super cool demo. It’s going to be mind-blowing; We showed Elon some cool demos last week of the tech we’ve been working on, and he got a little excited.”

Tesla exec gives big update on Roadster, confirming recent rumor

The delays have been attributed to “radically increased design goals” for the vehicle, which have, without a doubt, improved its capabilities, but at the same time, we just want to know if it’s ever going to come.

Tesla can always make it “better,” but at what point do you say, “Okay, it’s time to show this thing off.” They could always build another, even more capable supercar in the next ten years.

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