News
SpaceX shows off Starman helmet and Falcon Heavy to political VIPs
In the wake of the rather odd second meeting of the US National Space Council (NSC), a NASA photographer stationed at Kennedy Space Center documented a number of tours given by some of the companies mentioned in the proceedings. VIPs who attended the NSC were allowed to get up close and personal to rocket hardware in facilities owned and operated by SpaceX, Blue Origin, Boeing, the United Launch Alliance (ULA), and others, and in a few cases provided some unique views of those same facilities.
RELATED: SpaceX vs. Blue Origin: The bickering titans of new space
Humorously enough, those tours – at least as seen through the lenses of NASA photographer Kim Shiflett – acted as a generally accurate thematic representation of each company. ULA walked VIPs through their Delta IV Heavy integration facility, ready for the launch of a NASA spacecraft tasked with traveling closer to the sun than any vehicle before it – the impressive but oft-maligned rocket’s first launch in nearly two years.
Boeing displayed some of their Starliner hardware, hoped to carry their first crew to the International Space Station in very late 2018 or early 2019. Blue Origin showed off a massive factory – intended to eventually manufacture their orbital New Glenn rocket – that was, by all appearances, almost completely empty, aside from a flight-proven New Shepard and boilerplate capsule now on display in the lobby.
-
- ULA president and CEO Tory Bruno, left leads a tour of the Delta IV Heavy rocket for VP Mike Pence. (NASA)
-
- Boeing, one of the two companies that comprise ULA, gave NSC VIPs a tour of the facility where they are assembling Starliner crew capsules. (NASA)
-
- Blue Origin’s seemingly empty New Glenn factory. The massive rocket is hoped to complete its first launch NET 2020. (NASA)
-
- Blue Origin has had some success with its New Shepard suborbital rocket reuse program, although dramatically different from New Glenn. (NASA)
SpaceX, however, undertook the (admittedly less than titanic) feat of overshadowing its fellow aerospace companies. Something like 80% coincidence and 20% theatrics, SpaceX’s displays included two of the just-launched and just-landed Falcon Heavy boosters – one accessible by all at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center, the other recently shuttled into the company’s facilities at Pad 39A. While the company appears not to have opened their second LC-40 pad for tours this time around, Space Council VIPs were given a unique mass-tour of Pad 39A’s Horizontal Integration Facilities, chock full of flight-proven orbital rockets and components.
-
- Titanium grid fins complete the highly reusable changes to Block 5 of Falcon 9. (NASA)
-
- A unique perspective of SpaceX’s upgraded grid fin – dwarfing its human onlookers. (NASA)
-
- Shotwell, pictured on the right, spoke in depth about SpaceX’s profitability and synergies with Tesla’s battery expertise. (NASA)
-
- (NASA)
On display was the second Falcon Heavy side booster, a Falcon 9-equivalent first stage that took part in the inaugural launch of the massive rocket just two weeks before, as well as one of that booster’s highly valuable titanium grid fins, providing a unique sense of scale (spoiler: they’re colossal). Further, after what can only be described as Starman’s iconic global debut, SpaceX brought along the helmet of one of their slick internally-designed spacesuits, going so far as to let members of the tour – including the Secretary of the Air Force – briefly try it on for themselves.
.@NASA I’m ready to go. When’s the next launch? pic.twitter.com/XC21RFEw5C
— Office of the Secretary of the Air Force (@SecAFOfficial) February 21, 2018
Despite the baffling fact that none of the actual hardware developers that gave tours after had seats on either of the two panels that spoke before the Council, it’s great to see SpaceX flaunt at least a portion of its extraordinary and praiseworthy achievements in the last few months alone.
Whether or not you resent some of the politicking or the actors involved in the spectacle, the general theme of reducing and improving regulatory burdens on US aerospace companies is one of the very few places where there is actually some truth to the negativity. Jingoistic China-bashing and hyperbole aside, some of the panelists and councilmembers made reasonable points about the state of spaceflight regulation, and some of their recommendations may actually benefit companies like Blue Origin, ULA, and SpaceX – at least eventually.
Catch our live, behind-the-scenes coverage of these exciting events through the eyes of our amazing photographers on both coasts.
Teslarati – Instagram – Twitter
Tom Cross – Twitter
Pauline Acalin – Twitter
Eric Ralph – Twitter
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s X will start using a Tesla-like software update strategy
The initiative seems designed to accelerate updates to the social media platform, while maintaining maximum transparency.
Elon Musk’s social media platform X will adopt a Tesla-esque approach to software updates for its algorithm.
The initiative seems designed to accelerate updates to the social media platform, while maintaining maximum transparency.
X’s updates to its updates
As per Musk in a post on X, the social media company will be making a new algorithm to determine what organic and advertising posts are recommended to users. These updates would then be repeated every four weeks.
“We will make the new 𝕏 algorithm, including all code used to determine what organic and advertising posts are recommended to users, open source in 7 days. This will be repeated every 4 weeks, with comprehensive developer notes, to help you understand what changed,” Musk wrote in his post.
The initiative somewhat mirrors Tesla’s over-the-air update model, where vehicle software is regularly refined and pushed to users with detailed release notes. This should allow users to better understand the details of X’s every update and foster a healthy feedback loop for the social media platform.
xAI and X
X, formerly Twitter, has been acquired by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI last year. Since then, xAI has seen a rapid rise in valuation. Following the company’s the company’s upsized $20 billion Series E funding round, estimates now suggest that xAI is worth tens about $230 to $235 billion. That’s several times larger than Tesla when Elon Musk received his controversial 2018 CEO Performance Award.
As per xAI, the Series E funding round attracted a diverse group of investors, including Valor Equity Partners, Stepstone Group, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Qatar Investment Authority, MGX, and Baron Capital Group, among others. Strategic partners NVIDIA and Cisco Investments also continued support for building the world’s largest GPU clusters.
News
Tesla FSD Supervised wins MotorTrend’s Best Driver Assistance Award
The decision marks a notable reversal for the publication from prior years, with judges citing major real-world improvements that pushed Tesla’s latest FSD software ahead of every competing ADAS system.
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system has been named the best driver-assistance technology on the market, earning top honors at the 2026 MotorTrend Best Tech Awards.
The decision marks a notable reversal for the publication from prior years, with judges citing major real-world improvements that pushed Tesla’s latest FSD software ahead of every competing ADAS system. And it wasn’t even close.
MotorTrend reverses course
MotorTrend awarded Tesla FSD (Supervised) its 2026 Best Tech Driver Assistance title after extensive testing of the latest v14 software. The publication acknowledged that it had previously criticized earlier versions of FSD for erratic behavior and near-miss incidents, ultimately favoring rivals such as GM’s Super Cruise in earlier evaluations.
According to MotorTrend, the newest iteration of FSD resolved many of those shortcomings. Testers said v14 showed far smoother behavior in complex urban scenarios, including unprotected left turns, traffic circles, emergency vehicles, and dense city streets. While the system still requires constant driver supervision, judges concluded that no other advanced driver-assistance system currently matches its breadth of capability.
Unlike rival systems that rely on combinations of cameras, radar, lidar, and mapped highways, Tesla’s FSD operates using a camera-only approach and is capable of driving on city streets, rural roads, and freeways. MotorTrend stated that pure utility, the ability to handle nearly all road types, ultimately separated FSD from competitors like Ford BlueCruise, GM Super Cruise, and BMW’s Highway Assistant.
High cost and high capability
MotorTrend also addressed FSD’s pricing, which remains significantly higher than rival systems. Tesla currently charges $8,000 for a one-time purchase or $99 per month for a subscription, compared with far lower upfront and subscription costs from other automakers. The publication noted that the premium is justified given FSD’s unmatched scope and continuous software evolution.
Safety remained a central focus of the evaluation. While testers reported collision-free operation over thousands of miles, they noted ongoing concerns around FSD’s configurable driving modes, including options that allow aggressive driving and speeds beyond posted limits. MotorTrend emphasized that, like all Level 2 systems, FSD still depends on a fully attentive human driver at all times.
Despite those caveats, the publication concluded that Tesla’s rapid software progress fundamentally reshaped the competitive landscape. For drivers seeking the most capable hands-on driver-assistance system available today, MotorTrend concluded Tesla FSD (Supervised) now stands alone at the top.
News
Elon Musk’s Grokipedia surges to 5.6M articles, almost 79% of English Wikipedia
The explosive growth marks a major milestone for the AI-powered online encyclopedia, which was launched by Elon Musk’s xAI just months ago.
Elon Musk’s Grokipedia has grown to an impressive 5,615,201 articles as of today, closing in on 79% of the English Wikipedia’s current total of 7,119,376 articles.
The explosive growth marks a major milestone for the AI-powered online encyclopedia, which was launched by Elon Musk’s xAI just months ago. Needless to say, it would only be a matter of time before Grokipedia exceeds English Wikipedia in sheer volume.
Grokipedia’s rapid growth
xAI’s vision for Grokipedia emphasizes neutrality, while Grok’s reasoning capabilities allow for fast drafting and fact-checking. When Elon Musk announced the initiative in late September 2025, he noted that Grokipedia would be an improvement to Wikipedia because it would be designed to avoid bias.
At the time, Musk noted that Grokipedia “is a necessary step towards the xAI goal of understanding the Universe.”
Grokipedia was launched in late October, and while xAI was careful to list it only as Version 0.1 at the time, the online encyclopedia immediately earned praise. Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger highlighted the project’s innovative approach, noting how it leverages AI to fill knowledge gaps and enable rapid updates. Netizens also observed how Grokipedia tends to present articles in a more objective manner compared to Wikipedia, which is edited by humans.
Elon Musk’s ambitious plans
With 5,615,201 total articles, Grokipedia has now grown to almost 79% of English Wikipedia’s article base. This is incredibly quick, though Grokipedia remains text-only for now. xAI, for its part, has now updated the online encyclopedia’s iteration to v0.2.
Elon Musk has shared bold ideas for Grokipedia, including sending a record of the entire knowledge base to space as part of xAI’s mission to preserve and expand human understanding. At some point, Musk stated that Grokipedia will be renamed to Encyclopedia Galactica, and it will be sent to the cosmos.
“When Grokipedia is good enough (long way to go), we will change the name to Encyclopedia Galactica. It will be an open source distillation of all knowledge, including audio, images and video. Join xAI to help build the sci-fi version of the Library of Alexandria!” Musk wrote, adding in a later post that “Copies will be etched in stone and sent to the Moon, Mars and beyond. This time, it will not be lost.”
Elon Musk’s X will start using a Tesla-like software update strategy
Tesla FSD Supervised wins MotorTrend’s Best Driver Assistance Award
