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SpaceX delays Starhopper’s first flight a few days despite Raptor preburner test success
SpaceX has (partially) ignited Starhopper’s freshly-installed Raptor engine, successfully verifying that the engine is ready for its next major test: a full ignition and static firing. Although successful, SpaceX still has some work to do before the vehicle is ready for its first untethered flight(s).
July 15th’s progress is just the latest in a several day-series of preflight tests designed to reduce the likelihood that Starhopper is destroyed over the coming days and (hopefully) weeks. If all goes planned during the awkward Starship prototype’s first foray into hover tests, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has stated that he will provide an official presentation updating the public on the status of the company’s ever-changing next-generation rocket.
The past week or so of Starhopper preflight testing began with Raptor serial number 6 (SN06) completing the last of a series of acceptance test fires in McGregor, Texas on June 10th. Even on its own, this was a major milestone for the new SpaceX engine: Raptor SN06 was the first of the new, full-scale engines to pass the acceptance test program with flying colors. According to Musk, for the engine to complete those tests so successfully, SpaceX had to solve a challenging bug in which some sort of mechanical resonance (i.e. vibration) damaged or destroyed Raptors SN01-05.
Hours later, the engine began a short ~450 mi (720 km) journey south to Starhopper, located in Boca Chica, Texas. The engine arrived on July 11th and was fully installed on Starhopper by the following evening (July 12th), at which point SpaceX put Starhopper and Raptor through some mild but valuable thrust vector controller (TVC) tests, wiggling the car-sized engine to ensure it can accurately steer the prototype rocket.
Around two days after the above ‘wiggle’ test was successfully completed, SpaceX moved into the next stage, partially fueling Starhopper with liquid methane and oxygen propellant and helium pressurant in what is known in rocketry as a wet dress rehearsal (WDR). The (implicitly) successful WDR was capped off with a duo of what can now safely be concluded were some sort of Raptor test preceding even pre-ignition operations. Whatever the tests were, they appear to have been completed successfully.
That appears to be the case because less than 24 hours after their completion, on July 15th, SpaceX once again began loading Starhopper with propellant and pressurant for a second round of wet testing. This time around, SpaceX got right into more critical Raptor tests once enough propellant was loaded, igniting the engine’s interwoven oxygen and methane preburners.
Previously discussed 24 hours ago in a Teslarati article focused on Raptor wiggles and other miscellaneous tests, Raptor is an extremely advanced rocket engine based on a cycle (i.e. how propellant is turned into thrust) known as full-flow staged combustion.
“In a staged-combustion engine like Raptor, getting from the supercool liquid oxygen and methane propellant to 200+ tons of thrust is quite literally staged, meaning that the ignition doesn’t happen all at once. Rather, the preburners – essentially their own, unique combustion chambers – ignite an oxygen- or methane-rich mixture, the burning of which produces the gas and pressure that powers the turbines that bring fuel into the main combustion chamber. That fuel then ignites, producing thrust as they exit the engine’s bell-shaped nozzle.
Unintuitively, conditions inside the preburner – hidden away from view – are actually far more intense than the iconic blue, purple, and pink flame that visibly exists Raptor’s nozzle. Much like hot water will cool while traveling through pipes, the superheated gaseous propellant that Raptor ignites to produce thrust will also cool (and thus lose pressure) as it travels from Raptor’s preburner to its main combustion chamber. If the pressure produced in the preburners is too low, Raptor’s thrust will be (roughly speaking) proportionally limited at best. At worst, low pressure in the preburners can trigger a “hard start” or shutdown that could destroy the engine. According to Elon Musk, Raptor’s oxygen preburner thus has the worst of it, operating at pressures as high or higher than 800 bar (11,600 psi, 80 megapascals).”
In full-flow staged combustion (FFSC), even more complexity is added as all propellant that touches the engine must necessarily end up traveling through the main combustion chamber to eke every last ounce of thrust out of the finite propellant a rocket lifts off with. As such, FFSC engines can be about as efficient as the laws of physics allow any given chemical rocket engine to be, at the cost of exceptional complexity and brutally difficult development.
Additionally, FFSC physically requires two separate preburners and then makes things even harder by making each separate preburner (methane and oxygen) depend on each other’s operation for the engine to fully ignite. This means that no individual preburner can be used to kickstart Raptor – instead, SpaceX must somehow spin the turbopumps that feed propellant into each preburner with some separate system. This is all just to emphasize the fact that Raptor’s ignition sequence is a spectacularly complex orchestra of valves, spark plugs, sensors, and magic. This is why it’s valuable for Raptor to test its preburner system independently of an actual ignition test, at least as long as the engine is still in the development stages.
According to NASASpaceflight.com managing editor Chris Bergin, what this practically translates to is a minor Starhopper hover test delay of 1-2 days, while the static fire has also been pushed roughly 24 hours from July 15th to July 16th. If that full static fire produces lots of happy data, Starhopper could be cleared for a hover test debut attempt as early as Wednesday or Thursday (July 17/18).
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Neuralink Blindsight human trials expected to start in the UAE
Neuralink aims to restore vision with its Blindsight BCI implant. First human implant for Blindsight may happen in UAE.
During Elon Musk’s interview at the Qatar Economic Forum, he announced that Neuralink aims to implant its Blindsight brain-to-computer interface (BCI) device in a human patient by late 2025 or early 2026.
Blindsight focuses on restoring vision. A few years ago, Musk mentioned that Neuralink’s BCI devices would restore vision for people, even those born blind.
“The first two applications we’re going to aim for in humans are restoring vision, and I think this is notable in that even if someone has never had vision ever, like they were born blind, we believe we can still restore vision. The visual part of the cortex is still there. Even if they’ve never seen before, we’re confident they could see,” Musk said during Neuralink’s Show & Tell in 2022.
Musk said Blindsight could be implanted into a human patient in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Neuralink plans to partner with the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi to implant the first human patient with Blindsight.
Elon Musk’s neurotechnology company is partnering with the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi to conduct the first clinical trial of the UAE-PRIME study. Like Neuralink’s PRIME study in the United States, UAE-PRIME will focus on human patients with motor and speech impairments.
Neuralink received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to conduct the PRIME and CONVOY studies in the United States. PRIME tests the capabilities of the company’s Link implant to restore or enable motor and speech in participants. Meanwhile, the CONVOY study explores Link’s ability to control assistive robotic devices. Neuralink already has an assistive robotic arm called ARA that could expand patients’ autonomy beyond smart devices.
Blindsight would probably require a separate study from PRIME and CONVOY. As such, Neuralink might need FDA approval in the United States to start human trials for Blindsight. However, Blindsight already received a “breakthrough device” designation from the US FDA.
In April 2025, Neuralink opened its patient registry to participants worldwide. The neurotechnology company has already implanted its Link BCI device into five patients. Earlier this year, Neuralink welcomed one of its first PRIME study participants as the first patient in its CONVOY study.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk just revealed more about Tesla’s June Robotaxi launch
Tesla CEO Elon Musk gave more information about the Robotaxi launch in Austin set for June.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk just revealed more details about the company’s June Robotaxi launch, which will kick off in Austin.
As of right now, Tesla is still set to push out the first Robotaxi rides in Austin, Texas, in early June. These vehicles will be in short supply at first, as Musk says the company is purposely rolling out the fleet in a slow and controlled fashion to prioritize safety. There will be ten vehicles in the Robotaxi fleet to start.
Tesla Robotaxi deemed a total failure by media — even though it hasn’t been released
However, in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday afternoon, Musk also revealed some other new details, including where in Austin the vehicles will be able to go, how many Robotaxis we could see on public roads within a few months, and other information regarding Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite.
A Controlled Rollout
Tesla has maintained for a few months now that the Robotaxi fleet will be comprised of between 10 and 20 Model Y vehicles in Austin.
The Cybercab, which was unveiled by the company last October, will not be available initially, as those cars will likely be produced in 2026.
Musk said during the CNBC interview that Tesla is doing a low-yield trial at first to initiate a safety-first mentality. It is important for Tesla to launch the Robotaxi fleet in a small manner to keep things in check, at least at first.
As confidence builds and the accuracy of the fleet is ensured, more vehicles will be added to the fleet.
Musk believes there will be 1,000 Robotaxis on the road “in a few months.”
Geofenced to Certain Austin Areas
Tesla will be launching the Robotaxi program in a geofenced fashion that gives the company the ability to control where it goes. Musk says that the areas the Robotaxis will be able to travel to are among the safest neighborhoods and areas in Austin.
This is yet another safety protocol that will ensure the initial riders are not put in dangerous neighborhoods.
Some might be disappointed to hear this because of Tesla’s spoken confidence regarding Robotaxi, but the initial rollout does need to be controlled for safety reasons. An accident or incident of any kind that would put riders’ lives in danger would be catastrophic.
No Driver, No Problem
As the company has rolled out an employee-only version of the Robotaxi program in Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area, some wondered whether the rides would be driverless, as these initial trials for Tesla workers were not. Employee rides featured a human in the driver’s seat to ensure safety.
Tesla says it has launched ride-hailing Robotaxi teaser to employees only
The company did not report whether there were any interventions or not, but it did state that the vehicles traveled over 15,000 miles through 1,500 trips.
Musk confirmed during the interview that there will be no driver in the vehicle when the Robotaxi program launches in June. This will be groundbreaking as it will be the first time that Tesla vehicles will operate on public roads without anyone in the driver’s seat.
Full Self-Driving Licensing
For more than a year, Tesla has indicated that it is in talks with another major automaker regarding the licensing of Full Self-Driving. Many speculated that the company was Ford, but neither it nor Tesla confirmed this.
Musk said today that Tesla has been in touch with “a number of automakers” that have inquired about licensing FSD. Tesla has yet to sign any deal to do so.
Here is the full interview with @elonmusk talking about Tesla and the Cybercab! pic.twitter.com/992njb0lPS
— Robin (@xdNiBoR) May 20, 2025
Elon Musk
Elon Musk on Tesla vehicle sales: “We see no problem with demand”
“The sales numbers at this point are strong, and we see no problem with demand,” Musk said.
During a rather testy interview with Bloomberg’s Mishal Husain at the Qatar Economic Forum, Elon Musk stated that the demand for Tesla’s vehicles is still strong. Musk also stated that the issues that Tesla faced earlier his year have already turned around.
Already Turned Around
Tesla sales saw notable drops in the past months, particularly in Europe, where several countries saw drastically fewer Tesla sales year-over-year. Tesla stated in its Q1 2025 vehicle delivery report that the declines were largely due to the company’s changeover to the new Model Y, but media reports nevertheless placed the blame on Musk’s politics and his work with the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
It was then no surprise that Bloomberg’s Husain pointed out Tesla’s low sales in Europe this April during the interview. When questioned about the matter, Musk stated that things have “already turned around.” Musk also noted that while Tesla sales are down in Europe so far, this is true for numerous other carmakers in the region.
No Problem With Demand
When asked for evidence to back up his claims, Musk stated that Europe is indeed Tesla’s weakest market, but the company remains “strong everywhere else.” He also admitted that while Tesla has “lost some sales from the left,” the company also “gained some from the right.” Musk highlighted the fact that Tesla stock, which is partly affected by analysts with insider information, is trading at near all-time highs.
“The sales numbers at this point are strong, and we see no problem with demand. You can just look at the stock price. If you want the best insider information, the stock market analysts have that, and our stock wouldn’t be trading near all-time highs if things weren’t in good shape. They’re fine. Don’t worry about it,” Musk said.
Watch Elon Musk’s full interview at the Qatar Economic Forum in the video below.
Neuralink Blindsight human trials expected to start in the UAE
Elon Musk just revealed more about Tesla’s June Robotaxi launch
Elon Musk on Tesla vehicle sales: “We see no problem with demand”
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