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SpaceX’s Starhopper cleared by FAA for second and final flight test as locals urged to exit homes
After a full two weeks spent waiting for an FAA permit, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and local South Texas authorities appear to be preparing Starhopper for a second major flight test as early as Monday, August 26th.
Assuming the FAA comes through with a permit, Starhopper is scheduled to lift off no earlier than 5pm EDT (21:00 UTC) on August 26th for a flight test expected to smash the low-fidelity Starship prototype’s previously altitude record of ~20m (65 ft). Confirming initial reports from NASASpaceflight.com, Musk also stated that Starhopper’s second flight will be its last, after which the steel rocket test-bed will be converted for stationary use at SpaceX’s South Texas facilities.
Prior to Musk tweeting that Starhopper may be nearing approval for its next flight, the SpaceX CEO revealed that delays were centered around the FAA’s apparent unwillingness to permit the vehicle’s next flight. Musk specifically stated that the FAA wanted more “hazard analysis”, meaning that the US aviation administration had concerns that Starhopper could pose a serious threat to local residents in a tiny housing development known as Boca Chica Village.
Technically speaking, Boca Chica Village is just 1.5 miles (2.4 km) away from SpaceX’s Starhopper launch facilities, where the vehicle is expected to reach a maximum altitude of no more than 200m (650 ft) as early as August 26th. FAA regulations tend to be prescriptive and extremely rigid, understandable given the breadth of US aviation-related activities the agency is tasked with regulating. However, a basic back-of-the-envelope analysis of Starhopper’s 200m hop suggests that the risk to local residents – even those as few as 1.5 miles away from the test – is minuscule.
Based on Starhopper’s inaugural flight, its lone Raptor engine – producing up to 200 tons (450,000 lbf) of thrust – is not exactly capable of rapidly moving the Starship prototype. For all accounts and purposes, Starhopper is a spectacularly heavy hunk of steel with the aerodynamics of a cylindrical brick – capable of flight solely through the brute-force application of a literal rocket engine. To make it even half of the distance from its launch site to the Village, Starhopper would have to remain in controlled flight while radically deviating from its planned trajectory, all while its flight termination system (FTS) – explosives meant to destroy the vehicle in a worst-case scenario – completely fails to activate.
As evidence of the apparent lack of perceived risk to local residents, Cameron County, Texas officials distributed flyers to Village residents advising – but not requiring – those choosing to remain at their homes during the test to go outside during Starhopper’s next flight. This is recommended to avoid flying glass in the event that the vehicle explodes, potentially shattering windows with the shockwave that could result, but clearly demonstrates the fact that county officials believe there is a near-zero chance of Starhopper actually impacting anywhere near the houses.
Ultimately, Starhopper’s limited flight tests clearly pose little to no actual risk to residents, but this chapter does raise a far more significant question: what happens once Starship Mk1 is ready and the flight tests SpaceX is pursuing involve distances and heights on the order of several, tens, or hundreds of kilometers? For now, answers will have to wait til a later date.
A Hop and a skip into retirement
Aside from the delays and apparent lack of consensus on the safety of Starhopper’s minor hop tests, Musk confirmed that the prototype’s second test flight ever will likely be its last, providing some interesting insight into SpaceX’s next steps. Most notably, the fact that SpaceX is willing and ready to fully retire Starhopper after such a limited test series serves as a fairly confident statement that orbital-class Starship Mk1 (Texas) and Mk2 (Florida) prototypes are extremely close to flight-readiness.
Roughly a month ago, Musk tweeted that those Starship prototypes could be ready for their first flights as early as mid-September to mid-October, “2 to 3 months” from mid-July. In additional comments made on August 20th, Musk stated that his planned Starship presentation would be delayed in light of Starhopper’s own delays, and is now instead expected to occur around a major Starship Mk1 integration milestone in “mid September”.
As previously discussed on Teslarati, Starhopper’s brief service life is entirely unsurprising, delayed by issues with Raptor engines to the point that SpaceX’s far more valuable Starship prototypes – having made relentless progress – are already nearing completion. Once those Starships are ready for almost any kind of integrated testing, Starhopper will be made entirely and immediately redundant.
“According to Musk, either or both of those orbital-class prototypes could be ready for their inaugural flight tests as early as mid-September, perhaps just 1-2 months from now. Given that Starships Mk1 and Mk2 are significantly higher fidelity than Starhopper, the ungainly testbed will likely become redundant the moment that its successors are ready for flight. In other words, Starhopper is fast approaching the end of its useful life, and SpaceX’s fight for a 200m hop-test permit could ultimately be a waste of time, effort, and money if said permit doesn’t also cover Starship Mk1.”
Teslarati.com, August 20th, 2019
On another positive note, CEO Elon Musk says that Starhopper won’t be ‘retired’ to the scrapyard and will instead be lightly modified to serve as an in-situ test stand for Raptor engines, a useful addition once SpaceX South Texas moves on to multi-engine Starship and Super Heavy testing.
With any luck, SpaceX will attempt to livestream Starhopper’s second attempted flight. Stay tuned for updates on the 5pm EDT, August 26th test.
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Elon Musk clapped back at France’s decision to withhold the approval for Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) Supervised system, projecting a clear and blunt message to French Transport Minister Phillippe Tabarot, after he publicly rejected the technology in its current form.
Tabarot outlines several concerns with Tesla Full Self-Driving in a detailed video statement, where he said, “The safety trade-offs are not yet sufficient to authorize it as it currently stands,” he said. He emphasized that FSD is not a true self-driving system and that the driver remains fully responsible.
Key issues Tabarot also brought up included allowing speeding when surrounding traffic exceeds limits and what he believes are insufficient guarantees of driver attention during complex urban maneuvers such as lane changes, intersections, and roundabouts.
Delaying the approval of FSD in France will cost lives
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 22, 2026
While acknowledging technological progress and France’s support for autonomous innovation, Tabarot stressed that deployment must prioritize road safety. He noted ongoing technical discussions with Tesla, the Netherlands, and other European partners, with further ecosystem meetings planned for the fall.
Musk’s rebuke highlights the human cost of regulatory caution. Tesla’s latest safety reports provide compelling data supporting accelerated adoption. In the most recent 12-month period, vehicles using FSD (Supervised) recorded one major collision per approximately 5.1 million miles driven, dramatically better than the U.S. national average of one crash per 698,000 miles.
Even Tesla vehicles driven manually with active safety features outperform the average by a wide margin. These figures come from billions of real-world miles of telemetry, showing FSD vehicles involved in far fewer incidents than both manual Teslas and the broader U.S. fleet.
Critics argue Tesla’s comparisons require careful scrutiny regarding reporting thresholds and fleet demographics, yet the data consistently positions FSD as a potential lifesaver. With road fatalities remaining a leading cause of death worldwide, Musk contends that proven safer technology should not face prolonged bureaucratic hurdles.
France’s measured approach reflects the broader European regulatory caution, which many, especially Musk, have been critical of in the past. However, as autonomous systems from Tesla and competitors like Waymo demonstrate superior safety in independent studies, pressure is mounting for harmonized approvals.
Musk’s warning carries the belief that every month of delay may equate to avoidable tragedies on European roads.
In a striking revelation that underscores the lucrative crossover between Big Tech and space exploration, Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, disclosed a massive $94.1 billion equity stake in SpaceX following the rocket company’s blockbuster initial public offering earlier this year.
The disclosure came in Alphabet’s quarterly filing, marking the first time the long-held private investment has been publicly valued at market prices. Google was an early backer, investing alongside Fidelity in 2015 with roughly $500-900 million at a time when SpaceX was valued around $12 billion.
That bet has delivered extraordinary returns, roughly a hundredfold, transforming a strategic play on satellite internet and launch capabilities into one of Alphabet’s largest assets.
Google, $GOOGL, has said they hold $94 billion in SpaceX, $SPCX, shares after IPO.
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) July 23, 2026
Of the total holding, approximately $80 billion remains subject to short-term post-IPO lockup restrictions, preventing near-term sales. An additional $14.1 billion faces longer-term restrictions, extending into the third quarter of 2027. This structure limits immediate liquidity but protects against market volatility as SpaceX transitions into public trading.
The SpaceX position contributed significantly to gains in Alphabet’s broader investment portfolio, which also includes a major stake in AI leader Anthropic. Combined, these holdings helped drive nearly $100 billion in investment gains during the second quarter, providing a substantial boost to net income amid ongoing AI spending pressures.
Analysts view the disclosure as validation of Alphabet’s venture strategy beyond its core search and cloud businesses. The investment aligns with deeper ties, including reported multi-billion-dollar deals for AI computing capacity on SpaceX infrastructure. As SpaceX advances Starship flights, Starlink expansion, and ambitious Mars goals under Elon Musk, Google’s stake positions it to benefit from the commercialization of space.
For Alphabet, the windfall highlights how patient, forward-looking bets in transformative sectors can yield outsized rewards. While lockups temper short-term impact, the holding cements SpaceX as a cornerstone of Alphabet’s diversified portfolio in an era where aerospace, AI, and connectivity increasingly intersect. Investors will watch closely as restrictions lift and SpaceX’s public performance unfolds.
In early 2026, Tesla made a bold strategic pivot: it largely eliminated the option to purchase Full Self-Driving (FSD) software outright and shifted to a subscription-only model. The change, effective around mid-February, ended the one-time fee that had previously ranged as high as $15,000 and later dropped to $8,000. Instead, customers would access FSD (Supervised) for $99 per month in the U.S.
At the time, skeptics questioned whether locking customers into recurring payments would hurt adoption or alienate buyers who preferred ownership of the feature. Tesla bet that a lower barrier to entry, seamless integration at purchase, and the ability to cancel at any time would drive higher uptake.
The results from Q2 2026 speak for themselves: the decision has been a resounding success, delivering the largest quarterly growth in FSD subscriptions in the company’s history.
Tesla FSD subscriptions went up 56% in Q2 2026 to 1.48 million, an increase of 200,000 from Q1 2026.
Tesla added more FSD subscribers in Q2 than in any quarter in its history. pic.twitter.com/jTciTD2JqW
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) July 22, 2026
According to Tesla’s Q2 shareholder update, active FSD subscriptions reached 1.48 million globally by the end of June 2026. That represents a 56 percent increase year-over-year and a 15.6 percent jump from the prior quarter. Tesla added roughly 200,000 new subscriptions in the period alone—the biggest single-quarter gain on record.
North America led the charge, with more than 55 percent of new vehicle deliveries including an FSD subscription at the time of purchase, a record attach rate for the region.
Tesla explicitly noted that “more customers [are] opting for subscription at the time of vehicle purchase,” crediting the model shift and prominent placement of the option in the ordering process. Subscriptions now contribute meaningfully to ancillary revenue, helping offset pressure elsewhere in the business.
The financial upside is substantial: At $99 per month, 1.48 million active subscriptions generate approximately $146.5 million in monthly recurring revenue. Over a full year, that equates to roughly $1.76 billion in annualized recurring revenue (ARR) from FSD subscriptions alone, assuming steady retention and no major pricing changes.
These figures represent pure, high-margin software revenue. Unlike vehicle sales, which carry production costs, warranty obligations, and supply-chain risks, FSD subscriptions flow largely to the bottom line once the software is developed and deployed over-the-air.
Tesla does not break out exact FSD subscription revenue in its filings (it sits within “Services and Other”), but the category grew 50 percent year-over-year in Q2, with executives highlighting subscriptions as a key driver.
The subscription model offers several structural advantages. It lowers the upfront cost of a new Tesla, potentially broadening the buyer pool and supporting vehicle demand, especially important amid fluctuating EV market conditions. It creates a predictable revenue stream that compounds as the fleet grows and more owners try (and stick with) the software.
Legacy one-time purchasers still exist, but new growth is overwhelmingly subscription-based following the February cutoff.
Early data also suggests improving retention and satisfaction, as well. Tesla has rolled out iterative FSD updates, including v14 features, and expanded availability to additional markets. Recent regulatory approvals in parts of Europe have further boosted interest, with owners in newly enabled countries eager to activate the software they had been waiting for.
FSD is still supervised; regulatory hurdles for true unsupervised autonomy persist in many regions, including the United States, and competition in advanced driver-assistance systems is intensifying. Yet the Q2 numbers validate Tesla’s bet: by removing the large upfront commitment and making FSD accessible via subscription, the company has accelerated adoption faster than many anticipated.
What began as a controversial switch-up has become a clear win. With nearly 1.5 million subscribers, record attach rates, and nearly $1.8 billion in potential annual recurring revenue already in view, Tesla’s FSD business is transitioning from a promised future to a tangible, fast-growing profit engine.
If the momentum continues, and especially if unsupervised capabilities unlock robotaxi opportunities, the subscription flywheel could become one of the most valuable assets in Tesla’s portfolio.
Elon Musk claps back at France’s Tesla Full Self-Driving approval delay
Google’s massive stake in SpaceX will shock you
