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SpaceX Starlink antennas spied at Starship factory for the first time ever
SpaceX’s mysterious Starlink ‘user terminals’ have been spotted in public for the first time ever at the company’s South Texas Starship factory.
Offering a first-ever glimpse of the hardware that individual customers will use to connect to SpaceX’s growing satellite internet network, the lone photo provides a bit more detail than it might initially seem. Effectively invisible up to now, the user terminal – a small antenna system – has been described by both SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and COO/President Gwynne Shotwell as a the single biggest challenge standing in the way of Starlink’s success.
For SpaceX, building a mass-market consumer electronics product more or less in-house was already guaranteed to be a major (and expensive) challenge. The complex requirements and limitations facing an antenna meant for a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet constellation thus magnify a task that is already hard and turn it into a truly unprecedented feat of mass production. Regardless, SpaceX continues to persevere and the first public appearance of user terminals – as well as the consistent company position that service could begin rolling out just a few months from now – are encouraging signs.
The single biggest reason the user terminal component of Starlink is so daunting is relatively simple. Situated in low Earth orbit (LEO) to ensure that Starlink internet service offers latency (ping, response time, etc.) as good or better than fiber, the SpaceX satellites are moving quite rapidly, spending just a handful of minutes over any given spot on the Earth’s surface. Whereas existing satellite internet solutions are located in much higher orbits, including geostationary orbits where the spacecraft actually appear to hover above a fixed point on the ground, ground antennas for LEO internet constellations are much more challenging.
Instead of a literal dish tracking satellites as they streak across the sky, the only truly viable solution is an electronically-steered (phased array) antenna. The problem is that while phased array antennas have plummeted in price over the last five or so years, the going price for existing solutions puts them somewhere between one and two magnitudes too expensive mass-market consumer product. Even if customers loathe Comcast with all their hearts, the vast majority simply can’t rationalize spending thousands of dollars up front for comparable satellite service.
In other words, for Starlink to be viable regardless of the quality or affordability of the satellites themselves, SpaceX must somehow find a way to build millions of user terminals that are simultaneously far more capable than anything in their price range and as good or better than antennas that cost $5,000, $10,000, or even more. The challenge is amplified further by the fact that competing ground-based internet service providers (ISP) like Comcast incur nearly no material cost to add a customer to their network, while customers will typically already have the router and modem needed to gain access.
On top of being at least 5-10 times cheaper than comparable alternatives, Starlink user terminals must also be impressively reliable, bug-free, and easy to set up. Beyond that, though, the amount of room for improvement available to SpaceX is almost comical. Even mediocre customer service and vaguely transparent bills and pricing would likely paint Starlink in a favorable and highly preferable light when compared with the United States’ infamous ecosystem of monopolistic ISPs. Many consumers may happily spend several times more money than they’ve ever spent on internet-related technology just to gain access to Starlink and escape the yoke of their existing ISP.
According to Shotwell, SpaceX could begin rolling out Starlink internet to customers in the northern US and southern Canada once 14 batches – ~840 operational spacecraft – have been launched. SpaceX’s next Starlink v1.0 launch is scheduled as soon as June 23rd, meaning that an initial rollout could come as early as August or September.
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Tesla Model Y and Model 3 named safest vehicles tested by ANCAP in 2025
According to ANCAP in a press release, the Tesla Model Y achieved the highest overall weighted score of any vehicle assessed in 2025.
The Tesla Model Y recorded the highest overall safety score of any vehicle tested by ANCAP in 2025. The Tesla Model 3 also delivered strong results, reinforcing the automaker’s safety leadership in Australia and New Zealand.
According to ANCAP in a press release, the Tesla Model Y achieved the highest overall weighted score of any vehicle assessed in 2025. ANCAP’s 2025 tests evaluated vehicles across four key pillars: Adult Occupant Protection, Child Occupant Protection, Vulnerable Road User Protection, and Safety Assist technologies.
The Model Y posted consistently strong results in all four categories, distinguishing itself through a system-based safety approach that combines structural crash protection with advanced driver-assistance features such as autonomous emergency braking, lane support, and driver monitoring.
This marked the second time the Model Y has topped ANCAP’s annual safety rankings. The Model Y’s previous version was also ANCAP’s top performer in 2022.
The Tesla Model 3 also delivered a strong performance in ANCAP’s 2025 tests, contributing to Tesla’s broader safety presence across segments. Similar to the Model Y, the Model 3 also earned impressive scores across the ANCAP’s four pillars. This made the vehicle the top performer in the Medium Car category.
ANCAP Chief Executive Officer Carla Hoorweg stated that the results highlight a growing industry shift toward integrated safety design, with improvements in technologies such as autonomous emergency braking and lane support translating into meaningful real-world protection.
“ANCAP’s testing continues to reinforce a clear message: the safest vehicles are those designed with safety as a system, not a checklist. The top performers this year delivered consistent results across physical crash protection, crash avoidance and vulnerable road user safety, rather than relying on strength in a single area.
“We are also seeing increasing alignment between ANCAP’s test requirements and the safety technologies that genuinely matter on Australian and New Zealand roads. Improvements in autonomous emergency braking, lane support, and driver monitoring systems are translating into more robust protection,” Hoorweg said.
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Tesla Sweden uses Megapack battery to bypass unions’ Supercharger blockade
Just before Christmas, Tesla went live with a new charging station in Arlandastad, outside Stockholm, by powering it with a Tesla Megapack battery.
Tesla Sweden has successfully launched a new Supercharger station despite an ongoing blockade by Swedish unions, using on-site Megapack batteries instead of traditional grid connections. The workaround has allowed the Supercharger to operate without direct access to Sweden’s electricity network, which has been effectively frozen by labor action.
Tesla has experienced notable challenges connecting its new charging stations to Sweden’s power grid due to industrial action led by Seko, a major Swedish trade union, which has blocked all new electrical connections for new Superchargers. On paper, this made the opening of new Supercharger sites almost impossible.
Despite the blockade, Tesla has continued to bring stations online. In Malmö and Södertälje, new Supercharger locations opened after grid operators E.ON and Telge Nät activated the sites. The operators later stated that the connections had been made in error.
More recently, however, Tesla adopted a different strategy altogether. Just before Christmas, Tesla went live with a new charging station in Arlandastad, outside Stockholm, by powering it with a Tesla Megapack battery, as noted in a Dagens Arbete (DA) report.
Because the Supercharger station does not rely on a permanent grid connection, Tesla was able to bypass the blocked application process, as noted by Swedish car journalist and YouTuber Peter Esse. He noted that the Arlandastad Supercharger is likely dependent on nearby companies to recharge the batteries, likely through private arrangements.
Eight new charging stalls have been launched in the Arlandastad site so far, which is a fraction of the originally planned 40 chargers for the location. Still, the fact that Tesla Sweden was able to work around the unions’ efforts once more is impressive, especially since Superchargers are used even by non-Tesla EVs.
Esse noted that Tesla’s Megapack workaround is not as easily replicated in other locations. Arlandastad is unique because neighboring operators already have access to grid power, making it possible for Tesla to source electricity indirectly. Still, Esse noted that the unions’ blockades have not affected sales as much.
“Many want Tesla to lose sales due to the union blockades. But you have to remember that sales are falling from 2024, when Tesla sold a record number of cars in Sweden. That year, the unions also had blockades against Tesla. So for Tesla as a charging operator, it is devastating. But for Tesla as a car company, it does not matter in terms of sales volumes. People charge their cars where there is an opportunity, usually at home,” Esse noted.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s X goes down as users report major outage Friday morning
Error messages and stalled loading screens quickly spread across the service, while outage trackers recorded a sharp spike in user reports.
Elon Musk’s X experienced an outage Friday morning, leaving large numbers of users unable to access the social media platform.
Error messages and stalled loading screens quickly spread across the service, while outage trackers recorded a sharp spike in user reports.
Downdetector reports
Users attempting to open X were met with messages such as “Something went wrong. Try reloading,” often followed by an endless spinning icon that prevented access, according to a report from Variety. Downdetector data showed that reports of problems surged rapidly throughout the morning.
As of 10:52 a.m. ET, more than 100,000 users had reported issues with X. The data indicated that 56% of complaints were tied to the mobile app, while 33% were related to the website and roughly 10% cited server connection problems. The disruption appeared to begin around 10:10 a.m. ET, briefly eased around 10:35 a.m., and then returned minutes later.
Previous disruptions
Friday’s outage was not an isolated incident. X has experienced multiple high-profile service interruptions over the past two years. In November, tens of thousands of users reported widespread errors, including “Internal server error / Error code 500” messages. Cloudflare-related error messages were also reported.
In March 2025, the platform endured several brief outages spanning roughly 45 minutes, with more than 21,000 reports in the U.S. and 10,800 in the U.K., according to Downdetector. Earlier disruptions included an outage in August 2024 and impairments to key platform features in July 2023.
Tesla Model Y and Model 3 named safest vehicles tested by ANCAP in 2025
Tesla Sweden uses Megapack battery to bypass unions’ Supercharger blockade
