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SpaceX drone ship leaves port for Starlink mission during a Falcon 9 launch

Drone ship A Shortfall Of Gravitas, July 2021. (Richard Angle)

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In preparation for SpaceX’s next launch, drone ship A Shortfall Of Gravitas (ASOG) was spotted departing Port Canaveral in the middle of the company’s second Falcon 9 launch and landing this month.

Rideshare mission Transporter-3 lifted off at 10:25 am EST on Thursday, January 13th and delivered 105 small satellites to orbit without issue, completing the second of five SpaceX launches planned for the first month of 2022. Thanks to its relatively light payload, the mission’s Falcon 9 booster was able to boost all the way back to Cape Canaveral for its landing. Ten minutes before Falcon 9 lifted off, SpaceX drone ship ASOG left its Port Canaveral berth, timing its departure such that the vessel was towed past fans and media members there to watch Transporter-3 a matter of seconds after Falcon 9 B1058 stuck its tenth landing just six miles (9.5 km) to the north.

The day before Transporter-3, FAA and Coast Guard notices revealed that SpaceX was aiming to launch its third mission of the month on the evening of Monday, January 17th. Launch photographer Ben Cooper backed up those notices soon after, confirming SpaceX’s plans to launch another batch of Starlink satellites (likely Group 4-6) no earlier than (NET) 7:26 pm EST. Starlink 4-6 will likely mirror 4-5 and carry ~49 Starlink V1.5 satellites to low Earth orbit, using an odd slightly southeastern trajectory to allow both the booster and payload fairing to land near the Bahamas.

During SpaceX’s Starlink 4-5 webcast, an engineer standing in as its host revealed that the purpose of its unusual trajectory and inefficient dogleg maneuver was to increase the odds of successful booster and fairing recovery by landing in a region of the sea that tends to be calmer in the winter. The tradeoff: to get there, Falcon 9 has to perform a slight dogleg maneuver (a bit like a mid-flight right turn), consuming more propellant and thus forcing SpaceX to remove 4 Starlink satellites from the nominal payload of 53. That increases the relative cost of each southerly Starlink launch by about 8% – an inefficiency that SpaceX clearly views as preferable to the risk of losing a Falcon 9 booster (worth $30-40M) or fairing ($2-3M per half) to the ocean.

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Falcon 9 B1058 is pictured landing directly behind departing drone ship ASOG.

Much like the first shell of SpaceX’s first 4408-satellite Starlink constellation, which SpaceX mostly completed last year, “Group 4” refers to an almost identical shell of 1584 satellites that will operate at a slightly (0.3%) different inclination and slightly (10 km; 2%) lower orbit. With 49-53 satellites on each mission, it will take SpaceX another 26-29 Falcon 9 launches to complete the new shell if every satellite works as planned.

If, as SpaceX’s plans for January suggest, the company’s Starlink V1.5 output has recovered to Starlink V1.0 levels (120-180+ satellites per month) after a five to six-month drought in H2 2021, SpaceX could more or less complete Shell 4 by the end of 2022 if it can average two Starlink launches per month for the rest of the year. January 2022 bodes well for that prospect, as SpaceX intends to conduct a third Starlink launch (4-7) near the end of the month if it can launch Starlink 4-6 and Italian Earth observation satellite CSG-2 within a few days of January 17th and January 27th.

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 ships out update that brings massive change to two big features

“This change only updates the name of certain features and text in your vehicle,” the company wrote in Release Notes for the update, “and does not change the way your features behave.”

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has shipped out an update for its vehicles that was caused specifically by a California lawsuit that threatened the company’s ability to sell cars because of how it named its driver assistance suite.

Tesla shipped out Software Update 2026.2.9 starting last week; we received it already, and it only brings a few minor changes, mostly related to how things are referenced.

“This change only updates the name of certain features and text in your vehicle,” the company wrote in Release Notes for the update, “and does not change the way your features behave.”

The following changes came to Tesla vehicles in the update:

  • Navigate on Autopilot has now been renamed to Navigate on Autosteer
  • FSD Computer has been renamed to AI Computer

Tesla faced a 30-day sales suspension in California after the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles stated the company had to come into compliance regarding the marketing of its automated driving features.

The agency confirmed on February 18 that it had taken a “corrective action” to resolve the issue. That corrective action was renaming certain parts of its ADAS.

Tesla discontinued its standalone Autopilot offering in January and ramped up the marketing of Full Self-Driving Supervised. Tesla had said on X that the issue with naming “was a ‘consumer protection’ order about the use of the term ‘Autopilot’ in a case where not one single customer came forward to say there’s a problem.”

It is now compliant with the wishes of the California DMV, and we’re all dealing with it now.

This was the first primary dispute over the terminology of Full Self-Driving, but it has undergone some scrutiny at the federal level, as some government officials have claimed the suite has “deceptive” names. Previous Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was one of those federal-level employees who had an issue with the names “Autopilot” and “Full Self-Driving.”

Tesla sued the California DMV over the ruling last week.

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Tesla workers push back against Giga Berlin unionization

“IG Metall did not succeed in Giga Berlin‘s works council election earlier today. The union share was reduced from nearly 40% in 2024 to 31% in 2026! This is a clear message by the Giga Berlin team towards an independent co-determination! The list called Giga United, led by the current chairwoman, Michaela Schmitz, received the most votes with more than 40%! Good news for Giga Berlin!”

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Tesla workers pushed back against unionization efforts at Gigafactory Berlin, and over the past few years, there has been a dramatic decrease in interest to unionize at the German plant.

Gigafactory Berlin Plant Manager André Thierig announced on Wednesday that IG Metall, the European union group, saw its share reduce from 40 to 31 percent in 2026 as employees eligible to vote on the issue. Instead, the Giga Berlin team, known as Giga United, received the most votes with more than 40 percent.

Thierig gave specific details in a post on X:

“IG Metall did not succeed in Giga Berlin‘s works council election earlier today. The union share was reduced from nearly 40% in 2024 to 31% in 2026! This is a clear message by the Giga Berlin team towards an independent co-determination! The list called Giga United, led by the current chairwoman, Michaela Schmitz, received the most votes with more than 40%! Good news for Giga Berlin!”

There were over 10,700 total employees who were eligible to vote, with 87 percent of them turning out to cast what they wanted. There were three key outcomes: Giga United, IG Metall, and other notable groups, with the most popular being the Polish Initiative.

The 37-seat council remains dominated by non-unionized representatives, preserving Giga Berlin as Germany’s only major auto plant without a collective bargaining agreement.

Thierig and Tesla framed the outcome as employee support for an “independent, flexible, and unbureaucratic” future, enabling acceleration on projects like potential expansions or new models. IG Metall expressed disappointment, accusing management of intimidation tactics and an “unfair” campaign.

The first election of this nature happened back in 2022. In 2024, IG Metall emerged as the largest single faction with 39.4 percent, but non-union lists coalesced for a majority.

But this year was different. There was some extra tension at Giga Berlin this year, as just two weeks ago, an IG Metall rep was accused by Tesla of secretly recording a council meeting. The group countersued for defamation.

Tesla Giga Berlin plant manager faces defamation probe after IG Metall union complaint

This result from the 2026 vote reinforced Tesla’s model of direct employee-management alignment over traditional German union structures, amid ongoing debates about working conditions. IG Metall views it as a setback but continues advocacy. Tesla sees it as validation of its approach in a competitive EV market.

This outcome may influence future labor dynamics at Giga Berlin, including any revival of expansion plans or product lines, which Musk has talked about recently.

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SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell details xAI power pledge at White House event

The commitment was announced during an event with United States President Donald Trump.

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Credit: xAI

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell stated that xAI will develop 1.2 gigawatts of power at its Memphis-area AI supercomputer site as part of the White House’s new “Ratepayer Protection Pledge.” 

The commitment was announced during an event with United States President Donald Trump.

During the White House event, Shotwell stated that xAI’s AI data center near Memphis would include a major energy installation designed to support the facility’s power needs.

“As you know, xAI builds huge supercomputers and data centers and we build them fast. Currently, we’re building one on the Tennessee-Mississippi state line. As part of today’s commitment, we will take extensive additional steps to continue to reduce the costs of electricity for our neighbors… 

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“xAI will therefore commit to develop 1.2 GW of power as our supercomputer’s primary power source. That will be for every additional data center as well. We will expand what is already the largest global Megapack power installation in the world,” Shotwell said.

She added that the system would provide significant backup power capacity.

“The installation will provide enough backup power to power the city of Memphis, and more than sufficient energy to power the town of Southaven, Mississippi where the data center resides. We will build new substations and invest in electrical infrastructure to provide stability to the area’s grid.”

Shotwell also noted that xAI will be supporting the area’s water supply as well. 

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“We haven’t talked about it yet, but this is actually quite important. We will build state-of-the-art water recycling plants that will protect approximately 4.7 billion gallons of water from the Memphis aquifer each year. And we will employ thousands of American workers from around the city of Memphis on both sides of the TN-MS border,” she noted. 

The Ratepayer Protection Pledge was introduced as part of the federal government’s effort to address concerns about rising electricity costs tied to large AI data centers, as noted in an Insider report. Under the agreement, companies developing major AI infrastructure projects committed to covering their own power generation needs and avoiding additional costs for local ratepayers.

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