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SpaceX begins launching new shell of polar Starlink satellites
SpaceX has begun launching a new group of Starlink satellites that will eventually create a ‘shell’ of near-polar communications satellites capable of serving some of the most remote customers on Earth.
Known as Starlink Group 3-1, the mission was also SpaceX’s 50th dedicated Starlink launch since the company first launched a full batch of prototype satellites in May 2019. Just three years later, SpaceX’s Starlink constellation is responsible for roughly half of all working satellites currently in Earth orbit – a figure that is likely to continue to grow for the indefinite future.
Falcon 9 lifted off from SpaceX’s Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) SLC-4E pad at 6:39 pm PDT on July 10th carrying 46 Starlink V1.5 satellites – a payload of around 14 tons (~30,000 lb). SpaceX reduced the number of satellites from the usual 53 to account for the mission’s unusual (relative to Starlink) trajectory and target orbit. Instead of the usual dozens of missions to a fairly ordinary 53-degree orbit around Earth’s midlatitudes and equatorial regions, Starlink 3-1 is the first of several planned missions to a near-polar orbit in which satellites will cross Earth’s equatorial plane at an angle of 97.6 degrees
That orbit is technically slightly retrograde or against the direction of Earth’s rotation, which means that Starlink Group 3 launches will have to work against Earth’s rotation – a bit like trying to climb the wrong escalator. It isn’t SpaceX’s first Starlink launch to a near-polar orbit: the company has technically launched 15 Starlink prototypes to a variety of slightly different sun-synchronous orbits very similar to Starlink 3-1’s target. SpaceX also launched a single batch of Starlink Group 2 satellites to a 70-degree semi-polar shell in September 2021. The purpose of the 51 Starlink 2-1 satellites – only 19 of which appear to be operational – is unclear, though, and only 3 of the other 15 prototypes are still in orbit.
As a result, Group 3 could become the first polar Starlink ‘shell’ to truly enter general service. SpaceX already has plans for a second Group 3 launch – Starlink 3-2 – as early as the end of July, and at 46 satellites apiece, as few as eight launches will be needed to complete the 348-satellite shell. Once complete, it should give SpaceX the ability to serve customers in high-latitude and polar regions.
If or when the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) gives SpaceX permission to activate thousands of intersatellite laser links installed on the ~1000 Starlink V1.5 satellites already in orbit, the new polar shell could even allow Starlink to connect planes, ships, or outposts that are hundreds or thousands of miles from the nearest ground station. In theory, polar Starlink satellites could even connect Antarctic research outposts to the internet.
Starlink 3-1 was SpaceX’s 50th dedicated Starlink launch since May 2019 and 49th operational Starlink launch since November 2019, bringing the total number of working Starlink satellites in orbit to 2518. Of those 2518, more than 2000 have reached operational orbits and are likely serving some of SpaceX’s roughly half a million customers. Thanks to apparent improvements in reliability that have seen only 9 of 1065 Starlink V1.5 satellites suffer technical failures since launches began in November 2021, almost 90% of all the Starlink satellites SpaceX has ever launched are still in orbit – and functional – today.
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In a new note to investors on Tuesday, Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew Percoco said that Tesla has one big financial question to answer for investors regarding its Robotaxi rollout, Full Self-Driving software, and Optimus.
Percoco said in the note that, for the most part, investors are still very positive about the direction the company is headed. However, there are some things the firm would like to see, and they have to do with financials.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla bulls are more than convinced that the company’s Full Self-Driving software is proof it can develop physical AI. Financially, however, there are still some questions, especially on elevated spending, which CEO Elon Musk said would occur as the company works to roll out Robotaxi faster and continue developing its Optimus robot.
The latter two are where Tesla will have to prove progress to investors, as Percoco writes that both projects “will require clearer evidence that Robotaxi is scaling and more tangible Optimus proof points to support the ROI on elevated capex.”
Percoco said the second quarter earnings call did not change his long-term thesis of where Tesla is positioned in the AI race, which is out in front. However, there are concerns that weaker gross margins and higher R&D spend will stress financials, and that has “sharpened our (and investors’) focus on measurable progress across Robotaxi and Optimus.”
Additionally, Robotaxi still needs to be proven with more operation in existing cities while maintaining safety but improving how many rides it gives in any given time, he said. For Optimus, Percoco wrote that he is “still looking for evidence beyond commentary around SOP.”
Morgan Stanley put Percoco in charge of covering Tesla after long-time analyst Adam Jonas transitioned to the automotive side.
Currently, Morgan Stanley has a $415 price target on Tesla and a ‘Hold’ rating on the stock. It is trading at around $330 at the time of publication, which was 2:30 P.M. on the East Coast.
SpaceX’s massive investment in AI will make it a big winner, Argus Research said after the company’s successful earnings call last week.
The firm also upgraded shares to a Buy from Hold and set a $160 price target.
SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) is currently recovering from its heavy AI infrastructure investments, as it spent nearly $16 billion in Q2 alone. The company did this primarily by monetizing high-demand GPU compute capacity at a much faster pace than traditional data center economics would suggest.
Company CFO Bret Johnsen said that SpaceX would be able to pay back anything on new deployments within a year.
There are plenty of ways the company can do this:
Leasing excess compute capacity through contracts
SpaceX has already built Colossus and Colossus II, largely for its own model training. However, much of that capacity is already rented out to third parties. It already has major deals with Anthropic, Google, and Reflection AI. These partnerships are adding billions per month to SpaceX’s spreadsheet.
High utilization driven by industry-wide scarcity
The demand for advanced AI training and inference capacity continues to exceed what is available for use. SpaceX can fill new racks quickly after they come online, so the capital deployed converts into revenue with minimal idle time.
Additionally, management and outside observers have described the new compute capital as behaving more like a cost-of-goods-sold than traditional multi-year capex, especially because of this rapid monetization pattern.
Capacity has already scaled from ~0.4 GW a year to 1.4 GW annually by the end of Q2. There are targets of more than 2 GW by year-end.
High incremental margins on the rental business once capacity is online
GPU cloud providers often operate at strong gross margins. SpaceX can monetize capacity that was already partially built or can be added efficiently. This means that incremental EBITDA margins on the rental revenue are usually high. This accelerates cash recovery relative to the gross capital outlay.
Parallel monetization of its own AI software and applications
Beyond pure infrastructure rental, SpaceX also generates revenue from Grok through subscriptions and usage, from X through ads, data, and other related services, enterprise APIs, and the planned integration of the Cursor coding tools acquisition.
These application layers ride on the same compute infrastructure and provide additional high-margin streams that could offset build-out costs. AI-segment revenue overall rose sharply to about $2.6 billion in Q2, according to Motley Fool. This was driven primarily by the infrastructure contracts, but the software side is also partially responsible.
Efficient, large-scale deployment and vertical integration advantages
SpaceX has emphasized the rapid construction of power and cooling infrastructure and favorable cost-per-megawatt economics relative to industry benchmarks in some disclosures.
Combined with its ability to scale capacity aggressively and the fact that many contracts start generating revenue within months of capacity coming online, the effective payback compresses dramatically compared with more conventional multi-year data-center projects.
SpaceX’s dominant near-term recovery path will turn the AI clusters into a hyperscale-style compute rental business for other leading AI companies while still using a portion for internal models.
Tesla headlights have caused a recall of over 20,000 of the company’s two most popular vehicles, the Model 3 and Model Y, due to the low-beam bulb exceeding the maximum allowed intensity according to federal standards.
Tesla initiated the recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) this morning, stating that the low-beam output “exceeds the maximum allowed intensity in the outer upper-right and outer upper-left areas of the 10U and 90U zone, as prescribed in FMVSS No. 108.”
Tesla sourced the impacted headlights from Marelli Automotive Lighting, a Mexico-based company. The recall impacts 2020-2023 Model Y vehicles and 2017-2023 Model 3 vehicles. It is estimated that every VIN in this recall is impacted by the defect.
🚨 Tesla is recalling 20,349 2020-23 Model Y vehicles and 2017-23 Model 3 vehicles due to an excessively bright headlamp low beam.
Currently, there is no remedy plan in place, as it is still being developed. pic.twitter.com/y34cIO2U0B
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 11, 2026
Typically, Tesla would remedy recalls of this nature through an Over-the-Air software update, which has been a major focus of criticism by the company and its supporters because the NHTSA still refers to it as a “recall,” even though it requires no action by the vehicle owner. The fix is shipped over the internet and downloaded to the car.
However, there appears to be a potentially different solution for this problem. Tesla has not developed a remedy for this issue, so it could potentially be on the way. The big issue appears to be the fact that these recalled lamps are out of production, and this is an old body style for both vehicles. The headlights and front-end designs are completely different.
Tesla switched to another supplier when the affected headlight design was discontinued. It plans to begin notifying owners of their remedy options by September 15.
Tesla filed a petition protesting the recall to fix the vehicles’ headlight issue, but the NHTSA denied it. Now, Tesla will come up with a solution to fix it.
Tesla has one big financial question to answer for investors: Morgan Stanley
SpaceX AI investment gamble will make it a big winner, firm says
