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SpaceX Starlink launches to debut rideshare capabilities next month
According to SpaceX and customer Planet, the company will start offering Starlink rideshare launch opportunities as early as next month, opening up space for other companies, space agencies, and individuals to get their payloads into space.
SpaceX’s decision to co-opt its own Starlink missions as a vehicle for rideshare payloads is perhaps one of the most interesting strategic moves in the smallsat launch ecosystem in awhile. Announced in early-August 2019, SpaceX’s Smallsat Rideshare Program effectively marked the company’s entrance into the burgeoning smallsat launch services industry. Rather than the launch industry proper, the services industry focuses on finding ways to put tiny satellites on rockets that would normally be far too large to serve as a practical solution. By finding multiple customers and wrangling with their different schedules, spacecraft, and requirements, dozens of smallsats can be launched in such a way that it’s actually worth a large launch provider’s focus.
In the past, SpaceX famously worked with Spaceflight to launch the SSO-A mission in December 2018, using all of a Falcon 9 rocket’s performance to place 64 small satellites in orbit. After many, many delays and numerous planned customers still missing the launch, both Spaceflight and SpaceX came away with the conclusion that a fully dedicated smallsat launch at the scale of Falcon 9 was simply not a practical approach to the problem. Instead, spreading the ~120 satellites originally manifested on SSO-A over 3-6 smaller missions would be far more sustainable for all parties involved. With SpaceX’s Starlink rideshare strategy, the company may have done exactly that.
Each weighing about 115 kg (~250 lb) each and standing roughly the same size as a large mini-fridge, Planet has broken the news that three of its SkySat imaging satellites will fly on SpaceX’s ninth dedicated Starlink launch. Known as Starlink-8 in reference to it being the eighth launch of finalized v1.0 satellites, the mission is scheduled to launch no earlier than June, likely 3-4 weeks after SpaceX’s 8th Starlink launch (NET May 17).
After Starlink-8, Planet will include another three SkySats on an unspecified Starlink mission, also scheduled to launch sometime in Q3. Once complete, the earth imaging company’s fleet of high-resolution (~0.5m/px) observation satellites will be 21 strong,
Until SpaceX or its rideshare customers choose to release photos or offer up details, it remains unclear how the company’s Starlink rideshares will work from a technical perspective. Thanks to SpaceX’s extremely unique method of stacking and deploying each batch of 60 Starlink satellites, there will be a combination of challenges and benefits to grapple with. Because of Starlink’s flat, rectangular satellite design, a lot of space inside the Falcon payload fairing they occupy is left empty.
There’s a slight possibility that smaller satellites and their deployers could fit in the triangular gaps left at the bottom of Starlink stacks, but it’s unlikely that Planet’s relatively large (on the scale of smallsats) SkySats would fit in the constrained space. That leaves the large conical section left unused at the top of each Starlink-dedicated payload fairing. Given that SpaceX spins up Falcon 9’s upper stage and releases Starlink satellites like a deck of giant ~260 kg (~570 lb) cards, it’s highly unlikely that rideshare passengers could be deployed after the main Starlink deployment event.
That leaves some kind of solution that mounts rideshare payloads on top of the stack of satellites. The most likely solution would involve somehow attaching a satellite deployment mechanism to the tensioning rods that hold the Starlink stack together and are ejected to release all 60 spacecraft at once. If that solution is possible, Falcon 9 could deploy rideshare payloads, spin up, discard the structural rods and deployers in one go, and eject all 60 Starlink satellites with having to tweak any of the spacecraft or change launch operations much at all. Regardless, it will be interesting to see how SpaceX has solved its unique deployment problem.
In Pennsylvania, we got between 10 and 12 inches of snow over the weekend as a nasty Winter storm ripped through a large portion of the country, bringing snow to some areas and nasty ice storms to others.
I have had a Model Y Performance for the week courtesy of Tesla, which got the car to me last Monday. Today was my last full day with it before I take it back to my local showroom, and with all the accumulation on it, I decided to run a cool little experiment: How long would it take for Tesla’s Defrost feature to melt 8 inches of snow?
Tesla’s Defrost feature is one of the best and most underrated that the car has in its arsenal. While every car out there has a defrost setting, Tesla’s can be activated through the Smartphone App and is one of the better-performing systems in my opinion.
It has come in handy a lot through the Fall and Winter, helping clear up my windshield more efficiently while also clearing up more of the front glass than other cars I’ve owned.
The test was simple: don’t touch any of the ice or snow with my ice scraper, and let the car do all the work, no matter how long it took. Of course, it would be quicker to just clear the ice off manually, but I really wanted to see how long it would take.
Tesla Model Y heat pump takes on Model S resistive heating in defrosting showdown
Observations
I started this test at around 10:30 a.m. It was still pretty cloudy and cold out, and I knew the latter portion of the test would get some help from the Sun as it was expected to come out around noon, maybe a little bit after.
I cranked it up and set my iPhone up on a tripod, and activated the Time Lapse feature in the Camera settings.
The rest of the test was sitting and waiting.
It didn’t take long to see some difference. In fact, by the 20-minute mark, there was some notable melting of snow and ice along the sides of the windshield near the A Pillar.
However, this test was not one that was “efficient” in any manner; it took about three hours and 40 minutes to get the snow to a point where I would feel comfortable driving out in public. In no way would I do this normally; I simply wanted to see how it would do with a massive accumulation of snow.
It did well, but in the future, I’ll stick to clearing it off manually and using the Defrost setting for clearing up some ice before the gym in the morning.
Check out the video of the test below:
❄️ How long will it take for the Tesla Model Y Performance to defrost and melt ONE FOOT of snow after a blizzard?
Let’s find out: pic.twitter.com/Zmfeveap1x
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 26, 2026
Tesla Robotaxi ride-hailing without a Safety Monitor is proving to be a difficult task, according to some riders who made the journey to Austin to attempt to ride in one of its vehicles that has zero supervision.
Last week, Tesla officially removed Safety Monitors from some — not all — of its Robotaxi vehicles in Austin, Texas, answering skeptics who said the vehicles still needed supervision to operate safely and efficiently.
BREAKING: Tesla launches public Robotaxi rides in Austin with no Safety Monitor
Tesla aimed to remove Safety Monitors before the end of 2025, and it did, but only to company employees. It made the move last week to open the rides to the public, just a couple of weeks late to its original goal, but the accomplishment was impressive, nonetheless.
However, the small number of Robotaxis that are operating without Safety Monitors has proven difficult to hail for a ride. David Moss, who has gained notoriety recently as the person who has traveled over 10,000 miles in his Tesla on Full Self-Driving v14 without any interventions, made it to Austin last week.
He has tried to get a ride in a Safety Monitor-less Robotaxi for the better part of four days, and after 38 attempts, he still has yet to grab one:
Wow just wow!
It’s 8:30PM, 29° out ice storm hailing & Tesla Robotaxi service has turned back on!
Waymo is offline & vast majority of humans are home in the storm
Ride 38 was still supervised but by far most impressive yet pic.twitter.com/1aUnJkcYm8
— David Moss (@DavidMoss) January 25, 2026
Tesla said last week that it was rolling out a controlled test of the Safety Monitor-less Robotaxis. Ashok Elluswamy, who heads the AI program at Tesla, confirmed that the company was “starting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader Robotaxi fleet with Safety Monitors,” and that “the ratio will increase over time.”
This is a good strategy that prioritizes safety and keeps the company’s controlled rollout at the forefront of the Robotaxi rollout.
However, it will be interesting to see how quickly the company can scale these completely monitor-less rides. It has proven to be extremely difficult to get one, but that is understandable considering only a handful of the cars in the entire Austin fleet are operating with no supervision within the vehicle.
Tesla has given its biggest hint that Full Self-Driving in Europe is imminent, as a new feature seems to show that the company is preparing for frequent border crossings.
Tesla owner and influencer BLKMDL3, also known as Zack, recently took his Tesla to the border of California and Mexico at Tijuana, and at the international crossing, Full Self-Driving showed an interesting message: “Upcoming country border — FSD (Supervised) will become unavailable.”
FSD now shows a new message when approaching an international border crossing.
Stayed engaged the whole way as we crossed the border and worked great in Mexico! pic.twitter.com/bDzyLnyq0g
— Zack (@BLKMDL3) January 26, 2026
Due to regulatory approvals, once a Tesla operating on Full Self-Driving enters a new country, it is required to comply with the laws and regulations that are applicable to that territory. Even if legal, it seems Tesla will shut off FSD temporarily, confirming it is in a location where operation is approved.
This is something that will be extremely important in Europe, as crossing borders there is like crossing states in the U.S.; it’s pretty frequent compared to life in America, Canada, and Mexico.
Tesla has been working to get FSD approved in Europe for several years, and it has been getting close to being able to offer it to owners on the continent. However, it is still working through a lot of the red tape that is necessary for European regulators to approve use of the system on their continent.
This feature seems to be one that would be extremely useful in Europe, considering the fact that crossing borders into other countries is much more frequent than here in the U.S., and would cater to an area where approvals would differ.
Tesla has been testing FSD in Spain, France, England, and other European countries, and plans to continue expanding this effort. European owners have been fighting for a very long time to utilize the functionality, but the red tape has been the biggest bottleneck in the process.
Tesla Europe builds momentum with expanding FSD demos and regional launches
Tesla operates Full Self-Driving in the United States, China, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.
Tesla winter weather test: How long does it take to melt 8 inches of snow?
Tesla Robotaxi ride-hailing without a Safety Monitor proves to be difficult
