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SpaceX announces second Starlink satellite launch in two weeks
SpaceX has announced its second planned Starlink satellite in two weeks, sticking to a trend that could see the company launch more than a thousand communications satellites over the next 12 months.
Barely two weeks after SpaceX opened media accreditation for Starlink-2, the second launch of finalized ‘v1.0’ satellites and third dedicated launch overall, the company has announced that that late-December mission will be followed by another Starlink launch in January 2020. This tracks almost exactly with SpaceX’s reported plans for as many as 24 dedicated Starlink launches in 2020, a feat that would singlehandedly break SpaceX’s current record of 21 launches performed in a single year.
As previously discussed on Teslarati, SpaceX opened media accreditation for Starlink-2 on November 24th, confirming that the company hopes to complete one more 60-satellite Starlink launch before the end of 2019. That mission is currently targeted no earlier than (NET) late-December and would be SpaceX’s last launch of 2019 if current schedules hold.
Regardless of when it happens, there’s a strong chance that the 60 Starlink-2 satellites will make SpaceX the world’s largest individual satellite operator, potentially raising the number of satellites under the company’s command to ~170. According to SpaceX’s announcement, Starlink-3 – another 60-satellite mission – is now scheduled to launch no earlier than January 2020. If Starlink-2 is successful and no more v0.9 spacecraft drop out of the operational constellation, it can be said with certainty that Starlink-3 will unequivocally make SpaceX the world’s largest satellite operator.
Incredibly, if those schedules hold, SpaceX will have gone from two satellites in orbit to the world’s largest satellite constellation operator – by a large margin – in as few as nine months. In fact, after cresting that peak, it will take nothing short of a miracle for SpaceX to be usurped. The company hopes to launch as many as 24 Starlink missions in 2020 and is simply miles ahead of its competitors in its efforts to make high-performance orbital launches as efficient and affordable as possible.
If SpaceX and its executives are to be believed, as early as the very first dedicated Starlink launch (May 2019), the cost of launching Falcon 9 was already significantly less than the cost of its payload of 60 Starlink v0.9 satellite prototypes. CEO Elon Musk and COO Gwynne Shotwell have strongly implied that the per-satellite cost is already well below $500,000, meaning that the absolute worst-case internal cost of a Falcon 9 launch is less than $30M.
If, for example, each Starlink satellite already costs as little as $250,000 to build, it’s possible that SpaceX can already launch a dedicated 60-satellite mission (including launch costs) at an internal cost of less than $30M ($15M for launch, $15M for 60 satellites). Even in the former scenario, a single Starlink launch might cost SpaceX has little as $60M in total.
In a best-case scenario for megaconstellation competitor OneWeb, the company purchased up to 21 Soyuz launches from Roscosmos for “more than $1 billion”, translating to roughly $50 million per launch (rocket costs only). Meanwhile, OneWeb’s satellite design is far more traditional and Soyuz offers significantly less performance than Falcon 9, resulting in a cap of 34 ~150 kg (330 lb) per launch. Finally, OneWeb hopes to build each satellite for about $1M, translating to a best-case per-launch cost of ~$85 million. OneWeb aims to launch once per month after its first 34-satellite mission, currently NET January 30th, 2020.
This is all a very roundabout way of illustrating the fact that once SpaceX becomes the world’s largest satellite operator, nothing short of repeated launch failures or the company’s outright collapse will prevent it from retaining that crown for the indefinite future. Once OneWeb has completed all 21 of its planned Soyuz launches, a milestone unlikely to come before mid-2021, it will have a constellation of ~700 satellites.
Even if SpaceX falters and manages a monthly Starlink launch cadence over the next 13 months, the constellation could surpass OneWeb’s Phase 1 plans as early as Q3 2020 – up to as early as June 2020 if SpaceX manages a biweekly cadence. By the time OneWeb’s constellation is complete, SpaceX could potentially have more than 2000 operational satellites in orbit – perhaps ~600 metric tons of spacecraft compared to OneWeb’s ~100 metric tons.
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Tesla plans for largest Australian Supercharger yet
The company has a 20-stall site in the city of Goulburn in New South Wales, which is an ideal location for trips between Sydney and Canberra, two major cities.
Tesla is planning to build its largest Supercharger in Australia yet, expanding on the infrastructure the company has built for electric vehicles.
The company has a 20-stall site in the city of Goulburn in New South Wales, which is an ideal location for trips between Sydney and Canberra, two major cities.
However, according to The Driven, a new Australian Supercharger is on the way, and it is going to be the biggest in the country, accounting for more than 25 stalls total. They will likely be V4 Superchargers, Tesla’s fastest piles that enable some serious range for cars that will plug in.
@LudicrousFeed Before I forget, one for tonight. Highway service centre near Mackay with 25+ charging stalls!
Website has a couple of video renders too.https://t.co/WkuklxE7tk pic.twitter.com/BxKQ8bDUZ7— ⚡chuqtas (@chuqtas) March 11, 2026
Tesla is operating 148 active Supercharger sites in Australia, with 80 of those being available to non-Tesla EVs as a part of the company’s initiative to make things accessible for all electric vehicle owners.
The expansion of Tesla Superchargers is welcome for all EV owners, especially as there are so many automakers that have access to the network. It is widely reliable and extremely dependable; it is tough to find a Supercharger location that is completely out of service.
The opening of the stalls will be welcome for the Tesla owners of Australia, especially as the Model Y continues to be a major contributor to the company’s prowess in the market.
Tesla’s sales performance in Australia showed a mixed but challenging picture in 2025, with the company delivering 28,856 new vehicles, marking a significant 24.8% decline from 38,347 units in 2024.
This represented the brand’s largest annual drop on record and the second consecutive year of decline, amid intensifying competition from Chinese EV makers like BYD and shifting buyer preferences toward SUVs. The Tesla Model Y remained a standout performer and Australia’s best-selling electric vehicle, with 22,239 deliveries, up 4.6percent year-over-year, accounting for about 77 percent of Tesla’s total sales.
The mid-year launch of the updated “Juniper” Model Y helped sustain momentum in the popular mid-size SUV segment.
In contrast, the Model 3 sedan struggled sharply, plummeting 61.3 percent to just 6,617 units, as consumers favored SUVs and faced growing options in the sedan category.
Despite the overall dip, Tesla held onto leadership in the EV segment, capturing roughly 28 percent of the BEV market. Australia’s EV market grew robustly, surpassing 156,000 sales and reaching 13 percent market share, up 38.7 percent from 2024, highlighting strong broader adoption even as Tesla faced headwinds.
Early 2026 data suggests a rebound, with EV sales nearly doubling year-over-year in February and the Model Y showing strong gains, positioning Tesla for potential recovery amid ongoing competition.
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Tesla Model Y L gets new entertainment feature
Beyond audio quality, Immersive Sound X aligns with Tesla’s ecosystem of over-the-air updates, potentially allowing future refinements.
Tesla is including a new entertainment feature in the Model Y L, improving the vehicle even further and making it what appears to be the best configuration of the all-electric crossover globally.
Unfortunately, we in the U.S. do not yet have access to the vehicle, and the plans for it to enter the market remain up in the air, as CEO Elon Musk has said it could appear late this year. However, there is nothing concrete at this time.
Tesla’s latest enhancement to the Model Y L is a new Immersive Sound X feature, exclusive to the Model Y L.
Model YL has new sound system setting. Immersive Sound X. This is NOT on the new Y and 3 pic.twitter.com/7OpJuzyoGf
— Electric Future (@electricfuture5) March 16, 2026
It aims to transform the in-car listening experience into something truly cinematic. First introduced by Tesla China in October 2025, this advanced audio mode is now rolling out to deliveries in Australia and New Zealand, highlighting Tesla’s approach to region-specific premium upgrades.
At its core, Immersive Sound X leverages real-time sound extraction technology to create a customizable 3D soundstage. Using advanced algorithms, it analyzes audio tracks to separate direct sounds, such as vocals or lead instruments, from ambient elements like echoes and reverb.
The system then positions direct sounds front and center while diffusing ambient sounds to the side and rear speakers, simulating an expansive virtual environment. This results in a heightened sense of depth and spatial awareness, making listeners feel as if they’re in a concert hall or studio.
What sets Immersive Sound X apart from the standard Immersive Sound found in other Tesla models is its hardware dependency and enhanced processing. The Model Y L boasts an 18-speaker system with a subwoofer, compared to the 15-speaker setup, plus a subwoofer, in the Model Y Long Range’s previous premium audio configuration.
This upgrade provides more “kick” and precision, enabling finer control over the soundstage. Unlike traditional surround sound, which requires multi-channel mixes like Dolby Atmos, Immersive Sound X works with any stereo source from platforms like Spotify or Apple Music, so every owner will be able to use it.
Tesla Model Y lineup expansion signals an uncomfortable reality for consumers
You can fine-tune the experience via an adjustable immersion slider, scaling the “size” of the virtual space to personal preferences. This caters to a more custom sound.
An Auto mode intelligently adapts based on media type, whether it’s music, podcasts, or videos, ensuring optimal immersion without manual tweaks. This feature is unavailable on standard Model Y variants (with 7 or 15 speakers) or Model 3 trims, underscoring Tesla’s strategy to differentiate higher trims through superior hardware and software integration.
Beyond audio quality, Immersive Sound X aligns with Tesla’s ecosystem of over-the-air updates, potentially allowing future refinements.
For audiophiles and casual listeners alike, it elevates mundane commutes into immersive journeys, proving Tesla’s commitment to blending cutting-edge tech with user-centric design.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk teases crazy outlook for xAI against its competitors
Musk’s response was vintage hyperbole, designed to rally supporters and dismiss doubters, something his responses on social media often do.
Elon Musk has never been one to shy away from crazy timelines, massive expectations, and outrageous outlooks. However, his recent plans for xAI and where he believes it will end up compared to its competitors are sure to stimulate conversation.
In a bold and characteristic response on X, Elon Musk fired back at a recent analysis that positioned his AI venture, xAI, as lagging behind industry frontrunners.
The post, from March 14, came as a direct reply to forecaster Peter Wildeford’s assessment, which drew from benchmarks and reporting to rank AI developers.
xAI will catch up this year and then exceed them all by such a long distance in 3 years that you will need the James Webb telescope to see who is in second place
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 14, 2026
Wildeford placed Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI in a virtual tie at the top, with xAI and Meta trailing by about seven months. Chinese players like Moonshot, Deepseek, zAI, and Alibaba were estimated to be nine months behind, while France’s Mistral lagged by about a year and a half.
Musk’s response was vintage hyperbole, designed to rally supporters and dismiss doubters, something his responses on social media often do.
He claimed xAI would “catch up this year,” meaning by the end of 2026, erasing that seven-month deficit against the leaders. But he didn’t stop there.
Musk escalated his vision to 2029, predicting xAI would “exceed them all by such a long distance” that observers would need the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s orbiting observatory stationed about 930,000 miles from Earth, to spot whoever lands in second place. This analogy underscores Musk’s confidence in xAI’s trajectory, implying an astronomical lead that could redefine the AI landscape.
Breaking down these claims reveals Musk’s strategic optimism. First, the short-term catch-up: xAI, launched in 2023, has already released models like Grok, but recent benchmarks, including those for Grok 4.2, have shown it falling short in capabilities compared to rivals.
Anthropic’s Claude series, Google’s Gemini, and OpenAI’s GPT models dominate in areas like reasoning, coding, and multimodal tasks. Musk’s assertion suggests aggressive scaling in compute, talent, or architecture, perhaps leveraging xAI’s ties to Tesla’s Dojo supercomputers or Musk’s vast resources, to close the gap swiftly.
The longer-term dominance by 2029 paints an even more audacious picture. Musk envisions xAI not just parity but supremacy, outpacing competitors in innovation speed and model sophistication.
This could involve breakthroughs in energy-efficient training, real-world integration, like Tesla’s robotics, or ethical AI alignment, aligning with Musk’s stated goal of “understanding the universe.”
Critics, however, point to parallels with Tesla’s Full Self-Driving delays; one reply highlighted Musk’s 2023 promise of FSD readiness. Musk has made this promise for many years, and although the system has been strong and improving, it is still a ways off from the completely autonomous operation that was expected by now.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14.2.2.5 might be the most confusing release ever
Musk’s comment highlights the intensifying U.S.-centric AI race, with xAI challenging the “three-way” dominance noted by Wharton professor Ethan Mollick, whom Wildeford quoted. As geopolitical tensions rise—evident in the Chinese firms’ lag—Musk’s tease could spur investment and talent wars.
Yet, it also invites scrutiny: Will xAI deliver, or is this another telescope-needed mirage? In an industry where timelines slip but stakes soar, Musk’s words keep the spotlight on xAI’s ambitious path forward.
Tesla plans for largest Australian Supercharger yet
Tesla Model Y L gets new entertainment feature
