News
SpaceX’s Starlink “VisorSat” launch plans revealed by Elon Musk
CEO Elon Musk has revealed more details about SpaceX’s plans to build and launch upgraded “VisorSat” Starlink satellites, part of the company’s work to ensure that the internet constellation can coexist with astronomy.
Back on April 22nd, Musk gave us the best glimpse yet of what he previously described as a sort of deployable sunshade for Starlink satellites. Designed to prevent orbital sunlight from reflecting off of each spacecraft’s shiny surfaces and disrupting ground-based astronomical observations, the SpaceX CEO said that the company’s very next Starlink launch – scheduled no earlier than “early May” – will carry one or several satellites with said sunshade installed, playfully nicknamed “VisorSat”.
Ultimately, Musk explained in significant detail the likely culprit of the spectacular visibility of Starlink satellites from the ground, discussed plans to reduce or wholly remove that flaring, and explicitly stated that SpaceX will do everything in its power to prevent its constellation from impacting science.
On April 22nd, Musk revealed that the sunshade he’d previously discussed would look “a lot like a car sun visor” and would be built out of dark, radio-transparent foam to avoid disrupting each satellite’s antennas while still preventing sunlight from reflecting off of their mirror-like surfaces.
Days later, he revealed a rough render of VisorSat’s design, showing an extremely simple pair of rotating foam ‘visors’ explicitly shaped to block sunlight from Starlink satellite antennas and not much else. Given the use of foam and a deployment mechanism no more complex than four actuating hinges, it’s entirely believable that this solution – if it works – could be cheap and light enough to be almost irrelevant for the overall spacecraft.
If it works, SpaceX’s ad hoc visor would effectively be the best possible solution for brightness, fully solving the issue while having a near-zero impact on the cost or functionality of each internet satellite. Of course, SpaceX will do what it’s known for and flight-test the new VisorSat design before getting ahead of itself, but if those tests are successful, it would be unsurprising if every future Starlink satellite features a visor.
However, in the process of explaining why Starlink satellites can appear so bright, Musk also hinted at one of the reasons that a visor alone cannot fully solve all of the sources of Starlink’s ground astronomy impact. After launch, Starlink satellites must raise and circularize their orbits to reach an operational altitude, a process that has typically taken 2-4 weeks. During that orbit-raising phase, Musk revealed that Starlink satellites must orient themselves in such a way that the entirety of their front and rear faces – including the solar array – is angled perfectly to reflect sunlight back to Earth.
To alleviate that issue, Musk has said that SpaceX will tweak the orientation and operation of satellites during the orbit raising period, but it’s difficult to see a way to consistently prevent bright reflections without big changes. If SpaceX can’t immediately find a way around that “Open Book” orientation, there will likely be anywhere from 60-180+ Starlink satellites raising their orbits on any given day if the company truly plans to operate a constellation of ~4400 satellites, let alone ~12,000 or ~40,000.
Once orbit-raising is complete, Musk believes that visors will effectively make Starlink satellites invisible to the naked eye, but more work will have to be done if SpaceX wants to fully mitigate Starlink’s astronomy impact.
Cybertruck
Tesla drops latest hint that new Cybertruck trim is selling like hotcakes
According to Tesla’s Online Design Studio, the new All-Wheel-Drive Cybertruck will now be delivered in April 2027. Earlier orders are still slated for early this Summer, but orders from here on forward are now officially pushed into next year:
Tesla’s new Cybertruck offering has had its delivery date pushed back once again. This is now the second time, and deliveries for the newest orders are now pushed well into 2027.
According to Tesla’s Online Design Studio, the new All-Wheel-Drive Cybertruck will now be delivered in April 2027. Earlier orders are still slated for early this Summer, but orders from here on forward are now officially pushed into next year:
🚨 Tesla has updated the $59,990 Cybertruck Dual Motor AWD’s estimated delivery date to April 2027.
First deliveries are still slated for June, but if you order it now, you’ll be waiting over a year.
Demand appears to be off the charts for the new Cybertruck and consumers are… pic.twitter.com/raDCCeC0zP
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) February 26, 2026
Just three days ago, the initial delivery date of June 2026 was pushed back to early Fall, and now, that date has officially moved to April 2027.
The fact that Tesla has had to push back deliveries once again proves one of two things: either Tesla has slow production plans for the new Cybertruck trim, or demand is off the charts.
Judging by how Tesla is already planning to raise the price based on demand in just a few days, it seems like the company knows it is giving a tremendous deal on this spec of Cybertruck, and units are moving quickly.
That points more toward demand and not necessarily to slower production plans, but it is not confirmed.
Tesla Cybertruck’s newest trim will undergo massive change in ten days, Musk says
Tesla is set to hike the price on March 1, so tomorrow will be the final day to grab the new Cybertruck trim for just $59,990.
It features:
- Dual Motor AWD w/ est. 325 mi of range
- Powered tonneau cover
- Bed outlets (2x 120V + 1x 240V) & Powershare capability
- Coil springs w/ adaptive damping
- Heated first-row seats w/ textile material that is easy to clean
- Steer-by-wire & Four Wheel Steering
- 6’ x 4’ composite bed
- Towing capacity of up to 7,500 lbs
- Powered frunk
Interestingly, the price offering is fairly close to what Tesla unveiled back in late 2019.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk outlines plan for first Starship tower catch attempt
Musk confirmed that Starship V3 Ship 1 (SN1) is headed for ground tests and expressed strong confidence in the updated vehicle design.
Elon Musk has clarified when SpaceX will first attempt to catch Starship’s upper stage with its launch tower. The CEO’s update provides the clearest teaser yet for the spacecraft’s recovery roadmap.
Musk shared the details in recent posts on X. In his initial post, Musk confirmed that Starship V3 Ship 1 (SN1) is headed for ground tests and expressed strong confidence in the updated vehicle design.
“Starship V3 SN1 headed for ground tests. I am highly confident that the V3 design will achieve full reusability,” Musk wrote.
In a follow-up post, Musk addressed when SpaceX would attempt to catch the upper stage using the launch tower’s robotic arms.
“Should note that SpaceX will only try to catch the ship with the tower after two perfect soft landings in the ocean. The risk of the ship breaking up over land needs to be very low,” Musk clarified.
His remarks suggest that SpaceX is deliberately reducing risk before attempting a tower catch of Starship’s upper stage. Such a milestone would mark a major step towards the full reuse of the Starship system.
SpaceX is currently targeting the first Starship V3 flight of 2026 this coming March. The spacecraft’s V3 iteration is widely viewed as a key milestone in SpaceX’s long-term strategy to make Starship fully reusable.
Starship V3 features a number of key upgrades over its previous iterations. The vehicle is equipped with SpaceX’s Raptor V3 engines, which are designed to deliver significantly higher thrust than earlier versions while reducing cost and weight.
The V3 design is also expected to be optimized for manufacturability, a critical step if SpaceX intends to scale the spacecraft’s production toward frequent launches for Starlink, lunar missions, and eventually Mars.
News
Tesla FSD (Supervised) could be approved in the Netherlands next month: Musk
Musk shared the update during a recent interview at Giga Berlin.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared that Full Self-Driving (FSD) could receive regulatory approval in the Netherlands as soon as March 20, potentially marking a major step forward for Tesla’s advanced driver-assistance rollout in Europe.
Musk shared the update during a recent interview at Giga Berlin, noting that the date was provided by local authorities.
“Tesla has the most advanced real-world AI, and hopefully, it will be approved soon in Europe. We’re told by the authorities that March 20th, it’ll be approved in the Netherlands,’ what I was told,” Musk stated.
“Hopefully, that date remains the same. But I think people in Europe are going to be pretty blown away by how good the Tesla car AI is in being able to drive.”
Tesla’s FSD system relies on vision-based neural networks trained on real-world driving data, allowing vehicles to navigate using cameras and AI rather than traditional sensor-heavy solutions.
The performance of FSD Supervised has so far been impressive. As per Tesla’s safety report, Full Self-Driving Supervised has already traveled 8.3 billion miles. So far, vehicles operating with FSD Supervised engaged recorded one major collision every 5,300,676 miles.
In comparison, Teslas driven manually with Active Safety systems recorded one major collision every 2,175,763 miles, while Teslas driven manually without Active Safety recorded one major collision every 855,132 miles. The U.S. average during the same period was one major collision every 660,164 miles.
If approval is granted on March 20, the Netherlands could become the first European market to greenlight Tesla’s latest supervised FSD (Supervised) software under updated regulatory frameworks. Tesla has been working to secure expanded FSD access across Europe, where regulatory standards differ significantly from those in the United States. Approval in the Netherlands would likely serve as a foundation for broader EU adoption, though additional country-level clearances may still be required.
Tesla drops latest hint that new Cybertruck trim is selling like hotcakes
Elon Musk outlines plan for first Starship tower catch attempt
