At the same time as SpaceX is assembling hardware and manufacturing dozens of Raptor engines for Starship’s inaugural orbital test flight, it’s also preparing for what will follow.
Last week, a local photographer captured photos of one of the many dozens of deliveries that arrive at SpaceX’s Boca Chica Starship factory every month – notable this time around because of package labels that reference a “heat shield” and “mini bakery.” In any other case, it would’ve been just another nondescript delivery – likely carrying the latest batch of the ceramic Starship heat shield tiles SpaceX currently manufactures in Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral, Florida.
However, as the photographer (@StarshipGazer) that captured the images noted, that Florida Starship heat shield factory just so happens to be colloquially known as “The Bakery” by the SpaceX team that runs it.
As the nickname would suggest, The Bakery is one of two main Florida-based facilities tasked with turning raw materials into the black, hexagonal heat shield tiles that have begun to spread across the exterior of Starship prototypes. The June 7th delivery of a “mini bakery” strongly implies that SpaceX has now begun to build out some limited capacity for heat shield tile production at Boca Chica itself – under the main Starship factory roof, in other words.
While the number of tiles present has only really begun to grow in the last six or so months, SpaceX has been building, testing, and refining Starship’s heat shield technology for more than two years. SpaceX’s custom-built ceramic tiles made their first public appearances in July and August 2019, first launching into orbit on a Cargo Dragon spacecraft and later tagging along on Starhopper’s spectacular 150m (~500 ft) hop a few weeks later. Dragon went on to reenter and splash down in the Pacific Ocean without issue about a month later, effectively marking the first successful orbital reentry of (part of) a Starship heat shield.
With Starship SN8 heralding the arrival of full-size prototype flight tests in the last few months of 2020, SpaceX began to substantially increase the number of tiles installed on Starships, jumping from a handful to hundreds within a few months. Although Starship SN15’s successful May 5th, 2021 launch and landing likely means it will never fly, Starship SN16 was outfitted with more than a thousand tiles (and SN15 flew with almost as many). While those tiles have essentially zero experience acting as a heat shield on Starship prototypes, launching them on suborbital test flights still subjects those heat shield installations to major thermal and mechanical stresses similar to (or worse than) what Starship will need to withstand during launch and after reentry.
Given that at least a few of the ceramic tiles installed on each prototype have invariably shattered at some point during testing, it’s unclear exactly how successful those coupon tests have been. Unlike the Space Shuttle, which also relied almost exclusively on catastrophically fragile ceramic heat shield tiles, Starship’s tiles are mounted directly to its hull and that hull is made out of steel instead of an aluminum frame. In theory, Starship’s structure can thus withstand – and remain functional – at temperatures approaching 800°C (1500°F), whereas the Shuttle’s heat shield had to keep the vehicle’s aluminum structure below ~180°C (360°F).
Of course, Starship has yet to even attempt to survive an orbital-velocity reentry with some 10,000 ceramic heat shield tiles mounted directly to its steel skin. If successful, SpaceX’s ultra-simple design could give Starship massive advantages over the Shuttle, which ultimately proved to be more dangerous than traditional crew capsules and about as expensive as a similarly capable expendable rocket. But Starship’s heat shield has its work cut out for it to prove that the vast spacecraft is truly up to the challenge of orbital reentry and safe, reliable reuse.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner in Los Angeles dominated the company’s global usage rankings after just one year, proving the concept is more than just a one-off novelty location that will fade away.
The performance could incite the company to build more locations, something that CEO Elon Musk has hinted at for some time.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner delivered 21.2 GWh of energy in its first year of operation, the company’s head of Charging, Max de Zegher, revealed on X. Of the top 10 most utilized Supercharger locations in Tesla’s global infrastructure, the Diner in Los Angeles was the most used by drivers, and it wasn’t particularly close:
Tesla Diner opened exactly 1 year ago. Inspiring that futuristic places like this exist.
It’s our highest usage Supercharger in the world: 21.2 GWh delivered in a year, 1.6k sessions/day.
Top 10 Superchargers by energy delivered: https://t.co/9YvJ8lw696 pic.twitter.com/koB3AUJHws
— Max (@MdeZegher) July 21, 2026
On its launch day one year ago, nobody was too sure what the Tesla Diner would be about. It seemed like an interesting concept, and considering it had been in the works for years, it was a highly anticipated launch that many were looking forward to.
Based on its success, we could see additional Diners with Superchargers built throughout the United States, and potentially beyond. Musk has said on several occasions that the company would be willing to bring the Diner idea to more markets.
Tesla makes major change at Supercharger Diner amid epic demand
Of the markets that Musk has mentioned, both Palo Alto and Austin have come to be perceived as ideal selections. However, there are no concrete plans as of now to build new Supercharger Diners anywhere; the location on Santa Monica Boulevard will remain the exclusive spot to pick up Tesla-inspired eats, at least for the time being.
Tesla short sellers won big following the company’s massive fall on Wall Street after it reported subpar Earnings on Wednesday.
Tesla short sellers collected about $4.12 billion in single-day profits on Thursday, according to Bloomberg. Shares fell as much as 15 percent during Thursday’s session. It closed as one of the worst days for Tesla on Wall Street in the past three years.
Investors sold off the stock after Tesla said it would aggressively direct its spending toward AI and its Optimus robot project. The company had record revenues, which were driven by one of the strongest quarters in terms of vehicle deliveries in company history.
However, it missed EPS estimates by reporting just $0.33, a far cry from the $0.53 analysts expected.
S3 Partners reported that about 3 percent of Tesla’s outstanding stock is sold short. Managing Director at S3, Ihor Dusaniwsky, provided the short seller’s potential profit, as well as another figure: shorts have likely had paper gains of $8.92 billion this year, as Tesla shares are down 30 percent in 2026.
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla has burned short sellers many times in the past, but the company’s latest Earnings Call was a chance for those skeptics to taste some payback. Although the company gave some very transparent information regarding future projects, the rollout of Robotaxi, Optimus, and Semi, many investors took their profits on Thursday.
Notable short sellers like Michael Burry have been transparent about their skepticism around Tesla shares. Burry just revealed three weeks ago that he had opened up a new short on the stock, stating he shorted Tesla shares at $416.22. “Happy it jumped back to this level,” he said in a blog post.
At the time of publication, Tesla shares were down about 3 percent and the stock was trading at $309.92.
Tesla’s long-standing saga regarding its door handles and a manual release has entered its latest chapter, and as a result, a big change is coming.
On Friday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) denied Tesla’s petition that was seeking a defect investigation into roughly 180,000 Model 3 vehicles for an issue involving the emergency mechanical door release.
🚨 The NHTSA denied a petition from Tesla that would have thrown out concerns regarding its door handles.
NHTSA said Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect warranting an investigation. The agency said a rulemaking process would be a better strategy. pic.twitter.com/j6PzUBM1mT
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 24, 2026
NHTSA said that Tesla’s petition did not present evidence of a safety-related defect in the door handles or their emergency releases. Instead, the agency determined that it would rather solve the issue of the lack of labeling or location of emergency mechanical door releases and the federal safety rules that govern them.
Essentially, the NHTSA wants to create and enforce rules that would require automakers to make emergency door latch releases more clearly labeled in a car. Despite a Tesla having manual door releases on all four passenger doors, many people do not know they exist or how they work.
Tesla addresses door handle complaints with simple engineering fix
In recent times, Tesla has faced some criticism involving its door handles, specifically because some occupants have reported that they are unable to exit their vehicles after losing power. The door handles on a Tesla are electronically operated, but in the event that the 12V battery dies, there is a manual release that can be used.
The NHTSA only identified a single complaint involving the mechanical door releases: a 2022 Model 3 owner said the release was concealed and unlabeled after the vehicle lost power after a front-end collision. It has also already started to create a separate rulemaking process to make emergency door-egress systems more obvious.
It should be noted that all Teslas have mechanical emergency door releases, but they are placed in various locations as the vehicles have aged and been redesigned from year to year. Refer to the safety manual for your vehicle if you have any confusion about where the emergency releases are and how they work.
Tesla’s Supercharger Diner probably just secured more locations
Tesla short sellers win big after shares fall after earnings
