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SpaceX stress-tests Starship-catching arms with giant water balloons

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4 years ago

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SpaceX has begun testing Starbase’s rocket-catching arms with ballast to simulate the weight of Starship and Super Heavy.

SpaceX started the process of proof testing those arms about a week ago, beginning with some basic calibration work. Together, the three arms and launch tower amount to a giant custom-built robot that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has deemed “Mechazilla.” Controlled with a complex system of hydraulic and electromechanical actuators spread throughout each structure, SpaceX must calibrate all of those devices to enable the full range of motion the arms are meant to be capable of. To do so, SpaceX appeared to actuate both catch arms (also known as “chopsticks”) as far as they were able to move on January 4th, producing data that could be fed back into the system’s control software to properly set limits of motion.

A handful of days later, arm testing continued, with SpaceX lifting the carriage higher than it had traveled before and demonstrating more complex longitudinal movements that required synchronized motion of both arms. On January 9th, SpaceX performed the most ambitious arm testing yet, nearly lifting the arms to the top of their ~140 meter (~460 ft) tall launch tower backbone to simulate the range of vertical motion required to lift and stack Starship and Super Heavy.

(NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)

SpaceX also installed a temporary frame meant to simulate a Starship or Super Heavy booster, foreshadowing additional testing planned in the coming days. That jig upped the stakes for the longitudinal actuation portion of January 9th’s testing, as anything less than the precise, synchronized movement of both arms could have caused the heavy steel frame to fall hundreds of feet onto a range of equipment and structures directly below it. Thankfully, the arms performed well and returned to their resting position without issue.

On January 11th, SpaceX proceeded to install six ‘water bags’ – three to a side – on the Starship simulator frame. Amounting to giant, heavy-duty water balloons, those bags are routinely used to stress-test large structures and devices by simulating payloads that might be too expensive or inconvenient to use solely for testing purposes. With those seemingly empty bags attached, SpaceX proceeded to move the catch arms up and down the full length of the launch tower at record speed, taking about seven minutes to climb and descend ~120 meters (~400 ft) – averaging a brisk 0.6 mph or 1 km/h.

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On January 12th, SpaceX filled the balls with water, producing some… interesting… visuals. Ridiculous appearances aside, the six bags SpaceX chose to use could be 20, 35, or 50-ton variants, meaning that all six could weigh anywhere from 120 to 300 tons (264,000-660,000 lb) if fully filled. In other words, perfect for simulating the dry masses of Starship (roughly 80-120 tons) and Super Heavy (150-200+ tons).

The author could not be reached for comment. (NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)
This is serious business! (NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)

SpaceX did appear to fully fill around four of the six bags and partially filled the other two, causing the whole arm structure to visibly sag during the fill process as the weight of the ballast stretched the several-inch-thick steel cable holding the whole device aloft. In the late afternoon, the laden arms lifted around 10-20 meters and rotated left and right, partially demonstrating the process of rotating a lifted Starship or Super Heavy into position for stacking or launch mount installation. They were never lifted high enough to truly demonstrate that ability, though, and were lowered back to the ground soon after.

As of 10pm CST, January 12th, the water bags appear to have been fully drained after their first excursion. It’s likely that load-testing will continue over the next several days or weeks – SpaceX may just want to avoid leaving the arms fully loaded overnight.

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Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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Tesla stuns with another FSD approval in Europe, its second in two days

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5 hours ago

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June 10, 2026

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Tesla has stunned by gaining yet another approval for its Full Self-Driving suite in Europe, its second in two days and its fifth overall.

Belgium will be the latest country to allow Tesla owners to utilize FSD on public roads in Europe, joining a quickly growing list that started with the Netherlands, Lithuania, and Estonia.

On Tuesday, Denmark announced its approval of the FSD suite, which has now been followed by Belgium just one day later.

The country’s Minister of Mobility, Annick De Ridder, announced the approval on her X account, stating that she had just signed the approval of Tesla FSD. It now goes to the country’s homologation department for the last step of the approval process.

The Belgian approval is one of mighty importance because it truly shows how quickly countries in Europe could greenlight the FSD suite consecutively. Approvals are already coming in relatively quickly, which is a great sign.

Perhaps the next big development that could come from FSD approvals in Europe is an approval from a country like England, Italy, France, Spain, or Germany. It would be something to see how FSD would perform in a major European metro, such as London, Barcelona, Madrid, Paris, Rome, or Berlin.

Full Self-Driving does an excellent job of roaming around major U.S. cities like New York and Los Angeles, but other high-profile international cities of significance would truly mark a line in the sand for Tesla, which can simply enable any vehicle in its customer-owned fleet to run FSD with the correct approvals.

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Elon Musk

SpaceX’s Elon Musk relieves worries about orbital data centers

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8 hours ago

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June 10, 2026

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Rendering of Elon Musk overlooking a Starship fleet (Credit: Grok)
Rendering of Elon Musk overlooking a Starship fleet (Credit: Grok)

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently confronted worries about orbital data centers and launching satellites in mass quantities in space, as some voiced concerns about crowding.

Musk’s SpaceX plans to combat the issue of needing data centers by launching them into space instead of taking up valuable real estate on Earth. It has been a major point of SpaceX’s future, including its looming IPO, which could be the largest ever.

In a recent interview filmed at SpaceX’s Starlink terminal factory in Bastrop, Texas, Elon Musk directly addressed concerns that deploying large numbers of AI satellites for orbital data centers could crowd Earth’s orbit. His message was straightforward and reassuring: space is vast beyond human intuition.

“Space is really big,” Musk said. “It’s not like space is gonna get crowded. Space is enormous. If you actually look at it relative to the Earth, the satellites are so tiny you can’t even see them.” He emphasized that even zooming in makes a satellite appear large, but from a planetary perspective, they are minuscule specks.

Musk pointed to SpaceX’s real-world experience operating roughly 10,000 Starlink satellites as evidence that large constellations can be managed safely. “We’ve got a pretty good idea of how to operate just really large constellations and do it safely,” he noted. SpaceX remains the only operator with meaningful experience at this scale, giving the company unique insight into tight orbital packing without compromising safety

The discussion highlighted SpaceX’s plans for “AI1” satellites—essentially orbiting racks of AI compute powered by massive solar arrays and cooled via radiative panels in space’s vacuum.

These satellites leverage proven Starlink V3 technology, making them simpler to design than communications satellites. A first-generation unit targets around 150 kW peak power, with a 70-meter wingspan for solar panels and radiators. Laser links will connect them to each other and the Starlink network, delivering low-latency access (on the order of a few milliseconds from low-Earth orbit).

FCC accepts SpaceX filing for 1 million orbital data center plan

Musk framed orbital data centers as a practical solution to Earth’s constraints on AI growth. Ground-based facilities face power shortages, water demands for cooling, and grid limitations. In space, constant sunlight (no day-night cycle), vacuum radiative cooling, and abundant solar energy offer clear advantages.

Production will ramp up at an expanded “Gigasat” factory in Bastrop, with solar manufacturing already underway and full AI satellite output expected at reasonable volume by the end of 2027. Starship’s rapid, high-volume launch capability, aiming for multiple flights per hour, will make massive deployment feasible.

Critics sometimes raise risks like space debris or Kessler syndrome, but Musk’s response underscores scale: even a million satellites would represent an imperceptible fraction of available orbital volume when viewed against Earth’s size. SpaceX’s automated collision avoidance and deorbiting designs for Starlink further mitigate concerns.

This vision ties into broader ambitions. Musk sees orbital AI compute as a step toward harnessing more of the Sun’s energy, advancing humanity on the Kardashev scale from a Type 0 civilization toward Type 1 and eventually Type 2. By moving power-hungry data centers off-planet, SpaceX aims to unlock orders-of-magnitude more compute while preserving Earth’s resources.

Musk’s comments should ease public anxiety. With proven operational expertise, incremental engineering, and the immensity of space itself, orbital data centers represent not overcrowding, but smart expansion into the final frontier.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla Full Self-Driving hits Level 4? One analyst says yes

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9 hours ago

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June 10, 2026

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised) is currently listed as a Level 2 suite in terms of its passenger cars. As its Robotaxi platform continues to move quickly, it has been recognized as a Level 4 ride-sharing program by the State of Texas, as Tesla recently self-certified itself.

However, a Wall Street analyst is arguing that Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) has effectively achieved Level 4 autonomy in most conditions in all of its vehicles, drawing on personal experience and data released by the company.

Alex Potter of Piper Sandler said in a note to investors on Wednesday that “Tesla has solved the self-driving puzzle,” pointing to decisions to offer insurance discounts for FSD-enabled policies as a signal of confidence, which is backed up by stellar safety records compared to human driving.

Investing.com initially reported on Potter’s new note.

Additionally, Potter looks at the recent start of Cybercab production at Giga Texas as a potential indication that Tesla is ready to offer some level of unsupervised driving at least in the near future. The Cybercab has no steering wheel or pedals, completely eliminating the ability for human input.

He also sees Tesla’s allocation of “several hundred million USD (if not $1B+)” as confidence internally, seeing as it would be tough to set aside that amount of capital toward a project that the company does not see as relatively near-term.

Forward thinking, especially as Cybercab has no human controls, it would make sense that Tesla is at least close to self-driving. How close is another question.

Tesla has routinely teased that unsupervised FSD is close, but there are still a lot of things it feels as if the company has to roll out some more capability, including unsupervised parking features, known as “Banish,” better operation with regional self-driving performance, and other improvements.

That is not to say that Tesla FSD is super impressive already. It has already completed coast-to-coast drives across the United States and Canada, it routinely takes the stress out of driving for most people, and it has proven through Tesla Safety Reports that it is safer and involved in accidents less frequently than humans.

Even Potter believes it is capable, as he used it to go from Missoula, Montana, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, back in April.

“There’s no substitute for personal experience,” he wrote.

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