Update: Shortly after publishing, SpaceX began a much more ambitious series of tests with the Starship launch tower’s two main arms, which are designed to lift and (one day) catch Starships and Super Heavy boosters.
After lifting the arm carriage about 15m (~50 ft), several times higher than January 3rd’s far more conservative kickoff, SpaceX fired up each arm’s main hydraulic actuator and opened them about as wide as they’re able to move. Unsurprisingly, the arms’ first powered lateral movement happened very slowly, obviously telegraphing caution but probably also hinting at the start of a calibration process needed to determine their full range of motion and associate those positions with certain sensor readings or telemetry to ensure they can be safely controlled. As of midnight CST, that testing has continued well into the night.
Regardless of the purpose, substantial powered movement is a major milestone for the tower’s main arms and all but guarantees that more extensive tests and simulations are soon to come.
SpaceX has moved Starbase’s rocket-catching “chopstick” arms for the first time since they were installed on the orbital Starship pad’s ‘launch tower’ two months ago.
After a shockingly brisk three-month period of assembly, the first arm installed in late August 2021 was a lone structure designed to swing in; grab and stabilize Super Heavy with its claw; fuel and power Starship; and quickly detach and swing away from the rocket during launch. A month and a half later, SpaceX begin installing a much larger pair of more complex arms in mid-October. Unlike the Starship quick-disconnect (QD) arm, the pair of arms that followed were almost nothing like anything built as part of another rocket launch complex.
Unlike other ‘arms’ related to other rocket launch facilities, the pair SpaceX began to install on Starbase’s launch tower were colossal, measuring more than 30m (100+ ft) long and 5-10m (15-30 ft) tall. Built out of heavy-duty steel pipe and affixed to an even sturdier pair of claw-like supports that grab onto the launch tower, the combined assembly likely weighs hundreds of tons. Aside from their sheer scale, Starbase’s main tower arms are also attached to a complex system of cables and an industrial-strength ‘drawworks’ commonly used on giant oil rigs and derricks.
They also feature huge actuators that allow the two arms to open and close, revealing a bit of their purpose. While the main reason they likely exist is to provide SpaceX with an all-weather alternative to cranes for lifting, manipulating, and precisely stacking Starships and Super Heavy boosters at the launch pad, the headline – ever since Musk revealed the idea – has always been plans to use those same arms to literally catch rockets out of mid-air.
-
To do so, they’ll need to be able to actuate and move extremely quickly and precisely up and down the Starship launch tower, matching the velocity and autonomously determining the position of landing Super Heavy boosters (and possibly Starships) to avoid major damage or the loss of entire vehicles. While arguably an unnecessary gamble and an attempt to micro-optimize the concept of operations of a rocket that’s yet to attempt a single orbital-class launch, SpaceX’s CEO is clearly committed to the idea and – whether or not the first iteration works – has fully delivered on the first complete lift-and-catch system.
On January 3rd, 2022, after removing a large amount of scaffolding in the days prior, SpaceX briefly and slightly moved the installed arms for the first time, using the drawworks to lift the entire arm-and-carriage assembly a few meters (~6 ft) up and down the tower. Once a few minor additional steps are taken, the chopsticks could be ready for much more extensive testing, beginning with basic lift, descent, and arm actuation tests to calibrate and then proof the first-of-its-kind mechanism. Later, SpaceX will likely simulate catching rockets in a wide range of scenarios. Somewhere before, during, or after that testing, SpaceX may perform another fit test with Starship S20 and Super Heavy B4 – but this time using the arms to lift and install the stages.
-
Elon Musk’s space exploration company, SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX), is set to report its earnings for the second quarter today in what will be its first-ever earnings call since going public in July.
SpaceX is trading down roughly 25 percent from its IPO. These early stock signals are usually a bit tumultuous, and considering this is the first company actively launching rockets that is available on the stock exchange, investors might have a tendency to be a bit skittish.
However, there are going to be some details that investors will hear for the first time today on the earnings call. Here’s what to look for:
Wall Street Expectations
Revenue is expected to fall somewhere around $6.8 billion, and will be heavily driven by Starlink, which is SpaceX’s widely popular satellite internet platform that has been adopted by numerous airlines, cruise ships, and other maritime operations. It is also available for consumers at home or in their cars.
Earnings Per Share (EPS) expectations fall at a net loss of $0.23 per share. Wall Street sees this as a total net loss of roughly $1.9 billion.
EBITDA is expected to come in between $2 billion and $2.1 billion.
What Investors Want to Know
Tesla uses the Say platform to help work with both retail and institutional investors to answer relevant and quality questions that address concerns or questions that they might have.
However, SpaceX is doing things differently, as the company launched its own Investor Relations website where these questions are being fielded. Just like the Tesla questions, they seem to be less focused on the operational tasks and overall progress of the company, and more novelty.
Here are the top five:
- Has the team thought about what possibilities there are with your mascot Asteroid? Whether it’s starting additional foundations for kids in its name, helping kids learn about space, etc. Kids are our future, and Asteroid would be a fun and easy way to help.
- Baby Asteroid is already making a difference through charity around the world. Could SpaceX take it even further with programs that inspire kids to explore space?
- SpaceX has some legendary vehicle names. Would you ever allow the public to name a Starship, even knowing there is a 99% chance it becomes Shipy McShipface?
- When can we expect to see more footage of the Human Landing System?
- Will Asteroid (your mascot) go to Mars?
SpaceX will report its earnings today, August 4, at 4:30 P.M. EDT.
SpaceX will report second quarter results after the market closes on Tuesday, August 4, marking the first time the company has opened its books to the public since its record IPO in June. Management will host a live audio only webcast at 4:30 p.m. ET, streamed on X, with no dial in option.
The debut carries more weight than a typical first quarter as a public company. Two trading days after the release, on August 6, the first tranche of SpaceX’s lockup expires, freeing roughly 911.5 million insider and employee shares, worth well over $100 billion at current prices and the largest such release in Wall Street history. A second, larger tranche tied to the stock trading 30 percent above its $135 IPO price never triggered, since shares have spent most of July trading below that price.
Wall Street’s models point to revenue near $6.9 billion for the quarter, up sharply from the $4.69 billion SpaceX reported in the first quarter, with a narrower per share loss than the $1.27 posted three months earlier, according to estimates compiled by Motley Fool. Those numbers will be the first look at how SpaceX’s three segments, Starlink, launch and AI, are performing independently.
SpaceX scores another massive Pentagon deal to support military satellites
Investors heading into the call have a specific list of questions. How many net new Starlink subscribers did SpaceX add after ending March with 10.3 million, and is average revenue per user holding up as the service expands into lower income markets. How much of the AI segment’s revenue reflects contract signings with Anthropic, Google and Reflection AI this year, deals that combined could annualize to nearly $28 billion if fully ramped. Whether capital expenditures, which nearly doubled in the AI segment alone between 2024 and 2025, are still accelerating or starting to plateau. And whether management offers any forward guidance at all, something SpaceX has never done publicly.
The report will also land days after Elon Musk publicly denied a Wall Street Journal report describing internal planning to separate Tesla’s China business ahead of a potential Tesla-SpaceX merger. Whether Musk or SpaceX executives address that speculation on the call, even indirectly, maybe something investors will be listening for on Tuesday.
As Teslarati reported after Musk’s own warning to short sellers last week, the CEO has made clear he expects skeptics to be proven wrong over time. Tuesday will be the first chance for the numbers themselves to make that case.
Elon Musk
SpaceX’s Starship just got filmed by its own cargo
SpaceX released new footage of Starship in space captured by the Starlink satellites it deployed.
SpaceX released a new video Friday evening showing Starship from an angle showcased by its own Starlink satellites, watching the rocket drift away in orbit.
The 65 second clip, posted on X, stitches together footage from four cameras mounted on a single Starlink V3 satellite. It opens with a close view of Starship’s 171 foot upper stage, still catching sunlight, then pulls back as the two spacecraft separate.
The footage comes from Starship’s 13th flight test, which launched July 24 from Starbase after a scrubbed attempt and an abort caused by an engine issue the week before. When Flight 13 finally flew, it carried the first batch of functional Starlink V3 satellites Starship has ever deployed, twenty of them, with six equipped with cameras meant to scan the ship’s heat shield during reentry.
View of Starship in space from a Starlink V3 satellite on Flight 13.
This composite is made of imagery from four separate cameras on a single satellite. Six of the satellites were equipped with cameras to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit imagery down to operators to… pic.twitter.com/sNTHHz5vLr
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 31, 2026
Flight 13 checked most of its boxes. Starship deployed all 20 satellites, relit a Raptor engine in space, and splashed down softly in the Indian Ocean off Western Australia. Musk’s longer term plan calls for a Starlink V3 constellation of 100,000 satellites, according to a recent FCC filing, with Starship as the only vehicle capable of launching them at the volume that requires. Each Starship flight is designed to carry up to 60 V3 satellites once the vehicle reaches routine service, well beyond what Falcon 9 can carry in a single mission.
Starship is next expected to fly with an attempt at catching the ship itself with the launch tower’s mechanical arms, a maneuver SpaceX has so far reserved for the Super Heavy booster.
Tesla’s AI lead doubles down on FSD’s speed strategy, and owners are confused
Tesla qualifies for awesome new first-time EV buyer incentive in California
