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SpaceX’s first high-flying, triple-Raptor Starship is almost finished
SpaceX’s first high-flying, triple-engine Starship prototype is rapidly approaching completion at the same time as the company is preparing for the rocket’s predecessor to lift off on its inaugural test flight.
Known as serial number 5 (SN5), it will be the fifth full-scale Starship prototype completed by SpaceX since November 2019 and the fourth since late-January 2020. Following in the footsteps of Mk1, SN1, SN3, and SN4, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has recently stated that Starship SN5 will be the first prototype to have three Raptor engines and a nosecone installed and could be the first to be outfitted with new and improved aerodynamic control surfaces.
In the meantime, Starship SN4 is perhaps less than 30 hours away from performing a third Raptor static fire test, potentially paving the way for the biggest challenge yet for a full-scale Starship prototype: powered flight. Scheduled no earlier than 9am CDT (14:00 UTC), May 13th, Starship SN4’s next static fire is meant to ensure that a replacement Raptor engine is functioning properly. If successful, the building-sized rocket will effectively be ready to attempt its first launch – also a first for the Starship program overall – pending FAA approval.
As illustrated in the unofficial diagram above, nearly all of the individual sections that will make up Starship SN5 appear to be more or less complete, excluding some ambiguity added by the interchangeable nature of some of the steel rings all Starships are built out of. For the current design and assembly strategy, Starships are comprised of eight separate sections, themselves made up of stacks of 2-4 steel rings. Altogether, excluding the conical nose section, a single Starship requires approximately 20 of those ~1.8m (6 ft) tall steel rings to reach its full height.
Currently, SpaceX has been focused on testing just the tank section of Starship prototypes, representing the vast majority of the technical challenges that must be solved to fully realize the next-generation launch vehicle’s ambitions. Excluding a smaller secondary liquid oxygen tank situated in the tip of Starship nosecones, the nose section is effectively irrelevant – putting the cart before the horse – until Starship tank sections are more of a known quantity.
When that would be the case was entirely up in the air until just the last week or so, when Starship SN4 became the first full-scale prototype to pass a cryogenic proof test, perform a wet dress rehearsal (WDR) with real propellant, complete static fire(s) with a Raptor engine installed, and – finally – pass a more challenging cryogenic pressure test in quick succession. With those milestones passed for the first time ever, SpaceX has effectively proven that it’s solved the what is arguably the most unprecedented aspect of its Starship program: building orbital-class pressure vessels for pennies on the dollar on the South Texas coast.
Of course, doing it once with Starship SN4 is not the same as fully confirming that SpaceX’s extremely exotic South Texas rocket factory is capable of producing repeatable results with future rockets. While incredibly improbable, Starship SN4’s multiple successes could be a fluke. Additionally, as Musk has noted, the goal is to complete two entire Starships every week once the factory is fully optimized. SpaceX has already achieved a monthly production rate for its current line of prototypes, an extremely encouraging sign for the practicality of Musk’s stretch goal.
In the prototype stage, that speed of production has been incredibly useful, enabling SpaceX to move at a pace of launch vehicle development almost unheard of since NASA’s Apollo Program. At the moment, Starship SN4 has passed all tests thrown at it so far and will soon be attempting the riskiest Starship test yet with its inaugural hop attempt. If the ship were to be destroyed, one would traditionally expect a bare minimum of a few months of program delay. Instead, Starship SN5 could be more or less complete even before SN4 receives FAA permission for its first flight, meaning that a replacement will already be ready to roll to the launch pad if or when SN4 is destroyed.
In a best-case scenario, if Starship SN4 continues to pass the tests thrown at it, including one or several hops, SpaceX will instead be entering a new phase indicative of what’s to come: the concurrent testing and operation of a fleet of Starships. A step further, if Starship SN4 succeeds, Starship SN5 appears to be on track to become the first prototype to have a full three Raptor engines and a nosecone installed, as well as the first to attempt a high-altitude (20 km/12 mi) flight test.
Tesla has launched a new color at Gigafactory Berlin in Germany, home of the company’s “world-class paint shop,” as Elon Musk once called it.
Bringing a new color to Tesla’s Model Y, there are now five available colors for those who will receive a vehicle from Gigafactory Berlin, with four of them being colors offered in other markets.
However, there is now one distinct color that is only available in Germany: Marine Blue.
🚨 Tesla has launched “Marine Blue” in select European countries
It is the third shade of blue Giga Berlin produces. It costs $1,500 pic.twitter.com/pVDWdNeBSJ
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 10, 2025
Priced at €1,300, Marine Blue will cost the same as both Diamond Black and Stealth Grey, while Quicksilver and Ultra Red are available for double the price.
It is the third shade of blue Tesla offers across its lineup, as Deep Metallic Blue and Glacier Blue are also offered, but in other markets.
Tesla has routinely flexed Giga Berlin for having the most advanced paint shop throughout its factories, and it has produced some interesting colors over the past few years, some of which were truly awesome.
Tesla Giga Berlin is getting a world-class paint shop, new color ‘layers’ to come
In 2020, Musk said, “Giga Berlin will have the world’s most advanced paint shop, with more layers of stunning colors that subtly change with curvature.”
He also detailed the company’s plans to upgrade the Fremont and Shanghai paint shops. Gigafactory Texas was not yet unveiled. Tesla has worked to improve those facilities, especially in Fremont.
It was able to roll out the new Diamond Black color earlier this year.
However, Giga Berlin seems to remain the standard in terms of paint for Tesla. It routinely offers new colors.
For example, back in 2022, Tesla rolled out its familiar Quicksilver color for the Model Y, while also introducing Midnight Cherry Red, a color close to burgundy. However, the company chose to discontinue the color after determining internally that customers no longer wanted to buy it.
Midnight Cherry Red was removed as an option earlier this year, likely to make way for the development of the new Marine Blue.
News
Tesla Autopilot visualization gets big upgrade with tons of new additions
The AP visualization shows up on the center touchscreen and illustrates the surroundings of the cars. It has gotten better in recent years, as it is able to outline types of vehicles, pedestrians, animals, and more.
Tesla’s Autopilot visualization just got a big upgrade as the company added tons of new additions to what it will be able to render in terms of a vehicle’s surroundings.
The AP visualization shows up on the center touchscreen and illustrates the surroundings of the cars. It has gotten better in recent years, as it is able to outline types of vehicles, pedestrians, animals, and more.
Tesla just fixed a four-year-old bug with Full Self-Driving visualization
However, it still does not have every single application, and acquiring them will take some time. If an object or vehicle is visible to the vehicle but an accurate render is not available, the car will instead pick whatever is closest.
For example, I passed an Amish family yesterday in Lancaster, PA, and instead of illustrating the horse and carriage, it simply showed a small box truck.
In an effort to make the Autopilot and Full Self-Driving suites more robust and accurate, Tesla has added a substantial amount of vehicle renders, which will become available in the coming weeks.
The visualizations were found by Tesla hacker @greentheonly, who posted them on X.
The new visualization renders are:
- Ambulance
- Firetruck
- Garbage Truck
- Schoolbus
- European Semi Truck
- Golf Cart
- Person on a Scooter
- Person on a Skateboard
- Stroller
- Street Sweeper
- Three-Wheeler
- Trailer
- Train
- Tram
- Person in a Wheelchair
Here is an image with all of the Autopilot visualization renders:
Credit: Green
The visualization is a crucial part of manual operation and can be considered a distinct advantage that Tesla has over other companies.
It continues to be an effort that Tesla invests heavily in, as it keeps refining the suite and making it more robust with additional visualizations and animations.
Recently, it was revealed that Tesla is planning to utilize Unreal Engine for driver visualization to create a realistic depiction of the vehicle’s environment. Tesla has not yet confirmed this, but coding found with the Model S and Model X showed it could be coming in the near future.
Tesla dominated the sales figures for electric vehicles in the third quarter in the United States, but there was one disappointment: the Cybertruck.
As a whole, the EV industry benefitted from the loss of the $7,500 EV tax credit in Q3, which was something many expected. As the credit expired, consumers rushed to showrooms to take the credit and remove $7,500 from the purchase price of their new vehicle.
Will Tesla thrive without the EV tax credit? Five reasons why they might
It was a very interesting time for many companies as they scrambled to figure out how to push as many vehicles out the door as they could in preparation for the tax credit’s removal. In typical fashion, Tesla was able to top every manufacturer and secure a dominating portion of the overall market in Q3.
However, some other OEMs pulled out some surprises, including Chevrolet, Honda, and Ford, which managed to get two vehicles in the top 10, as many as Tesla.
Cox Automotive compiled the data in its Q3 Electric Vehicle Sales Report:
- Tesla Model Y – 114,897
- Tesla Model 3 – 53,857
- Chevrolet Equinox EV – 25,085
- Hyundai Ioniq 5 – 21,999
- Honda Prologue – 20,236
- Ford Mustang Mach-E – 20,177
- Volkswagen ID.4 – 12,470
- Audi Q6 e-tron – 10,299
- Ford F-150 Lightning – 10,005
- Rivian R1S – 8,184
10.5 percent of the automotive sales in the U.S. in Q3 were electric, a new record that surpasses that of Q3 2024, where the total share of sales for EVs was 8.6 percent.
Now, the disappointment that is evident from this list is the fact that there is no Tesla Cybertruck listed. That’s because it was the second-best-selling EV pickup on the market. The company sold 5,385 Cybertruck units in Q3.
The Cybertruck has been a vehicle that has confused many Tesla fans and owners, especially considering the company had such stratospheric expectations for the vehicle while it was in development. Reservation trackers had the truck sitting between one million and two million orders, but it has not lived up to that.
Pricing is the main issue with Cybertruck. Tesla introduced the pickup with Single, Dual, and Tri-motor configurations, priced at $39,990, $49,990, and $69,990. Those price points are simply a thing of the past.
🚨 Tesla Cybertruck was the second-best-selling EV pickup in Q3, Cox Automotive data shows.
It was only outsold by the Ford F-150 Lightning, which sold 10,005 units for the quarter.
Cybertruck had 5,385 sales. pic.twitter.com/Q2gnUbF6bk
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 13, 2025
Tesla launches new color from Gigafactory Berlin
Tesla Autopilot visualization gets big upgrade with tons of new additions
Tesla dominates best-selling EVs in Q3, but there’s one disappointment
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