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SpaceX installs rocket-catching arms on Starship’s Florida launch tower
SpaceX has installed a pair of rocket-catching arms on a tower meant to support the first East Coast launches of its next-generation Starship rocket.
The company has been building the second of several planned Starship launch sites for more than three years. Ironically, work on that pad began before the company started building the pad that will actually support Starship’s first orbital launch attempts. Located a stone’s throw from the Gulf of Mexico in Boca Chica, Texas, the first iteration of SpaceX’s Starbase orbital launch site (OLS) is nearly complete and could host Starship’s orbital launch debut in a matter of months. SpaceX began constructing Starship’s Texas launch site in earnest in late 2020.
SpaceX broke ground on Starship’s first Florida OLS in late 2019. But the company went on to radically redesign the rocket and its ground systems, forcing it to entirely abandon about a year of work by the end of 2020. In late 2021, SpaceX finally began constructing the second iteration of Starship’s first Florida pad. OLS #2 is still colocated at Kennedy Space Center’s LC-39A pad, which SpaceX leases from NASA. Pad 39A is the only site currently capable of launching SpaceX’s Crew Dragon astronaut spacecraft or Falcon Heavy rocket, which has complicated its plans to use the same pad for Starship.
The update that's rolling out to the fleet makes full use of the front and rear steering travel to minimize turning circle. In this case a reduction of 1.6 feet just over the air— Wes (@wmorrill3) April 16, 2024
Because of NASA’s trepidation at the thought of a Starship failure indefinitely delaying SpaceX from completing its Crew Dragon or Falcon Heavy contracts for the agency, the company deprioritized Starship’s Florida pad, slowing progress. SpaceX has, nonetheless, made significant progress. In 13 months, SpaceX has created foundations, modified one of Pad 39A’s giant spherical tanks to store cryogenic methane, installed miles of plumbing, built and assembled a second skyscraper-sized Starship launch tower, installed the legs of the pad’s ‘orbital launch mount’ or OLM, installed a water deluge system at the base of the OLM, assembled most of the OLM’s donut-like mount offsite, constructed a new supersized storage tank, and delivered a forest of smaller storage tanks.
Most recently, SpaceX finished building a giant pair of steel arms, transported the arms to Pad 39A, attached them to a wheeled carriage, and installed the structure on Starship’s Florida launch tower. SpaceX employees have nicknamed the arms “chopsticks,” and those arms are integral to what CEO Elon Musk calls “Mechazilla”. Mechazilla refers to the combined launch tower and arms, which SpaceX has designed to grab, lift, stack, and fuel both stages of Starship.
Mechazilla’s simplest part is a third arm that is vertically fixed in place but capable of swinging left and right. The swing arm contains plumbing and an umbilical device that connects to Starship’s upper stage and supplies propellant, gas, power, and connectivity. The tower’s ‘chopsticks’ are far more complex. Giant hinges connect the pair of arms to a carriage that grabs onto three of the tower’s four legs with a dozen skate-like appendages. Those skates are outfitted with wheels, allowing the carriage to roll up and down tracks built into the tower’s legs.
The carriage, which also carries the complex hydraulic systems that allow its bus-sized arms to move, is connected by steel cable to a heavy-duty “draw works” capable of hoisting the multi-hundred-ton assembly up and down the tower. Once finished, the Florida tower’s arms will be able to precisely lift, maneuver, stack, and de-stack Starship and Super Heavy even in relatively windy conditions. At some point in the future, SpaceX may attempt to use its towers and chopsticks to catch Starships and Super Heavies out of mid-air and speed up reuse.
Set to be the largest, most powerful, and most capable rocket in history, Starship is primarily built out of steel and designed to be fully reusable. SpaceX has a long way to go to demonstrate that the 120-meter-tall (~390 ft) rocket can reach orbit, let alone be reused. In theory, though, Starship is meant to launch up to 150 metric tons (330,000 lb) to low Earth orbit (LEO) while still allowing for the recovery and reuse of its suborbital Super Heavy booster and orbital Starship upper stage.
If SpaceX can achieve those figures, Starship will be the most capable rocket in history even with the major performance penalties that full reusability entails. Saturn V, the most capable rocket ever flown, was fully expendable and could launch up to 118 metric tons (~260,000 lb) into orbit.
Due to NASA’s concerns about the risks that Starship launches from Pad 39A could pose to SpaceX’s Falcon and Dragon operations at the same site, the company’s next-generation rocket may have to wait until 2024 or 2025 for its first Florida launch. With the first Florida Mechazilla now close to completion, it’s likely that Pad 39A’s Starship launch site will be ready and waiting as soon as NASA gives SpaceX the green light.
Elon Musk
What is Digital Optimus? The new Tesla and xAI project explained
At its core, Digital Optimus operates through a dual-process architecture inspired by human cognition.
Tesla and xAI announced their groundbreaking joint project, Digital Optimus, also nicknamed “Macrohard” in a humorous jab at Microsoft, earlier this week.
This software-based AI agent is designed to automate complex office workflows by observing and replicating human interactions with computers. As the first major outcome of Tesla’s $2 billion investment in xAI, it represents a powerful fusion of hardware efficiency and advanced reasoning.
At its core, Digital Optimus operates through a dual-process architecture inspired by human cognition.
Macrohard or Digital Optimus is a joint xAI-Tesla project, coming as part of Tesla’s investment agreement with xAI.
Grok is the master conductor/navigator with deep understanding of the world to direct digital Optimus, which is processing and actioning the past 5 secs of…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 11, 2026
Tesla’s specialized AI acts as “System 1”—the fast, instinctive executor—processing the past five seconds of real-time computer screen video along with keyboard and mouse actions to perform immediate tasks.
xAI’s Grok model serves as “System 2,” the strategic “master conductor” or navigator, providing high-level reasoning, world understanding, and directional oversight, much like an advanced turn-by-turn navigation system.
When combined, the two can create a powerful AI-based assistant that can complete everything from accounting work to HR tasks.
Will Tesla join the fold? Predicting a triple merger with SpaceX and xAI
The system runs primarily on Tesla’s low-cost AI4 inference chip, minimizing expensive Nvidia resources from xAI for competitive, real-time performance.
Elon Musk described it as “the only real-time smart AI system” capable, in principle, of emulating the functions of entire companies, handling everything from accounting and HR to repetitive digital operations.
Timelines point to swift deployment. Announced just days ago, Musk expects Digital Optimus to be ready for user experience within about six months, targeting rollout around September 2026.
It will integrate into all AI4-equipped Tesla vehicles, enabling parked cars to handle office work during downtime. Millions of dedicated units are also planned for deployment at Supercharger stations, tapping into roughly 7 gigawatts of available power.
Oh and it works in all AI4-equipped cars, so your car can do office work for you when not driving.
We’re also deploying millions of dedicated Digital Optimus units in the field at Superchargers where we have ~7 gigawatts of available power.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 12, 2026
Digital Optimus directly supports Tesla’s broader autonomy strategy. It leverages the same end-to-end neural networks, computer vision, and real-time decision-making tech that power Full Self-Driving (FSD) software and the physical Optimus humanoid robot.
By repurposing idle vehicle compute and extending AI4 hardware beyond driving, the project scales Tesla’s autonomy ecosystem from roads to digital workspaces.
As a virtual counterpart to physical Optimus, it divides labor: software agents manage screen-based tasks while humanoid robots tackle physical ones, accelerating Tesla’s vision of general-purpose AI for productivity, Robotaxi fleets, and beyond.
In essence, Digital Optimus bridges Tesla’s vehicle and robotics autonomy with enterprise-scale AI, promising massive efficiency gains. No other company currently matches its real-time capabilities on such accessible hardware.
It really could be one of the most crucial developments Tesla and xAI begin to integrate, as it could revolutionize how people work and travel.
News
Tesla adds awesome new driving feature to Model Y
Tesla is rolling out a new “Comfort Braking” feature with Software Update 2026.8. The feature is exclusive to the new Model Y, and is currently unavailable for any other vehicle in the Tesla lineup.
Tesla is adding an awesome new driving feature to Model Y vehicles, effective on Juniper-updated models considered model year 2026 or newer.
Tesla is rolling out a new “Comfort Braking” feature with Software Update 2026.8. The feature is exclusive to the new Model Y, and is currently unavailable for any other vehicle in the Tesla lineup.
Tesla writes in the release notes for the feature:
“Your Tesla now provides a smoother feel as you come to a complete stop during routine braking.”
🚨 Tesla has added a new “Comfort Braking” update with 2026.8
“Your Tesla provides a smoother feel as you come to a complete stop during routine braking.” https://t.co/afqCpBSVeA pic.twitter.com/C6MRmzfzls
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) March 13, 2026
Interestingly, we’re not too sure what catalyzed Tesla to try to improve braking smoothness, because it hasn’t seemed overly abrupt or rough from my perspective. Although the brake pedal in my Model Y is rarely used due to Regenerative Braking, it seems Tesla wanted to try to make the ride comfort even smoother for owners.
There is always room for improvement, though, and it seems that there is a way to make braking smoother for passengers while the vehicle is coming to a stop.
This is far from the first time Tesla has attempted to improve its ride comfort through Over-the-Air updates, as it has rolled out updates to improve regenerative braking performance, handling while using Full Self-Driving, improvements to Steer-by-Wire to Cybertruck, and even recent releases that have combatted Active Road Noise.
Tesla holds a unique ability to change the functionality of its vehicles through software updates, which have come in handy for many things, including remedying certain recalls and shipping new features to the Full Self-Driving suite.
Tesla seems to have the most seamless OTA processes, as many automakers have the ability to ship improvements through a simple software update.
We’re really excited to test the update, so when we get an opportunity to try out Comfort Braking when it makes it to our Model Y.
News
Tesla finally brings a Robotaxi update that Android users will love
The breakdown of the software version shows that Tesla is actively developing an Android-compatible version of the Robotaxi app, and the company is developing Live Activities for Android.
Tesla is finally bringing an update of its Robotaxi platform that Android users will love — mostly because it seems like they will finally be able to use the ride-hailing platform that the company has had active since last June.
Based on a decompile of software version 26.2.0 of the Robotaxi app, Tesla looks to be ready to roll out access to Android users.
According to the breakdown, performed by Tesla App Updates, the company is preparing to roll out an Android version of the app as it is developing several features for that operating system.
🚨 It looks like Tesla is preparing to launch the Robotaxi app for Android users at last!
A decompile of v26.2.0 of the Robotaxi app shows some progress on the Android side for Robotaxi 🤖 🚗 https://t.co/mThmoYuVLy
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) March 13, 2026
The breakdown of the software version shows that Tesla is actively developing an Android-compatible version of the Robotaxi app, and the company is developing Live Activities for Android:
“Strings like notification_channel_robotaxid_trip_name and android_native_alicorn_eta_text show exactly how Tesla plans to replicate the iOS Live Activities experience. Instead of standard push alerts, Android users are getting a persistent, dynamically updating notification channel.”
This is a big step forward for several reasons. From a face-value perspective, Tesla is finally ready to offer Robotaxi to Android users.
The company has routinely prioritized Apple releases because there is a higher concentration of iPhone users in its ownership base. Additionally, the development process for Apple is simply less laborious.
Tesla is working to increase Android capabilities in its vehicles
Secondly, the Robotaxi rollout has been a typical example of “slowly then all at once.”
Tesla initially released Robotaxi access to a handful of media members and influencers. Eventually, it was expanded to more users, so that anyone using an iOS device could download the app and hail a semi-autonomous ride in Austin or the Bay Area.
Opening up the user base to Android users may show that Tesla is preparing to allow even more users to utilize its Robotaxi platform, and although it seems to be a few months away from only offering fully autonomous rides to anyone with app access, the expansion of the user base to an entirely different user base definitely seems like its a step in the right direction.
What is Digital Optimus? The new Tesla and xAI project explained
Tesla adds awesome new driving feature to Model Y
