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SpaceX soars with flawless Starship hop, Starlink launch five hours apart

On September 3rd, SpaceX launched 60 Starlink satellites and hopped a Starship less than five hours apart. (SpaceX)

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SpaceX has successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket with 60 Starlink satellites and hopped a Starship prototype just five hours apart.

Right on schedule, Falcon 9 booster B1060 brought several days of delays to a welcome end, lifting off from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A (Pad 39A) at 8:48 am EDT (UTC-4). Nine minutes later, B1060 landed aboard drone ship Of Course I Still Love You and the mission’s expendable Falcon 9 upper stage shut off its Merlin Vacuum (MVac) engine after reaching a nominal orbit. Less than 20 minutes after liftoff, all 60 Starlink v1.0 spacecraft were successfully deployed, completing SpaceX’s 11th operational mission and 12th Starlink launch overall.

Less than five hours later, Starship prototype serial number 6 (SN6) ignited its lone Raptor engine and lifted off, soaring ~150m (~500 ft) into the South Texas sky before landing on a concrete pad a few hundred feet away. While largely unrelated from a technical and operational perspective, the back-to-back launch and hop still demonstrate one thing in particular: SpaceX remains as committed as ever to both of its most ambitious projects.

With SpaceX’s 101st launch and 60th orbital-class booster landing, the company’s Starlink satellite internet constellation now has more than 700 operational spacecraft in orbit. According to comments made earlier this year by COO and President Gwynne Shotwell, that should mean that SpaceX will be ready for the first public Starlink beta test just three or four launches from now.

In May 2020, the executive noted that that public beta was expected to begin after 14 launches. Based on interactions with the FCC over the last several months, SpaceX is only counting upgraded v1.0 satellites as part of the operational Starlink constellation, meaning that Shotwell likely meant 14 Starlink v1.0 launches. Over the course of 10 Starlink v1.0 missions, only 5 of the 593 satellites launched have deorbited and burned up in Earth’s atmosphere, while another 8 satellites have lost the ability to maneuver and will likely deorbit within the next several months.

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Assuming all 60 Starlink-11 spacecraft are healthy after reaching their final orbits, SpaceX will have ~640 operational satellites in orbit. SpaceX has plans for another two Starlink launches this month, followed by at least one more – the fabled Starlink-14 – no earlier than (NET) October.

Two Starship hops in 30 days

Starship SN6’s successful hop debut is also great news for SpaceX’s ambitious next-generation rocket development program, opening up the launch pad for a new tank pressure test and SN5’s second hop. According to CEO Elon Musk, the company’s near-term goal is to complete “several” hops to refine and routinize Starship launch procedures. Once fairly routine, SpaceX will likely begin preparing for Starship SN8’s hop debut, representing the first flight of a Starship built entirely out of a new steel alloy.

If things go according to plan, Starship SN8 will be the first ship to fly with a nosecone, flaps, header tanks, and three Raptor engines. The ship will also be the first to attempt a truly bizarre skydiver-style landing, in which SN8 will essentially fall through the atmosphere belly-first before flipping upright at the last second for a soft landing. In the meantime, SpaceX’s next Starship test tank (SN7.1) is scheduled to begin testing on September 6th, while SN5 could theoretically be ready for its second hop just a few days after that.

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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 Model Y and Model 3 named safest vehicles tested by ANCAP in 2025

According to ANCAP in a press release, the Tesla Model Y achieved the highest overall weighted score of any vehicle assessed in 2025.

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Credit: ANCAP

The Tesla Model Y recorded the highest overall safety score of any vehicle tested by ANCAP in 2025. The Tesla Model 3 also delivered strong results, reinforcing the automaker’s safety leadership in Australia and New Zealand.

According to ANCAP in a press release, the Tesla Model Y achieved the highest overall weighted score of any vehicle assessed in 2025. ANCAP’s 2025 tests evaluated vehicles across four key pillars: Adult Occupant Protection, Child Occupant Protection, Vulnerable Road User Protection, and Safety Assist technologies.

The Model Y posted consistently strong results in all four categories, distinguishing itself through a system-based safety approach that combines structural crash protection with advanced driver-assistance features such as autonomous emergency braking, lane support, and driver monitoring. 

This marked the second time the Model Y has topped ANCAP’s annual safety rankings. The Model Y’s previous version was also ANCAP’s top performer in 2022.

The Tesla Model 3 also delivered a strong performance in ANCAP’s 2025 tests, contributing to Tesla’s broader safety presence across segments. Similar to the Model Y, the Model 3 also earned impressive scores across the ANCAP’s four pillars. This made the vehicle the top performer in the Medium Car category.  

ANCAP Chief Executive Officer Carla Hoorweg stated that the results highlight a growing industry shift toward integrated safety design, with improvements in technologies such as autonomous emergency braking and lane support translating into meaningful real-world protection.

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“ANCAP’s testing continues to reinforce a clear message: the safest vehicles are those designed with safety as a system, not a checklist. The top performers this year delivered consistent results across physical crash protection, crash avoidance and vulnerable road user safety, rather than relying on strength in a single area.

“We are also seeing increasing alignment between ANCAP’s test requirements and the safety technologies that genuinely matter on Australian and New Zealand roads. Improvements in autonomous emergency braking, lane support, and driver monitoring systems are translating into more robust protection,” Hoorweg said.

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Tesla Sweden uses Megapack battery to bypass unions’ Supercharger blockade

Just before Christmas, Tesla went live with a new charging station in Arlandastad, outside Stockholm, by powering it with a Tesla Megapack battery.

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Credit: Tesla Charging/X

Tesla Sweden has successfully launched a new Supercharger station despite an ongoing blockade by Swedish unions, using on-site Megapack batteries instead of traditional grid connections. The workaround has allowed the Supercharger to operate without direct access to Sweden’s electricity network, which has been effectively frozen by labor action.

Tesla has experienced notable challenges connecting its new charging stations to Sweden’s power grid due to industrial action led by Seko, a major Swedish trade union, which has blocked all new electrical connections for new Superchargers. On paper, this made the opening of new Supercharger sites almost impossible.

Despite the blockade, Tesla has continued to bring stations online. In Malmö and Södertälje, new Supercharger locations opened after grid operators E.ON and Telge Nät activated the sites. The operators later stated that the connections had been made in error. 

More recently, however, Tesla adopted a different strategy altogether. Just before Christmas, Tesla went live with a new charging station in Arlandastad, outside Stockholm, by powering it with a Tesla Megapack battery, as noted in a Dagens Arbete (DA) report. 

Because the Supercharger station does not rely on a permanent grid connection, Tesla was able to bypass the blocked application process, as noted by Swedish car journalist and YouTuber Peter Esse. He noted that the Arlandastad Supercharger is likely dependent on nearby companies to recharge the batteries, likely through private arrangements.

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Eight new charging stalls have been launched in the Arlandastad site so far, which is a fraction of the originally planned 40 chargers for the location. Still, the fact that Tesla Sweden was able to work around the unions’ efforts once more is impressive, especially since Superchargers are used even by non-Tesla EVs.

Esse noted that Tesla’s Megapack workaround is not as easily replicated in other locations. Arlandastad is unique because neighboring operators already have access to grid power, making it possible for Tesla to source electricity indirectly. Still, Esse noted that the unions’ blockades have not affected sales as much.

“Many want Tesla to lose sales due to the union blockades. But you have to remember that sales are falling from 2024, when Tesla sold a record number of cars in Sweden. That year, the unions also had blockades against Tesla. So for Tesla as a charging operator, it is devastating. But for Tesla as a car company, it does not matter in terms of sales volumes. People charge their cars where there is an opportunity, usually at home,” Esse noted. 

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Elon Musk’s X goes down as users report major outage Friday morning

Error messages and stalled loading screens quickly spread across the service, while outage trackers recorded a sharp spike in user reports.

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Credit: Linda Yaccarino/X

Elon Musk’s X experienced an outage Friday morning, leaving large numbers of users unable to access the social media platform.

Error messages and stalled loading screens quickly spread across the service, while outage trackers recorded a sharp spike in user reports.

Downdetector reports

Users attempting to open X were met with messages such as “Something went wrong. Try reloading,” often followed by an endless spinning icon that prevented access, according to a report from Variety. Downdetector data showed that reports of problems surged rapidly throughout the morning.

As of 10:52 a.m. ET, more than 100,000 users had reported issues with X. The data indicated that 56% of complaints were tied to the mobile app, while 33% were related to the website and roughly 10% cited server connection problems. The disruption appeared to begin around 10:10 a.m. ET, briefly eased around 10:35 a.m., and then returned minutes later.

Credit: Downdetector

Previous disruptions

Friday’s outage was not an isolated incident. X has experienced multiple high-profile service interruptions over the past two years. In November, tens of thousands of users reported widespread errors, including “Internal server error / Error code 500” messages. Cloudflare-related error messages were also reported.

In March 2025, the platform endured several brief outages spanning roughly 45 minutes, with more than 21,000 reports in the U.S. and 10,800 in the U.K., according to Downdetector. Earlier disruptions included an outage in August 2024 and impairments to key platform features in July 2023.

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