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SpaceX Starship booster’s ‘hot gas’ thrusters make first public appearance
‘Hot gas’ thrusters meant to boost the efficiency of SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy boosters have been spotted in public for the first time.
On the evening of June 21st, spaceflight photographer Brady Kenniston – on assignment for NASASpaceflight – caught the first glimpses ever of what amounts to the newest rocket engine designed and built by SpaceX. As yet unnamed, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has consistently referred to the new engine as a “hot gas thruster” for several years, though virtually no concrete details have ever been shared.
The reason behind the lack of major visible progress is simple enough: until Starship is ready for serious orbital testing, hot-gas thrusters just aren’t necessary. Instead, SpaceX has relied on tried and true cold gas thrusters derived – or quite literally taken, in the case of Starhopper – from those used on Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters to maintain attitude control in space and safely land back on Earth.
For Starhopper and Starships SN5 and SN6, all three of which focused on simple hop tests, those cold-gas thrusters primarily augmented Raptor’s thrust vectoring capabilities by fine-tuning vehicle rotation and attitude. On Starships SN8, SN9, SN10, SN11, and SN15, cold-gas thrusters played a more substantial role in their more complex medium-altitude test flights, flipping each ship horizontal at apogee, helping to maintain stability during skydiver-style freefalls back to Earth, and augmenting three Raptor engines during the final landing flip and landing burn.
By all appearances, the thrusters did their jobs perfectly on all nine test flights. However, those eight suborbital prototypes could all afford to expend large portions of their mass budgets on a plethora of pressure vessels filled with tons of nitrogen gas. More importantly, empty Starships and their Super Heavy boosters are expected to weigh anywhere from 10-50 times more than Falcon 9’s booster and upper stage, and SpaceX’s suborbital prototypes have also required much less performance (delta V) than operational ships and boosters will need.
Cold gas (nitrogen) thrusters are too inefficient and the exponential aspects of rocket engineering too cruel for what works on Falcon to efficiently meet the needs of Starship and Super Heavy. SpaceX’s long-planned solution has been the development of a bipropellant thruster that would borrow from Raptor expertise and use the same methane and oxygen propellant – albeit in their high-pressure gaseous forms. If properly realized, such a thruster could offer around five times the efficiency and thrust of a similarly-sized cold-gas system – a boon for maneuvering and manipulating massive 100-250 ton (~250,000-550,000 lb) ships and boosters in space.
In theory, moving from nitrogen to methalox thrusters also means that Starship could refuel its thrusters using a tiny fraction of the vast supply of liquid methane and oxygen propellant it will already be carrying to the Moon or Mars. Ultimately, though, Musk says that those hot gas attitude control thrusters will debut on the Super Heavy booster assigned to Starship’s first orbital test flight. While SpaceX’s initial July target now appears to be out of the question, all flight and pad hardware could still be ready to launch as early as August or September.
Update: One month after Elon Musk stated that SpaceX was “aiming” to have hot gas thrusters on the first flightworthy Super Heavy booster, the CEO says those thrusters would be “an unnecessary complication for now” and “are being removed to speed up time to” Starship’s first orbital launch.
A new report claims that Apple is in the process of developing what would be the missing link for Tesla to get CarPlay.
Apple and Tesla have been reportedly working together for some time to give Tesla owners the opportunity to utilize CarPlay within their vehicles. While many owners are more than happy with Tesla’s in-house UI, which is seamless, effective, and smooth, some still want CarPlay, which does have its advantages.
A report from 9to5Mac now states that a new CarPlay technology that was highlighted during the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) would potentially be the bridge between Tesla and Apple. With the addition of a feature known as “Route Sharing,” which gives a navigation app the ability to share routing data with the vehicle, Tesla would be able to launch CarPlay in its vehicles, the report states.
CarPlay has not been a priority for Tesla because it has done extremely well with its in-house UI, but some drivers are just used to it. Additionally, it could improve Tesla’s subpar Navigation or offer improved app capabilities, especially with iMessage.
Route Sharing is an intended addition to CarPlay’s iteration in iOS 26.4, which was released in March:
The addition of CarPlay would undoubtedly be welcome, but at the same time, it seems like Tesla realizes it is not of the utmost priority. There are so many things that Tesla is working on currently within its own vehicles, especially attempting to solve self-driving.
Back in February, Bloomberg had reported that Tesla was still working on bringing CarPlay to its vehicles, but it had not due to app compatibility issues and incredibly low adoption rates of iOS 26.
This bottleneck could buy Tesla the proper amount of time to develop CarPlay for its vehicles. It would be a welcome addition, and could be brought on with either the Summer or Fall 2026 Software Updates.
Tesla deliveries got a big boost in expectations from Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs, who believes the company will report some stronger-than-expected numbers when the second quarter comes to an end in the coming weeks.
Goldman Sachs has raised its vehicle delivery forecast for Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) in the second quarter of 2026, signaling growing confidence in the electric vehicle leader’s near-term momentum despite mixed market signals. Analyst Mark Delaney lifted the bank’s Q2 estimate to 420,000 units from a previous 405,000, surpassing the Visible Alpha consensus estimate of 400,000.
The upward revision stems from stronger-than-expected sales data across key regions. Europe stands out with projected year-over-year growth of 85-90 percent, driven by robust demand for Tesla’s Model Y and refreshed offerings. China posted high single-digit gains, while markets like South Korea and Australia also contributed positive momentum. These gains help offset mid-teens declines in U.S. deliveries through May, where broader EV market headwinds and competition persist.
Goldman extended its optimism to the full year, increasing its 2026 delivery projection to 1.73 million vehicles from 1.72 million. Longer-term forecasts remain unchanged, with 1.88 million units expected in 2027 and 1.96 million in 2028. The bank also nudged its 2026 earnings-per-share estimate higher to $1.35 from $1.30, reflecting anticipated margin benefits from higher volumes and operational efficiencies.
Despite these positive adjustments, Goldman maintained its Neutral rating and $375 price target on Tesla shares. At current trading levels near $411, the stock sits about 8-9 percent above the target, highlighting ongoing valuation concerns even as delivery momentum builds. Tesla’s Q1 2026 deliveries totaled 358,023 units, setting a baseline for recovery expectations in the current period.
This update arrives as Tesla prepares to report official Q2 figures shortly after June 30. Investors and analysts will closely watch not only headline delivery numbers but also regional breakdowns, average selling prices, and progress on energy storage deployments and autonomous technology initiatives.
The move by Goldman Sachs underscores a broader narrative for Tesla: while legacy auto markets face softening demand and tariff uncertainties, Tesla’s global footprint and product pipeline provide resilience. Europe’s surge reflects pent-up demand and policy support for EVs, while China’s steady growth highlights Tesla’s competitive positioning against local rivals.
Tesla still has its work cut out for it, including U.S. price sensitivity and intensifying competition. Yet Goldman’s revision adds to a series of analyst notes suggesting Q2 could mark a turning point. As Tesla pushes toward higher production rates at facilities in Fremont, Shanghai, and Berlin, sustained execution will be key to validating these higher forecasts.
We have said numerous times that deliveries are becoming a less important metric in the grand scheme of things, as AI truly takes precedence in the company’s thesis.
For Tesla bulls, the Goldman note reinforces faith in underlying demand trends. For skeptics, the unchanged rating serves as a reminder that delivery beats alone may not immediately resolve valuation debates in a high-interest-rate environment. Tesla’s stock reaction will likely hinge on the official numbers and management commentary in the coming weeks.
SpaceX has exercised its option to acquire Cursor, the innovative AI coding company, in an all-stock transaction valued at $60 billion. The deal, announced on June 16, marks a significant step in SpaceX’s expansion into advanced artificial intelligence, building on months of close collaboration between the companies.
Cursor, officially operated by Anysphere, Inc., is an AI-native code editor and coding agent designed to transform software development. Founded in 2022 by a group of MIT graduates in San Francisco, Cursor builds on the familiar foundation of Visual Studio Code but integrates powerful AI capabilities directly into the core experience.
Unlike traditional code editors or simple extensions, Cursor functions as a full “coding agent” that turns natural-language instructions into actionable code.
SpaceX has exercised the option to acquire @cursor_ai in an all-stock transaction with the goal of building the world’s most useful AI models.
For the past few months, SpaceXAI has been jointly training a model with Cursor, which will be released in Cursor and Grok Build soon.… https://t.co/X5mepgXgjJ
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 16, 2026
Developers interact with Cursor through features like its Composer agent, which can search entire codebases, edit multiple files, run terminal commands, debug issues, and complete complex multi-step programming tasks autonomously.
Users describe high-level goals, such as “build a scalable API endpoint with authentication,” and the AI plans, implements, tests, and refines the solution while the human oversees decisions. Additional tools include advanced autocomplete (Tab), context-aware chat, and infrastructure for handling billions of daily requests.
The platform has gained considerable traction, surpassing $3 billion in annual recurring revenue by early 2026 and earning adoption by over half of the Fortune 500 companies. Its agentic approach accelerates development dramatically, allowing engineers to focus on architecture and creativity rather than repetitive coding.
The acquisition integrates Cursor’s leading product, expert team of roughly 300 engineers, and distribution network among top software developers with SpaceX’s unparalleled computational resources. SpaceX’s Colossus supercomputer, equivalent to a million H100 GPUs, has already powered joint training of next-generation models. These models are expected to launch soon within Cursor and SpaceX’s Grok Build environment.
This combination positions SpaceX to develop the world’s most capable AI systems for coding and knowledge work. Access to Cursor’s real-world usage data from millions of professional developers provides unparalleled feedback loops for model improvement. Training on Colossus enables rapid iteration on massive datasets, potentially creating AI that outperforms current leaders in reliability, context handling, and complex reasoning.
For SpaceX, the benefits extend far beyond software tools. Rocket engineering, satellite constellation management, autonomous flight systems, and Starship development involve millions of lines of highly specialized, safety-critical code.
Cursor’s AI agents, supercharged by proprietary models trained on SpaceX’s domain expertise, could slash development timelines, reduce errors, and enable faster innovation cycles. This vertical integration of AI tooling strengthens SpaceX’s competitive edge in both aerospace and the broader AI race, complementing its xAI initiatives.
The deal reflects the exploding value of AI-native developer platforms. By owning Cursor outright, SpaceX secures a strategic talent pool and product pipeline that will accelerate internal projects while potentially offering enhanced tools to the wider engineering community. As AI continues reshaping software creation, this acquisition underscores SpaceX’s commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology for ambitious goals, from Mars colonization to global connectivity.
Apple is developing the missing link for Tesla to get CarPlay: report
Tesla deliveries get a big boost in expectations from Wall Street
