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SpaceX acquires new photos of Starship landing sites with Mars-orbiting NASA satellite
SpaceX has reaffirmed its prioritization of the Arcadia Planitia – a low Martian plain – and adjacent areas as some of the most promising locations for early Starship landings, tasking a NASA satellite to gather updated photos of six potential landing sites.
First discovered and analyzed by author Robert Zimmerman on August 28th, SpaceX requested the landing site prospecting images from the University of Arizona, tasked with operating NASA’s JPL-built HiRISE spacecraft. Back before Red Dragon’s 2017 cancellation, SpaceX began the process of landing site analysis, a canvassing that ultimately settled on four possible locations, of which the Arcadia Planitia was viewed as most promising.
After at least 2.5 years of research, SpaceX thus appears to be confidently settling on one particular region of Mars for its first Starship landing(s) on the Red Planet. Located in Mars’ mid-northern latitudes, Arcadia Planitia – like its Latin namesake suggests – is a region of plains, specifically low plains per International Astronomical Union (IAU) standards. It has been described by NASA as “one of the few regions [of Mars] where abundant shallow ice is present at relatively low latitude”, desirable for an array of reasons.
Arcadia Planitia takes up much of the left-hand side of this spectacular 2017 panorama, stitched together from Mars Express images by Justin Cowart. On the scale of Martian spectacle, one could be forgiven for perceiving Arcadia as boring. In fact, that’s one of the main reasons SpaceX is interested in it – just as Arcadia looks rather featureless from orbit, it is relatively bereft of the boulder fields common in many other regions of Mars, translating into much less obstacle avoidance during landing.
Additionally, Arcadia Planitia is indeed a region of low plains – one of the lowest regions (relative to the mean surface level) on Mars. This translates into much higher atmospheric pressure (i.e. a thicker atmosphere), insulating the region from some of the extremes of Martian weather, as does its relative adjacency to the planet’s equator. Simultaneously, this wealth of atmosphere enables more efficient spacecraft landings. Per a September 2018 update, Starship is set to rely heavily on a series of atmospheric maneuvers to slow down, a strategy that significantly cuts the amount of propellant the spacecraft must use to land softly on Mars (and Earth!).
To tally: Arcadia Planitia offers (somewhat) warmer summers and winters due to its latitude, augmented by a low relative altitude that insulates the region from weather extremes and enables more efficient propulsive spacecraft landings.
However, perhaps more important than any of the above features is the fact that Arcadia Planitia is host to a vast wealth of water ice resources, ranging from frozen aquifers to glaciers in the adjacent Erebus Montes mountains. Of central importance to SpaceX’s strategy of affordably colonizing and exploring Mars is the decision to produce return propellant – needed for Starships to return to Earth – on Mars, known as in-situ resource utilization (ISRU). Starship’s use of methane and oxygen is almost entirely a result of this – methane is far easier to work with than hydrogen and can also be easily produced from water, as can oxygen.
The cleaner and more accessible the Martian water ice is, the easier it will be for SpaceX robots or astronauts to set up a propellant plant on Mars. Additionally, clean water is extremely expensive to transport in space, and a near-infinite supply of ice-derived water would be extremely useful for all sorts of human outpost needs.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk believes that the company could be ready for Starship’s first uncrewed Mars launch as early as 2020 or 2022 Hohmann transfer opportunities, windows that permit a uniquely efficient journey from Earth to Mars.
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Tesla has secured $30 billion in fresh credit lines from Citibank and Wells Fargo in an effort to scale its biggest current projects.
Tesla agreed to a $20 billion three-year delayed-draw term loan facility from Citibank, it announced on Tuesday. Additionally, it signed a five-year, $8 billion revolving credit facility and a $2 billion, 364-day term credit facility with Wells Fargo.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that it “may draw” from the $20 billion delayed-draw term “from time to time” and “no more than ten times during the 18 months following the closing date.” This loan matures on September 29, 2029.
The five-year revolving facility from Wells Fargo will also be accessed by Tesla “from time to time,” and will become due and payable on September 29, 2031. Tesla can request two separate one-year extensions.
On the $2 billion, 364-day revolving loan, it becomes due and payable on September 28, 2027. Tesla can also increase its additional commitments to an additional $4 billion across the Revolving Facilities. This would increase the total facilities to $14 billion. Tesla said it does not plan to utilize any of these loans in 2026.
Tesla plans to utilize the money to help prop up its ambitions to scale its biggest products, each of which is either in early launch phases or still in development. Of course, we’re talking about Cybercab and Semi, which have launched, and Optimus, which is still under heavy development and working toward initial release.
All three Tesla products have one thing in common: they’ve all required Tesla to build new manufacturing lines for them.
For the Semi, Tesla built a brand new factory in Sparks, Nevada, adjacent to the Tesla Gigafactory. For Optimus, Tesla sunset Model S and X production at the Fremont Factory, which brought an end to the two flagship models, thus creating manufacturing space for the humanoid robot. Finally, Cybercab is being built at Gigafactory Texas and officially entered production earlier this year.
The cash will help Tesla bolster its finances for the continuing development of these products. Tesla said that it forecasts its CapEx to be over $25 billion, up from just over $8.5 billion last year. These loans surely help with that spending.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk and Trump are closer than ever, and Tesla could be the big winner
Elon Musk sat beside Trump as AI leaders signed a voluntary White House safety accord.
Elon Musk had the seat right next to President Donald Trump on Tuesday as the White House hosted the leaders of America’s biggest artificial intelligence companies for a lunch that ended with a voluntary industry accord on AI safety.
A seating chart Trump posted on Truth Social placed Musk at the president’s left in the East Room, with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on his right, according to an Associated Press reporter. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also attended, along with Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson.
🚨 Elon Musk is currently speaking to the media alongside President Trump after a meeting with AI Leaders in Washington today
Trump says AI is now being called “Super Intelligence” or SI pic.twitter.com/woJJqUVP9B
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 29, 2026
After the lunch, Trump told reporters outside the West Wing that the executives had signed “The White House Accord on Superintelligence: A Joint Commitment on Frontier SI Responsibilities.” Johnson described it as a voluntary statement of principles built on “robust internal controls and layers of internal and external review,” while Zuckerberg said company boards would independently review reports from outside auditors. Trump called the document “morally binding,” said he would name a new AI czar within days, and signed an executive order formally renaming artificial intelligence “super intelligence,” CNBC reported.
Musk was not in the room for Tesla alone. Since SpaceX absorbed xAI, he runs the company behind Grok and one of the largest AI training operations anywhere. On September 25, he said another 220,000 Nvidia GB300 chips would come online at Colossus 2 within a week, with more expected in November and December.
“I think it is worth highlighting the positive benefits of A.I. … S.I., pardon me.”
“Thank you.”@elonmusk catches his own slip after calling the technology “A.I.” while speaking alongside President Trump and other tech leaders, quickly correcting himself to “super… pic.twitter.com/fH7CFileNb
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 29, 2026
SpaceX confirms third massive compute deal at Colossus data center
Musk also used the trip to restate his energy ambitions. “SpaceX is aiming together with Tesla to do 200 gigawatts of solar production per year,” he said at an event in Washington. It is the same combined target he laid out that feeds directly into Terafab, the Tesla and SpaceX chip venture that will need enormous amounts of power.
The showing between Musk and Trump has come a long way, since the two had the very public split in mid 2025 after Musk opposed the “Big Beautiful Bill” and left DOGE. They reconciled at Charlie Kirk’s memorial that September, and Trump later called their relationship “good”. Since then, Musk has joined Trump’s China delegation in May and attended last week’s White House state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
For Tesla, that access to government official could pay dividends. As Teslarati noted in January, federal autonomy rules, NHTSA oversight and a single national standard for driverless vehicles all run through an administration Musk can more easily reach directly as Tesla works to scale Robotaxi and Cybercab beyond Texas.
Ahead of its highly anticipated unveiling, Tesla’s upcoming Roadster received a new patent that aims to keep it grounded while enabling white-knuckle speeds.
The patent, which was granted on September 29, is titled “Electric Car Fan,” bluntly stating its design but not its purpose, which is further detailed in the text of the application. Interestingly, it comes two weeks before the Roadster event, which was delayed due to unfavorable weather on Thursday, which could cause issues, as Tesla revealed the event must be held outdoors.
🚨 The design uses electrically driven ducted fans, typically shown as a row of four at the rear, powered by the vehicle’s high-voltage battery.
The fans pull air from an underbody inlet, route it through ducts, and expel it from a larger rear outlet that functions as a… https://t.co/CHQB9u9UA3 pic.twitter.com/QVXmWTdggh
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) September 29, 2026
The purpose is to solve a problem that is relatively unique to high-performance electric cars. Instant motor torque is useless if the tires cannot plant that force, and conventional wings and underbody tunnels generate downforce only when air is already rushing past the car. At launch, in slow corners, and under hard braking from modest speed, passive aerodynamic additions contribute essentially very little to downforce.
Tesla’s filing says that its fans can produce the downforce needed, independent of vehicle velocity, then ease off so the same hardware does not pile on drag at highway speeds, an issue that can come from excessive body modifications.
The hardware outlined in the patent is a ducted-fan package that is placed into the rear of the vehicle. An underbody inlet between the rear wheels feeds a duct that rises to a wide outlet in the diffuser. In that outlet are four axial fans, which are divided by vertical strakes. They will pull air from under the floor and press the chassis onto the pavement.
The language in the patent claims it can cut drag rather than add to it while simultaneously increasing downforce.
Tesla Roadster event requires restricted airspace, and the FAA obliges
The fans run from the high-voltage battery and a vehicle control system, so output can be modulated rather than left on as a fixed penalty.
There are additional strengths that can come from this design, like extra tire load at low speed, which can contribute to even more face-melting acceleration rates, decrease stopping distance, and sharper turn-in before a wing has air to work with. Adjustable fan speed lets the car add grip only when needed, so it can be catered to the force of a turn or acceleration.
These designs were previously used, and banned, in some competitive settings. The Brabham BT46B was banned in F1 competition for using a similar fan design and being labeled as too effective.
Tesla still lists the Roadster as having a sub-two-second 0-60 MPH time and a 250-plus-MPH top speed, and there are expectations for a SpaceX cold-gas thruster package that could not only increase acceleration but potentially cause the vehicle to hover.
It is important to note that a patent is not a production part, and packaging four fans in a rear diffuser, managing noise, and potential debris are all things Tesla must consider. With that being said, the patent being granted shows Tesla is designing the Roadster to go fast, but it is also attempting to use unique strategies to combat any issues it might have at those speeds.
Tesla snags $30B in fresh credit lines for expanding its biggest projects
Elon Musk and Trump are closer than ever, and Tesla could be the big winner
