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SpaceX putting the finishing touches on Starship’s orbital launch pad
SpaceX appears to have begun tying up a number of loose ends at Starship’s first orbital launch site, potentially setting the stage for major rocket testing CEO Elon Musk has stated could begin next month.
The list of tasks started or completed in just the last week or two is significant and each one is singularly focused on similar goals: pave the way for SpaceX to finish testing the first orbital-class Starship and Super Heavy booster and prepare for the first orbital launch attempt of the largest rocket ever built. While SpaceX’s progress towards those goals over the last several months has been decidedly slow relative to the pace of similar work completed in the very recent past, the nominal timeline Musk recently sketched out suggests that things could once again start to happen at a dizzying rate.
Launch Tower
Kicking off a jam-packed two weeks of minor to major finishing touches, SpaceX rigged Starbase orbital launch tower’s rocket-catching arms to a system of pulleys, and ‘drawworks’ in a process known as “reeving.” Thousands of feet of rope were first threaded from up, down, and through the ~145m (~440 ft) tower to act as a temporary guide for the next step. Once fully rigged, anchored, and attached to the start of the steel cable actually meant to operate the system, the tower’s ‘drawworks’ was activated for the first time to reel in the guide rope – simultaneously installing the steel cable. By November 9th, the process was more or less complete, leaving the steel cable firmly attached to the tower’s giant rocket-catching arms and able to carry their significant weight.
Thanks Ralph and @StarshipGazer! Updated diagram below. pic.twitter.com/lUvcbshKGs— LunarCaveman (@LunarCaveman) November 10, 2021
SpaceX hasn’t quite finished installing those arms and does not appear to have picked up the slack in the cable that will eventually lift them up and down the tower, but the arm assembly’s first real move is likely just a few weeks away. Notably, a bit of scaffolding around the tower’s ‘legs’ still needs to be removed before the catch arms can freely roll up and down rails welded to their exteriors. SpaceX will also need to complete shakedown testing of the arms themselves, ensuring that the massive structures’ hydraulic, electrical, and mechanical systems are all working properly.
In the near future, those arms will be used to grab, lift, and install Super Heavy boosters and stack Starships on top of them, while SpaceX also hopes to eventually use them to catch boosters and ships out of mid-air. At least for the former role, a separate arm visible about halfway up the tower in the photo above will also be crucial. Known as the tower’s Starship quick-disconnect (QD) arm or claw, SpaceX has also made significant progress on the structure, practically completing it in the last few days.
Designed to fuel Starship and stabilize the top of Super Heavy with its claw, the Starship ‘QD arm’ is also able to swing left and right both to quickly back away during launches and to make room for the catch arms during rocket catches and ship/booster stacking operations. Last week, SpaceX technicians finished plumbing the arm, which requires thousands of feet of insulated steel tubes to connect to the pad’s propellant tanks. This week, on November 23rd, SpaceX installed the last major component of the arm – the actual quick disconnect (QD) mechanism that will connect to Starship to supply power, communications, and propellant.
A few small actuators likely still need to be installed and the QD mechanism itself will have to be fully connected to pad systems but the QD arm now appears to be more or less complete and should soon be ready to fuel Starships installed on top of Super Heavy boosters.
Launch Mount
Last but not least, SpaceX performed multiple tests of the pad’s ‘orbital launch mount’ – the giant, steel structure that will support Super Heavy, hold the booster down during testing and before liftoff, and supply it with thousands of tons of propellant. On November 21st, SpaceX completed the first of those tests, seemingly venting an unknown gas out of the mount. More likely than not, it was the first simultaneous test of all 20 of the mounts Raptor Boost engine gas supplies, which – having no need to reignite in flight – will rely on ground gas supplies for ignition. Each of Super Heavy’s 20 outer Raptor engines has a small umbilical and quick disconnect mechanism, resulting in what is likely the most mechanically complex rocket launch mount ever built.
On November 22nd, the orbital launch mount’s booster quick disconnect panel actuated for the first time, showing off the first glimpse of how it will move forward to connect to Super Heavy after a booster is installed on the mount. To prevent its sensitive components from being practically incinerated each launch, the mount’s QD panel will also need to rapidly move away from Super Heavy just before liftoff.
Aside from simply avoiding direct impingement from the several-thousand-degree plume created by 29-33 Raptor engines at full thrust, that movement will also tie into some kind of hood, seamlessly actuating hatches that will close to truly protect the device. That hood was itself spotted for the first time on November 21st and will likely be installed on the launch mount and over the naked QD mechanism in the very near future.
Finally, over the last week or so, SpaceX has begun installing a number of new pipes on and around the launch mount, likely assembling a water deluge system that will help manage the extreme thermal and acoustic environment created by the most powerful rocket in history shortly before and after liftoff. When activated, a spray bar circling the mount’s full interior circumference will likely unleash several tons of water per second in a giant artificial waterfall, hopefully preventing Super Heavy from damaging itself with the sheer sound produced by its Raptor engines or violently eroding the surrounding pad or launch mount legs with its plume.
Ultimately, once all the tower, arm, and mount work described above is completed, the only obvious thing standing between the orbital launch pad and the first Super Heavy booster testing and first orbital Starship launch will be the delivery of liquid methane fuel, which could easily begin any day now.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk just confirmed the Tesla and SpaceX merger step everyone was waiting for
Tesla and SpaceX formed special committees to weigh a merger, and Elon Musk supports it.
Elon Musk confirmed Tuesday that Tesla and SpaceX have each formed special committees of independent directors to study a possible merger, the first formal step toward combining the two companies after months of speculation.
Musk made the disclosure during SpaceX’s third quarter earnings call. “Both SpaceX and Tesla have formed special committees to discuss this idea at the request of shareholders,” he said. “Because I’m a conflicted party, I can’t actually be in the discussions of the special committees.” He described the setup as “an odd kabuki dance where two groups of people are talking and I can’t be in the conversation.”
Musk did not hide where he stands. “Do I think it would be a good idea? Yes,” he said, pointing to shared work on super intelligence software, chip design, the Terafab facility in Austin, robotics, mass to orbit and connectivity. “I do think there’s a lot of merit to combining the companies as we are pretty much in the super intelligence singularity.”
He also tried to cool expectations. The committees have not agreed on terms for any transaction, and Musk said assuming a merger is a certainty “would be overstating it.” Any deal would go to shareholders, and on the Tesla side it would need approval from 50 percent of all outstanding shares, not just the shares that are voted. Musk called that “quite a high hurdle.”
That bar has tripped Tesla up before. The company’s 2025 attempt to declassify its board won support from only 39.4 percent of outstanding shares and failed. Musk’s own voting stake sits near 20 percent after he exercised his 2018 options in June, so a deal would need broad backing from institutions and a retail base that often leaves votes uncast.
Timing is another open question. Tesla filed its proxy statement Monday for its December 3 annual meeting, and the ballot has only three items: director elections for Musk, Robyn Denholm and JB Straubel, a say on pay vote and auditor ratification. Barclays analyst Dan Levy had argued that an announcement would need to land by late October or early November to make the annual meeting, as Teslarati noted in its SpaceX earnings preview. With no terms agreed, any vote would likely require its own special meeting.
Elon Musk gives his most telling Tesla-SpaceX merger conversation yet
Musk has been edging toward this for weeks. At the All-In Summit in September, he asked “who can imagine what action one might take when there’s so much close collaboration,” Teslarati reported. Last week’s Roadster unveil, built around SpaceX derived cold gas thrusters, pushed the talk further. The two companies already share the Terafab chip project, and Tesla holds a small SpaceX stake that came from its earlier investment in xAI.
SpaceX brought strong numbers to the conversation. It reported Q3 revenue of $14.58 billion, up 161 percent year over year, with its Super Intelligence segment now its largest at $7.56 billion. A higher SpaceX valuation would shape any exchange ratio Tesla holders are offered.
Tesla reports its own third quarter results after the close on Wednesday, October 21. Investors had already ranked merger timing among the top retail questions for SpaceX’s call, and the committees will almost certainly come up again on Tesla’s.
SpaceX reported its third-quarter 2026 financial results on October 20, posting the company’s first solidly profitable quarter since going public earlier in the year under the ticker $SPCX.
Revenue reached $14.58 billion, up 161 percent year-over-year from $5.6 billion, and well ahead of consensus estimates in the $12.7 to $12.9 billion range. The results highlight a rapid shift in SpaceX’s center of gravity toward artificial intelligence/super intelligence, while Starlink and traditional space operations continue to show robust progress.
Here are the key financial results for the quarter:
- Revenue of $14.58 billion (+161% YoY)
- Adjusted EBITDA of $8.8 billion (+306% YoY)
- GAAP net income of $4.4 billion (versus a $1.1 billion net loss in the prior-year quarter)
- Adjusted EPS of approximately $0.35 (versus roughly $0.13–0.16 expected)
- Income from operations of $2.8 billion
The AI/SI segment generated $7.56 billion in revenue, an 830 percent year-over-year increase, making it the company’s largest segment for the first time. Growth was primarily driven by the activation of major cloud services agreements, the integration of Cursor (acquired earlier in 2026), and rising usage of Grok models and the newly introduced Grok Bot personal agent.
🚨 SpaceX just reported earnings! Here are some highlights:
Financial:
Revenue $14.58B (+161% YoY) vs. consensus ~$12.7–12.9B
Adjusted EBITDA $8.8B (+306% YoY)
GAAP net income $4.4B (vs. prior-year loss; first solidly profitable quarter post-IPO)
Adjusted EPS ~$0.35 vs. ~$0.13–0.16 expectedSegments:
Super Intelligence (SI, formerly AI): $7.56B (+830% YoY) — now the largest segment, driven by cloud contracts, Cursor, and Grok.
Connectivity (Starlink): $5.25B (+69% YoY).
Space: $1.77B.Other highlights:
Starlink subscribers: 13.6M (+89% YoY).
Nameplate compute: 1.7 GW.
Capex: $19.6B (majority AI infrastructure).
Cash & marketable securities: ~$90B.
First revenue-generating Starship mission (26 V3 Starlink satellites, ~10× Falcon 9 downlink capacity per launch).— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 20, 2026
SI adjusted EBITDA reached $5 billion, and nameplate compute capacity stood at 1.7 GW at quarter-end, up from 1.4 GW in June and 0.6 GW a year earlier. Capital expenditures totaled $19.6 billion, with the majority allocated to AI infrastructure, including continued expansion of the Colossus facilities.
The Connectivity segment, which primarily surrounds Starlink, produced $5.25 billion in revenue, a 69 percent year-over-year and 22 percent sequentially. These are pleasant results to see and expected, considering how many airlines have adopted Starlink over the past year.
Starlink consumer subscribers reached 13.6 million, an 89 percent increase from the prior year, and a sequential gain of 1.6 million. Consumer average revenue per user improved to $69. Meanwhile, Enterprise and Government revenue also grew strongly, and Starlink is now installed on more than 3,800 aircraft, making internet more accessible and better performing than previous options.
The Space segment also performed well and contributed $1.77 billion in revenue, up 6 percent year-over-year and 84 percent sequentially. A major milestone was the successful first revenue-generating Starship mission (Flight 14), which deployed 26 V3 Starlink satellites. Those satellites added roughly 10 times the downlink capacity of a typical Falcon 9 Starlink launch.
SpaceX completed 12 customer launches during the quarter, including NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope mission, and continued to grow its backlog of crewed, national security, and commercial flights.
CFO commentary noted that the combination of launch leadership, recurring Starlink revenue, and rapid SI expansion is producing meaningful operating leverage.
The company ended the quarter with roughly $90 billion in cash and marketable securities, providing substantial resources for ongoing investment while targeting an investment-grade balance sheet. Sequential revenue nearly doubled from the $7.81 billion reported in the second quarter, illustrating the pace of the AI-driven acceleration. Things are looking strong for SpaceX.
What’s incredibly striking is the fact that SI has grown to be larger than the rest of the company in such a short amount of time. CEO Elon Musk said on the earnings call that Grok Bot is the “fastest-growing product I’ve ever seen,” so it seems that it could be a true keystone of SpaceXSI over the next few years.
SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) will report its second public earnings call today since its IPO earlier this year, and there are a few things we expect to hear about, as well as Wall Street analysts, who have already outlined their expectations for the call.
Wall Street analysts have a consensus of $12.72 billion in revenue and an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.13. These are broken down into three sectors: Space, Connectivity, and AI/SI, which are perceived in this way:
- Space: $1.41 billion
- Connectivity: $4.84 billion
- AI/SI: $6.47 billion
Other outlets cluster near $12.8 or $12.9 billion in revenue and $0.14 – $0.15 EPS. This implies a roughly 65 percent sequential growth from Q2’s $7.81 billion, driven mostly by AI/SI, with the first post-IPO positive EPS expected.
Here are the three things to watch for on the call:
AI Revenue Ramp and the $100B+ ARR target
AI is truly the swing factor for SpaceX, and analysts expect it to roughly double from Q2’s $2.56 billion and become about half of total revenue. Management previously guided to a $100 billion+ annualized run rate by December, including the Cursor acquisition, which was $60 billion, to close the quarter.
Listen for updates on SpaceX’s compute capacity, especially pertaining to its contracts with Google, Anthropic, and others, revenue per watt, any new deals, and Cursor’s early contribution.
Starlink/Connectivity Metrics and Mobile Expansion
Connectivity remains a main profit engine for SpaceX. Subscriber additions will be something to pay attention to, as Q2 ended at 12 million and previews are looking at 14 million for this quarter. Additionally, ARPU trends, enterprise and government growth, and any commentary on Starlink Mobile will be something to pay attention to, especially following the recent low-band spectrum deal and FCC-related constellation approvals.
Capex Trajectory, Cash Burn/FCF, and Starship/Operational Updates
Q2 capex of roughly $18.4 billion weighed on the stock. Investors will look to scrutinize Q3 spending levels, any guidance on the pace into Q4/2027, free cash flow, backlog, and liquidity. Operational color on Starship (Flight 14 milestones and Flight 15 timing/reusability progress), Falcon cadence, and government/NASA contracts are also in focus.
Of course, there will also be some speculation on the potential Tesla-SpaceX merger, but there was nothing mentioned in the company’s proxy it sent earlier this week.
SpaceX will report earnings after market close today and will stream the call on X.
Watch live as SpaceX discusses our Q3 2026 earnings at 3:30pm CT today → https://t.co/Qrb0qeVG15
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 20, 2026
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