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SpaceX rolls Starship launch tower section, giant water tank to orbital pad

Starship's first orbital launch site has a few new guests after a busy day hardware deliveries. (NASASpaceflight - bocachicagal)

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After a brief pause, SpaceX is once again shipping pad hardware from its Boca Chica, Texas rocket factory to Starship’s rapidly growing orbital launch site (OLS).

A few days of delays aside, the latest transport simultaneously rolled a massive 12m (40 ft) wide water tank and another prefabricated section of SpaceX’s skyscraper-sized orbital launch tower to a nascent orbital launch site adjacent to two well-worn suborbital pads.

Those suborbital pads have been through dozens of ground tests of Starship test tanks, hoppers, and high-altitude prototypes over the last ~20 months, recently culminating in Starship SN15 launching to 10 km (6.2 mi), free-falling back to earth, and becoming the first prototype of its kind to successfully touch down. Since that May 5th milestone, Starship SN15 has been moved to an empty lot – likely to be put permanently on display – and SpaceX’s focus has quite clearly shifted towards Starship’s first orbital test flights.

To even be able to attempt those test flights, which will involve a Starship installed on top of the world’s most powerful rocket booster, several things must be in order. Relative to the three-engine, medium-altitude Starship prototypes SpaceX has the most experience with, CEO Elon Musk has implied that even the very first flightworthy Super Heavy boosters will be outfitted with 29 Raptor engines, representing an almost order-of-magnitude leap in lift-off thrust. In other words, SpaceX’s proven suborbital launch mounts are wholly inadequate for even a rudimentary orbital launch attempt.

Aside from being unable to withstand the immense stress of at least ~5800 metric tons (12.8 million lbf) of thrust, SpaceX’s suborbital pad also has far too little propellant storage capacity to fuel an orbital launch attempt. Enter SpaceX’s first South Texas orbital launch site.

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SpaceX’s nascent orbital Starship launch site just four months prior. (NASASpaceflight – bocachicagal)

In response, SpaceX has been gradually building out brand new orbital-class launch facilities for around nine months. Work on the pad began to significantly accelerate earlier this year, including the delivery of Starship-derived propellant storage tanks, the rapid assembly of even larger insulation ‘sleeves’ for those custom tanks, the even faster construction of multiple prefabricated launch tower segments, finishing touches on a tall six-legged ‘launch mount,’ the completion of a massive cryogenic propellant pumphouse, miles of wire and pipe runs, and far more.

As it turns out, the second propellant storage tank ‘sleeve’ is actually a massive water tank, indicating that Starship’s first orbital launch site will have some form of water deluge system to limit the damage Super Heavy’s 29 Raptors can do to the pad and rocket itself at liftoff. The tank measures 12m (40ft) wide and approximately 36m (~120ft) tall, meaning that it should be able to hold more than a million gallons (~4000 cubic meters) of water.

Additionally, SpaceX delivered the third prefabricated launch tower segment, leaving the tower more than half its full ~143m (469ft) height once installed. Two more sections are already more than half finished, likely meaning that the tower’s structural skeleton could be fully assembled by July or August.

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 expands Robotaxi app access once again, this time on a global scale

Tesla said recently it plans to launch Robotaxi in Miami, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Dallas.

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Credit: Grok

Tesla has expanded Robotaxi app access once again, but this time, it’s on a much broader scale as the company is offering the opportunity for those outside of North America to download the app.

Tesla Robotaxi is the company’s early-stage ride-hailing platform that is active in Texas, California, and Arizona, with more expansion within the United States planned for the near future.

Tesla said recently it plans to launch Robotaxi in Miami, Houston, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Dallas.

The platform has massive potential, and Tesla is leaning on it to be a major contributor to even more disruption in the passenger transportation industry. So far, it has driven over 550,000 miles in total, with the vast majority of this coming from the Bay Area and Austin.

First Look at Tesla’s Robotaxi App: features, design, and more

However, Tesla is focusing primarily on rapid expansion, but most of this is reliant on the company’s ability to gain regulatory permission to operate the platform in various regions. The expansion plans go well outside of the U.S., as the company expanded the ability to download the app to more regions this past weekend.

So far, these are the areas it is available to download in:

  • Japan
  • Thailand
  • Hong Kong
  • South Korea
  • Australia
  • Taiwan
  • Macau
  • New Zealand
  • Mexico
  • U.S.
  • Canada

Right now, while Tesla is focusing primarily on expansion, it is also working on other goals that have to do with making it more widely available to customers who want to grab a ride from a driverless vehicle.

One of the biggest goals it has is to eliminate safety monitors from its vehicles, which it currently utilizes in Austin in the passenger’s seat and in the driver’s seat in the Bay Area.

A few weeks ago, Tesla started implementing a new in-cabin data-sharing system, which will help support teams assist riders without anyone in the front of the car.

Tesla takes a step towards removal of Robotaxi service’s safety drivers

As Robotaxi expands into more regions, Tesla stands to gain tremendously through the deployment of the Full Self-Driving suite for personal cars, as well as driverless Robotaxis for those who are just hailing rides.

Things have gone well for Tesla in the early stages of the Robotaxi program, but expansion will truly be the test of how things operate going forward. Navigating local traffic laws and gaining approval from a regulatory standpoint will be the biggest hurdle to jump.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla gets price target boost, but it’s not all sunshine and rainbows

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Credit: Tesla Europe & Middle East/X

Tesla received a price target boost from Morgan Stanley, according to a new note on Monday morning, but there is some considerable caution also being communicated over the next year or so.

Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew Percoco took over Tesla coverage for the firm from longtime bull Adam Jonas, who appears to be focusing on embodied AI stocks and no longer automotive.

Percoco took over and immediately adjusted the price target for Tesla from $410 to $425, and changed its rating on shares from ‘Overweight’ to ‘Equal Weight.’

Percoco said he believes Tesla is the leading company in terms of electric vehicles, manufacturing, renewable energy, and real-world AI, so it deserves a premium valuation. However, he admits the high expectations for the company could provide for a “choppy trading environment” for the next year.

He wrote:

“However, high expectations on the latter have brought the stock closer to fair valuation. While it is well understood that Tesla is more than an auto manufacturer, we expect a choppy trading environment for the TSLA shares over the next 12 months, as we see downside to estimates, while the catalysts for its non-auto businesses appear priced at current levels.”

Percoco also added that if market cap hurdles are achieved, Morgan Stanley would reduce its price target by 7 percent.

Perhaps the biggest change with Percoco taking over the analysis for Jonas is how he will determine the value of each individual project. For example, he believes Optimus is worth about $60 per share of equity value.

He went on to describe the potential value of Full Self-Driving, highlighting its importance to the Tesla valuation:

“Full Self Driving (FSD) is the crown jewel of Tesla’s auto business; we believe that its leading-edge personal autonomous driving offering is a real game changer, and will remain a significant competitive advantage over its EV and non-EV peers. As Tesla continues to improve its platform with increased levels of autonomy (i.e., hands-off, eyes-off), it will revolutionize the personal driving experience. It remains to be seen if others will be able to keep pace.”

Additionally, Percoco outlined both bear and bull cases for the stock. He believes $860 per share, “which could be in play in the next 12 months if Tesla manages through the EV-downturn,” while also scaling Robotaxi, executing on unsupervised FSD, and scaling Optimus, is in play for the bull case.

Will Tesla thrive without the EV tax credit? Five reasons why they might

Meanwhile, the bear case is placed at $145 per share, and “assumes greater competition and margin pressure across all business lines, embedding zero value for humanoids, slowing the growth curve for Tesla’s robotaxi fleet to reflect regulatory challenges in scaling a vision-only perception stack, and lowering market share and margin profile for the autos and energy businesses.”

Currently, Tesla shares are trading at around $441.

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Tesla Optimus dramatically collapses after teleoperator mishap

It seemed blatantly obvious that whoever was controlling the Optimus robot from behind the scenes did not disconnect their ability to manipulate its movements

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Credit: @xdNiBoR | X

Tesla Optimus dramatically collapsed after a teleoperator mishap at the company’s “Future of Autonomy Visualized” event in Miami this past weekend.

It seemed blatantly obvious that whoever was controlling the Optimus robot from behind the scenes did not disconnect their ability to manipulate its movements, then left the controls, causing Optimus to collapse.

A video captured at the event shows Optimus doing a movement similar to taking a headset off, likely what the teleoperator uses to hear guest requests and communicate with other staff:

After the headset removal motion was completed, Optimus simply collapsed backward, making for an interesting bit of conversation. While it was a mishap, it was actually pretty funny to watch because of the drama displayed by the robot in the situation.

This was obviously a mistake made by the teleoperator, and does not appear to be a spot where we can put any sort of blame on Optimus. It would have likely just stood there and waited for controls to resume if the teleoperator had disconnected from the robot correctly.

However, details are pretty slim, and Tesla has not announced anything explaining the situation, likely because it seems to be a pretty face-value event.

Tesla Optimus shows off its newest capability as progress accelerates

The Tesla Optimus program has been among the most hyped projects that the company has been working on, as CEO Elon Musk has extremely high hopes for what it could do for people on Earth. He has said on several occasions that Optimus should be the most popular product of all time, considering its capabilities.

Obviously, the project is still a work in progress, and growing pains are going to be part of the development of Optimus.

In its development of Optimus Gen 3, Tesla has been working on refining the forearm, hand, and fingers of Optimus, something that Musk said is extremely difficult. However, it’s a necessary step, especially if its capabilities will not be limited by hardware.

All in all, Optimus has still been a very successful project for Tesla, especially in the early stages. The company has done an excellent job of keeping Optimus busy, as it helps with serving customers at events and the Tesla Diner, and is also performing tasks across the company’s manufacturing plants.

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