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SpaceX begins filling Starship’s orbital launch site with rocket propellant
Less than a year after tank farm assembly began in South Texas, SpaceX has begun the painstaking process of filling Starship’s first orbital launch site with thousands of tons of rocket propellant.
Comprised of seven giant custom-built tanks, the last of which SpaceX installed and ‘sleeved’ in mid-October, Starbase’s first orbital-class tank farm is a bit like the pad’s circulatory system and needs to store, chill, and distribute all the propellant needed for a rocket launch. To support Starship and Super Heavy, both the largest individual rocket stages and the largest integrated rocket ever built, its launch site and tank farm have to be equally immense. In classic SpaceX fashion, the company has strived to keep the costs of that tank farm low and its speed of construction high, resulting in a setup that’s fairly unique as far as launch pads go.
Perhaps nothing emphasizes the scale of Starship’s first orbital-class tank farm than the process of filling it with the supercool propellant and fluids its designed to hold.
In mid-September, SpaceX began delivering cryogenic fluids to Starbase’s orbital tank farm for the first time ever. Instead of propellant, dozens of tanker trucks delivered liquid nitrogen to one or two of the farm’s tanks between mid-September and mid-October. Altogether, around 40-60 truckloads was delivered – only enough to partially fill one tank. That liquid nitrogen also appeared to be piped into two of the farm’s three liquid oxygen tanks, meaning that it may have only been used to clean and proof test them.
Combined, the farm’s seven main tanks should be able to store roughly 2400 tons (5.3M lb) of liquid methane (LCH4), 5400 tons (12M lb) of liquid oxygen (LOx), and 2600 tons (5.7M lb) of liquid nitrogen (LN2). LCH4 and LOx are Starship’s propellant, while LN2 is needed to ‘subcool’ that propellant below its boiling point, significantly increasing its density and the mass of propellant Starships can store.
In recent weeks, LN2 deliveries have picked back up at the orbital tank farm, suggesting that more tanks are being cleaned and proofed. SpaceX may have also begun filling one or both of the farm’s dedicated LN2 tanks, though it’s hard to say for sure. More importantly, around October 17th, SpaceX began filling Starship’s orbital tank farm with liquid oxygen – real propellant – for the first time. Rather than a slow and cautious process, deliveries have streamed in almost daily ever since. As of November 4th, at least 74 tanker trucks have delivered LOx to the farm in 18 days.
Based on Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations that limit the gross weight of cryogenic tanker trucks to about 37 tons (~81,000 lb), each of those trucks has likely delivered around 20 tons (~45,000 lb) of LOx to Starbase. Altogether, that amounts to around 1500 tons (3.3M lb) delivered in less than three weeks – enough to fill about 80% of one of the farm’s three LOx tanks or a quarter of its total LOx storage capacity.
Based on data from AI-based tracker Starbase Deliveries, which can only count daytime deliveries, at least 134 tankers have delivered LCH4, LOx, or LN2 to Starbase’s orbital and suborbital launch sites between October 4th and November 4th – an average of 4.3 per day. At that rate, even if every delivery went to the orbital pad, it would take SpaceX nearly four months just to fill the orbital tank farm. Put simply, the facilities and logistics required to support even a single orbital Starship launch are gargantuan.
Tesla has officially revealed its 2026 Summer Update, which comes with a variety of crazy new features, including Navigation fixes that owners have been wanting for months.
Tesla routinely releases a larger update with the Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter updates, where it ships a variety of new features, bug fixes, and other additions to customer cars.
The 2026 Spring Update featured things like “Hey Grok” voice assistance, a redesigned self-driving app, Unreal Engine visual upgrades, and more.
🚨 TESLA’S SUMMER UPDATE FOR 2026 IS HERE:
Featuring:
✅ Self-Driving Stats in Mobile App
✅ Caraoke with Scoring
✅ Automatic Navigation
✅ Preferred Routes
✅ Set Arrival Energy from Mobile App
✅ Send Custom Wraps from Mobile App
✅ Rear Display Lock
✅ Other Improvements
🔌… https://t.co/C9IW3egEhH
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 21, 2026
Tesla’s Summer Release has about ten new features; we’ll show you each and detail them below:
New Grok Voice Commands
“Grok can now make phone calls, search and play music, adjust climate, open the glovebox, and answer questions about your Tesla.”
Self-Driving Stats in Mobile App
“View and share self-driving stats from the mobile app.”
Caraoke With Scoring
“Caraoke now scores your singing while in Park. High scores are saved to your Tesla profile.”
Automatic Navigation
“Automatic Navigation now adapts to your routine.
In addition to Home, Work, and upcoming calendar events, your vehicle can now suggest and route to places you visit regularly – like a school drop-off on the way to work, or the gym on the way home.”
Preferred Routes
“For a more personalized experience, navigation now prioritizes routes that you’ve taken before”
Set Arrival Energy from Mobile App
“Set your desired Arrival Energy from your phone.”
Send Custom Wraps from Mobile App
“Skip the USB drive and upload a custom wrap of your car from the mobile app. Instructions for creating a custom wrap here: https://github.com/teslamotors/custom-wraps.”
Rear Display Lock
“Kids can watch content on the rear screen, but only the front row can control it through the rear screen app.”
Other Improvements
- Find Superchargers by name when searching for a destination
- Add Apple Music songs to queue from search and artist page
- Set your preferred zoom level for the Self-Driving visualization
- Intro animations for new Model 3 and Y
Tesla’s reason for Starlink integration on Cybercab might surprise you, as the company’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, finally shed some light on the reason they are putting a satellite internet terminal on its ride-hailing-geared vehicle.
On Monday, Tesla officially confirmed that it would integrate Starlink V5 terminals into Cybercab vehicles, something many Tesla fans had figured the company would do, as the vehicle is primarily geared toward giving rides without any passenger intervention.
Starlink V5 directly integrated in Cybercab pic.twitter.com/FxzTtzjB6I
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 20, 2026
The ability to access the internet would allow riders to work or play in the car with their devices. It seemed like a more-than-reasonable feature to add to the Cybercab, which made its way off the production lines for the first time earlier this year.
Tesla reveals first vehicle model to receive Starlink integration
However, the move is not for the rider, as Elluswamy confirmed on Monday night. Instead, it’s actually for Tesla to be able to have a constant connection to the cars in the Robotaxi fleet so it can troubleshoot issues, contact riders, or resolve other issues.
Elluswamy said:
“It is still not required for safe operation of the vehicle. Connectivity is primarily meant for navigation, customer service and, in general, fleet management.”
It is still not required for safe operation of the vehicle. Connectivity is primarily meant for navigation, customer service and, in general, fleet management.
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) July 20, 2026
Many initially assumed the option of constant connectivity would be enabled on the Cybercab for passenger entertainment or work. With the Cybercab, passengers won’t be doing anything but enjoying the ride, so it seemed more than logical that they would be hanging out with Starlink internet access as an amenity.
However, Tesla’s primary concern with Robotaxi is safety, and nailing these first unsupervised rides is a crucial step to setting a good narrative on how effective driverless transportation can be.
Being able to get in touch with passengers or a vehicle if something is wrong is a crucial part of the overall experience, and preventative measures are being taken by Tesla to ensure a smooth process, even in the worst-case.
Tesla has expanded its Robotaxi program in Florida to include two new cities: Tampa and Orlando.
This marks the second and third cities to be added to the company’s available locations for autonomous ride-hailing in the Sunshine State, joining Miami, which was the first Florida city to offer Robotaxi rides.
Tesla announced the addition of Orlando and Tampa to the Robotaxi program on Tuesday morning. The cities now join Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, and the San Francisco Bay Area as locations where Tesla can operate its Robotaxi platform:
Robotaxi now in Tampa & Orlando! pic.twitter.com/fYtmXgJq3O
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) July 21, 2026
These rides are unsupervised, as AI Head Ashok Elluswamy confirmed the suite in Florida is operating without safety drivers or anyone within the cabin to assist with operation.
Orlando Tesla Robotaxi Operation
The geofence in Orlando covers a prominent irregular shaded zone on the map, roughly 4-6 miles across in key dimensions, so it likely measures somewhere between 25 and 45 square miles, which is comparable to other early Tesla launches in other cities.
It encompasses central and southern areas bounded by major highways including SR-417 and SR-528, including parts of the Orlando metro core, tourism-adjacent zones, and residential/commercial districts. This represents an initial targeted rollout in a tourist-heavy region, positioned for quick expansion via Tesla’s software updates.
Tampa Tesla Robotaxi Operation
In Tampa, the shape of the geofence is a shaded polygon covering key neighborhoods, explicitly including West Tampa, Tampa Heights, Hyde Park, and downtown Tampa proper, with boundaries along major roads and the Hillsborough River area.
This focuses on high-demand central zones and will offer tourists and citygoers rides without drivers.
Robotaxi Progress
Tesla has been operating Robotaxi since last June, when it launched in Austin. The geofences in most regions have already expanded several times since their launch last year, but the bigger complaint is vehicle availability. Tesla has been working to add more Robotaxi-enabled vehicles to its fleet.
The company still plans to utilize its Cybercab, a new vehicle that is being produced at Gigafactory Texas, for the Robotaxi suite alongside the Model Y, which has been the vehicle of choice for Tesla with early operations.
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla’s reason for Starlink integration on Cybercab might surprise you
