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SpaceX Starship engine completes orbital-duration static fire test in Texas

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4 years ago

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A local resident and unofficial SpaceX observer has reported hearing a test of one of Starship’s Raptor engines that lasted more than five minutes at the company’s McGregor, Texas development facilities.

If accurate, it could be the longest static fire of a Starship engine that SpaceX has ever completed in the two years since full-scale Raptor testing first began. Whether it was successful or not, a five or six-minute static fire would also confirm that SpaceX is well into the process of qualifying Raptor for Starship’s first orbital launch attempts.

An FCC “Special Temporary Authority” (STA) request filed by SpaceX itself for Starship’s inaugural “Orbital Test Flight” earlier this month provided several significant details about that milestone mission. Aside from revealing that Starship will ultimately attempt a soft ocean landing – splashdown – off the coast of a Hawaiian island after traveling ~75% of the way around Earth, it also included a precise timeline of launch events.

A timeline for Starship’s first orbital test flight. (SpaceX)

According to that timeline, ten seconds shy of three minutes after liftoff, Starship’s Super Heavy booster will shut down and separate from the spacecraft. Starship will then ignite either three or six Raptor engines for a bit less than six minutes to boost itself within the vicinity of orbital velocity. Curiously, the same timeline makes no mention of a deorbit burn, without which the first “orbital” test flight will technically be suborbital even if Starship is traveling very close to orbital velocity.

Regardless, the document confirms that Starship’s orbital insertion burns will be approximately 5.5-6.5 minutes long – the maximum stamina required from its Raptor engines, in other words. Rephrased, in its current design, Starship will never be able to reach orbit without Raptor engines capable of continuously operating for around six minutes. Up until high-altitude Starship test flights began in December 2020, the extent of Raptor’s long-duration capabilities and thus the state of SpaceX testing was effectively a mystery.

When Starship SN8 debuted, however, it quickly became clear that SpaceX had made significant progress after one of its three Raptor engines burned without apparent issue for 280 seconds (4:40). If SN3x and SN4x Raptors could handle almost five minutes of continuous operation, the engine was just ~20% improvement away from being able to complete a plausible orbital insertion burn.

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Now, six months later, Raptor appears to have completed at least one truly orbital-class burn at SpaceX’s Central Texas development campus. McGregor typically completes multiple static fires every day and already performs similar-duration testing of Merlin Vacuum engines and upper stages, so it’s possible – if not probable – that one or several other five or six-minute-long tests have simply been missed over the last few months.

Beginning just a handful of months ago, SpaceX has been rapidly building a new Raptor test stand with two vertical engine bays and new liquid oxygen and methane propellant storage to go with it. Given that a six-minute Raptor engine static fire at or close to full thrust would consume around 220 metric tons of propellant, it’s possible that SpaceX’s ground test facilities simply didn’t have the storage capacity to support such long tests prior to those recent upgrades.

Regardless, the first unofficially confirmed orbital-duration test is an exciting and important milestone with or without SpaceX confirmation and continues to make it abundantly clear that the company is now almost entirely focused on reaching orbit (or getting close).

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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 diner’s latest progress includes solar canopies, more charging

Roughly 17 months into the project, Tesla’s LA diner is looking closer than ever, but likely still months from completion.

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5 hours ago

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March 23, 2025

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Credit: AlSet51241438 | X

Tesla has been working on the construction of its unique Los Angeles diner, drive-in theater, and Supercharger project for the past year and a half or so, and a recent update shows the addition of solar canopies as it gets closer to completion.

X user AlSet51241438 shared progress update videos and photos from the Tesla Diner site on Sunday, showing three solar canopies and a nearly completed front parking lot area. Tesla is still working on getting the solar canopies installed and getting those areas of the parking lot paved, while also installing additional V4 stalls in that area that the user says are nearly completed.

You can see the photos and video footage from the site below, and tell us in the comments when you think Tesla will complete the LA Diner.

Credit: AlSet51241438 | X

Credit: AlSet51241438 | X

READ MORE ON TESLA DINER FROM JUNE 2024: Tesla’s LA diner and Supercharger nears nine months of construction

At this time, Tesla has yet to announce any kind of opening date for the diner and Supercharger. However, references to the Supercharger Diner were spotted in internal code for a software update in January, suggesting that Tesla was getting closer to integrating the menu with the company’s vehicles.

The company also began hiring for the diner location in August, posting a role for a “Tesla Diner Experience Specialist,” focused on managing customer experience from content and audio-visual tools to menu reviews and collaborating with design teams.

Tesla initially began construction on the diner and Supercharger location in September 2023, after receiving multiple construction approvals throughout 2022 and 2023. The idea for the Tesla Diner initially came about from a conversation with CEO Elon Musk in 2018, and the company also registered a trademark for its logo to cover restaurant services in 2021.

In the original discussion about the project, Musk said he wanted it to be “an old school drive-in, roller skates & rock restaurant” at a new LA Supercharger location. Although the current iteration includes two screens, Musk back then added that the site would include “an outdoor screen that plays a highlight reel of the best scenes in movie history,” along with a food menu that appears “as soon as you put the car into park.”

You can see some of the site plans for the project below, early iterations of which were first filed in 2023.

Credit: City of Los Angeles (via Teslarati)

Tesla’s LA Diner and Supercharger gets its first full drive-in screen

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Tesla Superchargers were over 10 times as reliable as these rivals

Tesla and Rivian topped this charger reliability study, outperforming competitors by a wide margin.

Published

8 hours ago

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March 23, 2025

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Tesla-supercharger-50000-installations
Credit: Tesla

A new study shows that many electric vehicle (EV) charging networks were substantially less reliable than Tesla’s Superchargers or Rivian’s Adventure Network (RAN), while hardware problems accounted for the most common issue experienced

In a Consumer Reports study shared last week, Tesla and Rivian’s charging networks were found to be significantly more reliable than those of other companies, though EV owners reported a problem with about one out of every five charging sessions initiated overall. Respondents said they had issues with just 4 percent of charging sessions at Tesla’s Superchargers, making them the most reliable, while issues with Rivian’s network were reported for just 5 percent of sessions.

Comparatively, Shell Recharge users faced the most issues, with respondents detailing problems in 48 percent of charging sessions. The next least reliable networks were EVgo and Blink, which followed with 43 percent and 41 percent problems reported, respectively. DC fast-chargers had a reported issue rate of 34 percent, while owners faced problems with Level 2 chargers in 25 percent of sessions.

“The findings show that the public charging experience can vary widely based on the vehicle and the charging networks operating in one’s community and along frequent trips,” writes Drew Toher, Consumer Reports’ Campaign Manager for Sustainable Transportation projects. “This is an important consideration for those without access to home charging. With these findings, CR is encouraging all charging networks to take ownership of their performance and implement measures to improve reliability.”

The survey included responses from 1,230 owners of BEVs and plug-in hybrid EVs (PHEVs), detailing experiences from roughly 5,700 individual charging sessions. The majority of issues customers faced were related to hardware, while they also reported problems with payment, charging power, and other factors.

Out of those who said they had issues directly with the chargers, 76 percent said they encountered broken or unresponsive screens, or those with error messages.

Credit: Consumer Reports (graphic by Sharon Seidl)

Credit: Consumer Reports (graphic by Sharon Seidl)

Credit: Consumer Reports (graphic by Sharon Seidl)

Credit: Consumer Reports (graphic by Sharon Seidl)

READ MORE ON EV CHARGING: Tesla Superchargers dominate J.D. Power EV Charging Study

“By calling out broken screens, payment issues, and slow charging power, community members are crowdsourcing data that will hold charging networks accountable and improve drivers’ experience with public charging,” Toher adds. “This will help tackle the biggest impediment for consumers looking to purchase a more efficient vehicle.”

The release also notes that EV owners planning to charge beyond their home can take a few steps to help ensure the best experiences possible, including making accounts for several different charging networks, getting apps like A Better Route Planner, Plugshare, and CR partner Chargeway, and performing battery preconditioning, among others.

Tesla’s Superchargers have repeatedly been found to be the most reliable in markets around the world, and in surveys from Consumer Reports, JD Power, and other auto industry research firms. Rivian has also followed Tesla in taking routine measures to keep owners informed about the reliability of chargers. One such example includes the automaker’s deployment last April of “charging scores” for the RAN network, to help improve customer experiences by directing them to working stations.

Tesla exec highlights advantages of prefabricated Superchargers

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Tesla’s Giga Berlin director responds to anti-Musk criticism

Tesla’s Gigafactory Berlin Director weighs in on Elon Musk, sales in Germany, and more: “We focus on what we do best”

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10 hours ago

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March 23, 2025

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Following Tesla’s third anniversary of the opening of its plant in Grünheide, Germany, Tesla’s head of manufacturing for the facility has responded to questions about Elon Musk’s recent political alignment with U.S. President Donald Trump, a potential trade war, struggling sales in Germany, and several other topics.

Andre Thierig, Senior Director of Tesla’s Gigafactory Berlin, spoke in an interview with German news outlet the Frankfurter Allgemeine this week, noting that the electric vehicle (EV) maker isn’t concerned about the recent political climate surrounding Musk and Trump. Rather, Thierig echoes a goal regularly stated by some of Tesla’s top executives and designers—that the company is simply hyper-focused on making great vehicles.

“We as a company and even more so as a factory location have never positioned ourselves politically,” Thierig said, as translated from German, when asked if the politicization of Musk was harming the brand or factory. “We focus on what we do best, namely to build cars, and very good and very many. For us, this is about production at the site and not in politics. We can separate that well.”

The interviewer also asked about the arson attacks from environmental activists last March, whether or not Tesla is expecting more situations like that, and if the company has taken any measures to increase security given the recent uptick in vandalism and protests worldwide.

Thierig notes that Giga Berlin has “further improved [its] network for sharing relevant information in order to be able to able to respond more quickly” to such attacks. He also says that employees on-site would take action if necessary.

READ MORE ON TESLA GERMANY: Tesla Giga Berlin ramping to optimum production capacity: plant manager

Regarding Tesla’s decline in February sales in Germany, Thierig points to the shift to producing the new refreshed Model Y from the legacy version, which required the factory to shut down production for a few days. He also notes that he can’t directly comment on how many pre-orders Tesla received for the new Model Y, pointing out that his team and the factory were focused on production, instead leaving sales up to the sales division.

“We in the Gigafactory do not sell, we produce,” Thierig explains. “The sales figures are the responsibility of our sales organization. However, we know our production figures and our production planning, and we are currently moving production further high. Our delivery locations here and on the airport site in Neuhardenberg are relatively empty, so the cars are quickly entering the market.”

When asked if he was concerned about incoming tariffs from the Trump administration, Thierig says that the factory increased localization of suppliers with the recent switch to the new Model Y, adding that 92 percent of components for the EV now come from somewhere in Europe.

“This makes us even more resilient to disturbances in world trade,” he adds. “In addition, we have a high level of vertical integration at the site, which has already paid off in recent years. Neither the turbulence in the supply chains during the corona pandemic nor the chip crisis or the war in Ukraine have led to production disruptions in our country.”

The interview also touches on Giga Berlin’s long-awaited expansion plans, recent criticism from union IG Metall, what he expects from the incoming federal government, and how he believes that bureaucracy needs to be reduced in the country, among many other topics still.

Thierig has been with Tesla at Giga Berlin since August 2020, first working as a paint manager, before being promoted to Manufacturing Director and subsequently to Senior Director for the factory in general. Prior to that, Thierig was a 19-year veteran with Ford’s German operations, primarily working in paint engineering.

Tesla shares reservations about Giga Berlin’s revised water contract

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