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SpaceX wants to launch its next Starship ASAP
Contrary to recent comments from CEO Elon Musk, SpaceX appears to be forging ahead at full speed in a bid to launch its next Starship ASAP.
Known as Starship serial number 10 (SN10), the prototype is the latest in a series of four ships SpaceX has ultimately set aside from low(er)-altitude development testing. Starship SN8 – the first functional prototype to reach its full height – debuted on December 8th, 2020, blowing expectations out of the water with a failure mere seconds before the end of a more than six-minute flight test. According to Musk, had a fuel tank remained properly pressurized from start to finish, SN8 could have very well stuck the landing on the first try.
Two months later, after the better part of two weeks of licensing and static fire test delays, Starship SN9 attempted to carry the torch forward but suffered an unrelated failure slightly earlier than SN8’s. One of two Raptor engines failed to ignite for a high-risk flip and landing burn, causing the Starship to impact the ground even more violently than its predecessor. It’s unclear why the ill-fated Raptor failed to ignite or why the engine that did ignite appeared to experience a major failure shortly thereafter but rocket propulsion is extraordinarily difficult – and Raptor is near – or at – the end of that scale.
While SpaceX obviously hasn’t spun around and fixed a complex Starship propulsion issue in a matter of days, Musk eventually revealed his opinion that he, his engineers, or some combination of both “were too dumb” to exploit one obvious way to mitigate the risk of engine failure during flip and landing. That ‘obvious’ tweak: reignite all three of Starship’s available landing engines, not just two.
In theory, with a fast-enough response time, Starship could ignite all three Raptors, perform a supercharged flip from a belly- to tail-down orientation, and selectively shut off one of the engines based on the data from what is essentially a midair static fire. In the event that all three engines are performing nominally, Starship would shut down the least useful engine (i.e. the Raptor with the least leverage) for a gentle two-engine landing burn.
That said, the ship landing burn has a clear solution. My greatest concern is achieving good payload to orbit with rapid & full reusability, without which we shall forever be confined to Earth.— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 5, 2021
Impressively, Musk said that SpaceX would implement those changes immediately, attempting the first three-engine reignition as early as Starship SN10’s launch debut. Already at the launch pad when Starship SN9 lifted off, SpaceX revealed plans to launch SN10 as early as February 2021 at the end of SN9’s test flight webcast.
A few days prior to SN9’s ill-fated test flight, Musk had also stated that Starship SN10 would perform a “cryoproof” test and only then have its three Raptor engines installed. Instead, in an apparent change of plans, SpaceX installed Starship SN10’s Raptors – SN39, SN50, and an unknown third engine – from February 5th to 7th.
On Sunday, local longtime resident Mary (aka BocaChicaGal) received an official safety alert from SpaceX, signaling plans for an explosive Starship test of some kind as early as Monday, February 8th. Historically, those overpressure safety warnings have only been distributed when SpaceX is preparing for a Starship static fire attempt. In other words, it’s possible that Starship SN10’s very first test could be a live wet dress rehearsal (WDR) with flammable liquid oxygen and methane propellant. If that WDR goes well, SpaceX could move directly into a one, two, or three-engine static fire.
Of course, as SN9’s lengthy test period rubbed in, Starship is still in the prototype stage and is far from a mature system, meaning that it’s always safer to expect delays than an on-time performance. To be clear, it’s far more likely that SpaceX will perform a familiar “cryo proof” test with non-flammable liquid nitrogen – perhaps hoping to complete a cryoproof and static fire in the same test window.
Either way, stay tuned for updates and follow along with NASASpaceflight’s excellent live coverage in the event that SpaceX really is prepared to static fire Starship SN10 between 9am and 6pm CST (UTC-6) on Monday.
For years, there have been images and videos across social media platforms that have reminded me of when I was a 15-year-old kid teased by “Xbox 720” videos on YouTube. These videos are of the supposed “Tesla Phone” that Elon Musk was secretly developing in between leading Tesla with its electric cars and SpaceX with its reusable rockets.
Would you buy a Tesla phone ? pic.twitter.com/aaTwvvIJit
— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) October 6, 2023
Although Musk has put those rumors to bed several times, it was never completely out of the realm that he could get involved in cell phones in some capacity. Think outside the box and more macro-level, though. Instead of reinventing the computer, Musk reinvented connectivity by developing Starlink with SpaceX.
It could be something similar, TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams said in a note last week, where he hinted SpaceX could be gathering some steam to acquire T-Mobile.
Williams said it would be the “clear choice” for SpaceX if it decided to go through with a network acquisition. He also suggested AT&T.
The move would be possible through selling more of its own stock, which would help SpaceX raise the money to purchase T-Mobile, which would cost roughly $300 billion. It could be one of the moves SpaceX makes post-IPO in terms of an acquisition: it already acquired Cursor AI for $60 billion.
Other analysts, like Dan Ives of Wedbush, believe SpaceX and Tesla will eventually merge into one anyway, and that conglomeration could come as soon as this year, some have said.
The implications of SpaceX purchasing T-Mobile are massive. A combined entity would create a truly ubiquitous network: T-Mobile’s terrestrial 5G towers and Starlink’s growing constellation of Direct-to-Cell satellites. This would essentially eliminate dead zones across the U.S. and potentially globally.
SpaceX would instantly become a full-scale facilities-based carrier with satellite differentiation; a huge advantage. This would pressure AT&T and Verizon heavily.
There are also concerns like a potential reduction in long-term competition, and of course, a deal of that size would face intense scrutiny from government agencies.
The strategic fit is compelling due to the existing Starlink–T-Mobile partnership and complementary technologies (space + terrestrial). It could create a dominant integrated communications player. However, the regulatory, financial, and execution hurdles are enormous — this remains highly speculative with no indication SpaceX is actively pursuing it right now.
Tesla revealed a major new Cybercab detail in a guide it released for First Responders, showing new territory in its beliefs and intentions for the ride-hailing-focused vehicle that entered production in April.
The First Responders Guide is released to give fire departments, paramedics, and other emergency personnel the proper guidance on what to do in the event of an accident, entrapment, or other situation that would require immediate attention.
On one of the pages of the First Responders Guide, Tesla revealed a stark detail about the Cybercab, which could help personnel enter the vehicle more easily in case of an emergency.
Tesla Cybercab has one important piece that AI4 cars might need for FSD
It shows Tesla has no intention of releasing any Cybercab units that were initially proposed for ride-hailing services for the general public with any manual controls, meaning a steering wheel or pedals:
“A Cybercab equipped with steering wheel, brake pedal, and an acceleration pedal is typically an engineering or test vehicle, and operates at SAE Level 2 autonomy. Cybercab is not typically equipped with a steering wheel or acceleration and brake pedals.”
New official Cybercab documentation from Tesla:
“A Cybercab equipped with steering wheel, brake pedal, and an acceleration pedal is typically an engineering or test vehicle, and operates at SAE Level 2 autonomy. Cybercab is not typically equipped with a steering wheel or… https://t.co/P6ut1mZyzr pic.twitter.com/yq6skl9s2J
— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) June 27, 2026
This is a major development for those who continue to believe Tesla planned to release the Cybercab with any sort of manual controls so that passengers could take over if needed. However, when Tesla started manufacturing production versions of the Cybercab in Giga Texas earlier this year, they were spotted without a steering wheel or pedals.
It essentially confirms the company has no intentions of bringing manual controls to the car’s production versions. Some have argued that the likelihood of Tesla having something
There still are some Cybercab units out there with a steering wheel and pedals, and as Tesla said, these cars are engineering or test vehicles, which have Safety Monitors on board to help the car out of a precarious situation or emergency.
Tesla released the Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ suite to owners of Hardware 3 or AI3 vehicles today, adding several new features to the vehicles that were once believed to be capable of unsupervised self-driving.
Now, Tesla has released this modified suite to older Tesla vehicles, adding plenty of new features and capabilities.
Here are the full release notes for the suite:
- Distilled the intelligence from HW4 V14 into HW3. This allows HW3 to directly learn how to handle scenarios using HW4 V14 as a guide. This process unlocks the improvements that have been made to HW4 including Reinforcement Learning (RL) and offline models for HW3.
- Improved both proactive and reactive responsiveness across a wide variety of categories including navigation handling, merges and forks, pedestrian interactions, traffic lights, and vehicle cut-in scenarios.
- Improved general comfort in nominal scenarios through fewer false slowdowns, smoother steering and more consistent lane centering.
- Introduced parking, unparking, and reversing capabilities.
- Added Arrival Options for you to select where FSD should park: in a Parking Lot, on the Street, in a Driveway, or at the Curbside.
- Speed Profiles are now available at all times, to further customize driving style preference.
These improvements, according to Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, help distill the driving behavior from AI4’s v14 series into both the camera and compute configurations of AI3.
Tesla Full Self-Driving v14 ‘Lite’ for older cars finally gets released
He added:
“It includes destination options and speed profiles on city roads, but more importantly significantly improved safety. We hope you’ll enjoy it, once the build ships wide.”
FSD v14 Lite is now rolling out to AI3 early-access customers. Based on the feedback, will rollout to more customers over the next few weeks.
This build distills the driving behavior from AI4’s v14 series into both the camera and compute config of AI3. It includes destination…
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) June 29, 2026
Tesla will continue to roll out the v14 Lite suite more widely in the coming weeks, the company said.
Tesla Phone? Not quite, but close: analyst
Tesla reveals huge Cybercab detail in new guide for First Responders
