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SpaceX Starship ready to find out if third time’s the charm later this week

Elon Musk says that there's a "good chance of [Starship SN10] flying this week" after myriad issues outside of SpaceX's control caused more than a week of delays. (NASASpaceflight - bocachicagal)

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After a miserable week of extreme cold, power grid failures, high winds, and general chaos, conditions are improving, the sun is shining, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk believes there’s a “good chance” that Starship serial number 10 (SN10) could launch “this week!”

The third full-scale, full-height Starship completed by SpaceX since Starship SN8 rolled from factory to launch pad in October 2020, Starship SN10 is the second to last in a series of four similar prototypes built for the sole purpose of proving out an unprecedented method of landing rockets. On its December 8th debut, Starship SN8 – the first prototype to launch with a nose, flaps, three Raptor engines, and a high-altitude apogee target – made it far closer to total success than almost anyone expected.

After more than six minutes of flawless flight, breaking all kinds of records for Starship’s Raptor engine and achieving multiple ‘firsts,’ an unexpected issue with tank pressurization caused SN8 to lose thrust and impact the ground at speed just 10-20 seconds before a planned soft landing. Less than two months later, Starship SN9 – virtually identical – attempted an identical 10 km (6.2 mi) launch and landing, only to fail around the same time as SN8 – albeit for different reasons.

Already installed on a second launch mount when Starship SN9 lifted off, SN10 is thus tasked with avoiding the ‘header tank’ pressurization issue that doomed SN8 and the Raptor reignition failure that doomed SN9. If SpaceX has rectified those two or three critical issues in the weeks since, SN10 arguably has the best chance yet of successfully touching down in one piece.

If SN10 fails to stick the landing, SpaceX has yet another Starship – SN11 – more or less complete and ready to roll to the launch pad to pick up wherever its predecessor leaves off. Due to the wholly unexpected degree to which Starship SN8 beat expectations, SpaceX appeared to scrap plans to build Starships SN12, 13, and 14 – quite literally in the case of SN12.

Instead, SpaceX expedited plans to implement “major [Starship] upgrades” from SN15 onwards. Sections of Starships SN15, SN16, SN17, SN18, and SN19 are visible throughout SpaceX’s South Texas rocket factory, while work simultaneously continues on the first two Super Heavy booster prototypes – BN1 and BN2.

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Prior to launch, Starship SN10 still needs to complete a healthy three-engine static fire test that was delayed from last week to no earlier than Monday, February 22nd. Backup windows are available on Tuesday and Wednesday. If Starship SN10 can fire up its Raptor engines without issue at some point in that three-day period, odds are good that SpaceX will be able to squeeze in at least one or two launch attempts before the weekend.

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 Model 3 gets perfect 5-star Euro NCAP safety rating

Tesla prides itself on producing some of the safest vehicles on the road today.

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Credit: Tesla Singapore/X

Tesla prides itself on producing some of the safest vehicles on the road today. Based on recent findings from the Euro NCAP, the 2025 Model 3 sedan continues this tradition, with the vehicle earning a 5-star overall safety rating from the agency.

Standout Safety Features

As could be seen on the Euro NCAP’s official website, the 2025 Model 3 achieved an overall score of 90% for Adult Occupants, 93% for Child Occupants, 89% for Vulnerable Road Users, and 87% for Safety Assist. This rating, as per the Euro NCAP, applies to the Model 3 Rear Wheel Drive, Long Range Rear Wheel Drive, Long Range All Wheel Drive, and Performance All Wheel Drive.

The Euro NCAP highlighted a number of the Model 3’s safety features, such as its Active Hood, which automatically lifts during collisions to mitigate injury risks to vulnerable road users, and Automatic Emergency Braking System, which now detects motorcycles through an upgraded algorithm. The Euro NCAP also mentioned the Model 3’s feature that prevents initial door opening if someone is approaching the vehicle’s blind spot.

Standout Safety Features

In a post on its official Tesla Europe & Middle East account, Tesla noted that the company is also introducing new features that make the Model 3 even safer than it is today. These include functions like head-on collision avoidance and crossing traffic AEB, as well as Child Left Alone Detection, among other safety features.

“We also introduced new features to improve Safety Assist functionality even further – like head-on collision avoidance & crossing traffic AEB – to detect & respond to potential hazards faster, helping avoid accidents in the first place. 

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“Lastly, we released Child Left Alone Detection – if an unattended child is detected, the vehicle will turn on HVAC & alert caregivers via phone app & the vehicle itself (flashing lights/audible alert). Because we’re using novel in-cabin radar sensing, your Tesla is able to distinguish between adult vs child – reduced annoyance to adults, yet critical safety feature for kids,” Tesla wrote in its post on X.

Below is the Euro NCAP’s safety report on the 2025 Tesla Model 3 sedan.

Euroncap 2025 Tesla Model 3 Datasheet by Simon Alvarez on Scribd

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USDOT Secretary visits Tesla Giga Texas, hints at national autonomous vehicle standards

The Transportation Secretary also toured the factory’s production lines and spoke with CEO Elon Musk.

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Credit: Elon Musk/X

United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Secretary Sean Duffy recently visited Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas complex, where he toured the factory’s production lines and spoke with CEO Elon Musk. In a video posted following his Giga Texas visit, Duffy noted that he believes there should be a national standard for autonomous vehicles in the United States.

Duffy’s Giga Texas Visit

As could be seen in videos of his Giga Texas visit, the Transportation Secretary seemed to appreciate the work Tesla has been doing to put the United States in the forefront of innovation. “Tesla is one of the many companies helping our country reach new heights. USDOT will be right there all the way to make sure Americans stay safe,” Duffy wrote in a post on X. 

He also praised Tesla for its autonomous vehicle program, highlighting that “We need American companies to keep innovating so we can outcompete the rest of the world.”

National Standard

While speaking with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the Transportation Secretary stated that other autonomous ride-hailing companies have been lobbying for a national standard for self-driving cars. Musk shared the sentiment, stating that “It’d be wonderful for the United States to have a national set of rules for autonomous driving as opposed to 50 independent sets of rules on a state-by-state rules basis.”

Duffy agreed with the CEO’s point, stating that, “You can’t have 50 different rules for 50 different states. You need one standard.” He also noted that the Transportation Department has asked autonomous vehicle companies to submit data. By doing so, the USDOT could develop a standard for the entire United States, allowing self-driving cars to operate in a manner that is natural and safe.

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Tesla posts Optimus’ most impressive video demonstration yet

The humanoid robot was able to complete all the tasks through a single neural network.

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Credit: Tesla Optimus/X

When Elon Musk spoke with CNBC’s David Faber in an interview at Giga Texas, he reiterated the idea that Optimus will be one of Tesla’s biggest products. Seemingly to highlight the CEO’s point, the official Tesla Optimus account on social media platform X shared what could very well be the most impressive demonstration of the humanoid robot’s capabilities to date.

Optimus’ Newest Demonstration

In its recent video demonstration, the Tesla Optimus team featured the humanoid robot performing a variety of tasks. These include household chores such as throwing the trash, using a broom and a vacuum cleaner, tearing a paper towel, stirring a pot of food, opening a cabinet, and closing a curtain, among others. The video also featured Optimus picking up a Model X fore link and placing it on a dolly.

What was most notable in the Tesla Optimus team’s demonstration was the fact that the humanoid robot was able to complete all the tasks through a single neural network. The robot’s actions were also learned directly from Optimus being fed data from first-person videos of humans performing similar tasks. This system should pave the way for Optimus to learn and refine new skills quickly and reliably.

Tesla VP for Optimus Shares Insight

In a follow-up post on X, Tesla Vice President of Optimus (Tesla Bot) Milan Kovac stated that one of the team’s goals is to have Optimus learn straight from internet videos of humans performing tasks, including footage captured in third person or by random cameras.

“We recently had a significant breakthrough along that journey, and can now transfer a big chunk of the learning directly from human videos to the bots (1st person views for now). This allows us to bootstrap new tasks much faster compared to teleoperated bot data alone (heavier operationally).

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“Many new skills are emerging through this process, are called for via natural language (voice/text), and are run by a single neural network on the bot (multi-tasking). Next: expand to 3rd person video transfer (aka random internet), and push reliability via self-play (RL) in the real-, and/or synthetic- (sim / world models) world,” Kovac wrote in his post on X.

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