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Musk says SpaceX’s fifth Starship launch is scheduled next week, sets static fire date
Update: As expected, SpaceX has scheduled a road closure on Monday, April 19th – most likely for Starship SN15’s first static fire attempt. The installation of three Raptors could begin at any point over the next three days and generally takes a matter of hours.
CEO Elon Musk says that SpaceX is “aiming to launch” its fifth high-altitude Starship test flight as early as next week, continuing a more or less monthly cadence.
Building off of the successes and learning from the unique failures of Starship prototypes SN8, SN9, SN10, and SN11, SpaceX’s next test flight arguably has the best chance of success yet. That’s thanks in large part to the introduction of “hundreds of improvements” on Starship SN15 – many of which will hopefully address the shortcomings that ultimately destroyed all four of its predecessors.
As of April 15th, SpaceX has canceled road closures on Thursday and Friday, leaving no closures (i.e. testing windows) active – an exceedingly rare occurrence in Boca Chica, Texas. Earlier this week, Starship SN15 appeared to complete cryogenic proof and thrust puck stress tests on Monday, standing up to the thermal stresses of (simulated) cryogenic propellant, the tank pressures required for flight (>6 bar or 90 psi), and the thrust of three Raptor engines.
On Wednesday, SpaceX removed a steel structure fitted with hydraulic rams – used to simulate Raptor thrust – and performed a similar cryogenic proof test later that evening. Instead of testing SN15’s main tanks, though, the second round focused on Starship’s secondary header tanks – meant to store propellant specifically for landing. The results of both tests are unclear but the removal of the ram structure does suggest that the main cryo proof was successful enough that it doesn’t need to be repeated.
With those tests seemingly out of the way, Starship SN15 has just one or two major hurdles standing between it and a launch attempt next week. Notably, because it was the first prototype since SN8 to incorporate hydraulic ram thrust puck testing into its cryo proof, SN15 didn’t roll to the launch pad with Raptor engines already installed. Assuming SpaceX wants to continue testing as soon as possible (i.e. Monday), the company now has around three and a half days to install three Raptor engines.
That should be no problem whatsoever, though Musk has said that SN15 will be the first Starship prototype to fly with upgraded Raptor engines. Depending on how significant those upgrades are, SN15’s Raptor installation process could be longer than usual as engine technicians and engineers install them on a Starship prototype for the first time.
If SpaceX manages that feat by Sunday, Starship SN15 will likely be able to attempt a static fire test on Monday, April 19th. Historically, SpaceX has never flown a Starship less than six days after a three-engine static fire, meaning that a successful Monday test is far from a guarantee that Starship SN15, SpaceX, or the FAA will be ready for a launch attempt next week. Still, Starship SN11 did fly four days after a one-Raptor static fire and SN9 attempted to launch three days after a three-engine test, so it’s far from impossible.
Elon Musk
Starlink passes 9 million active customers just weeks after hitting 8 million
The milestone highlights the accelerating growth of Starlink, which has now been adding over 20,000 new users per day.
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service has continued its rapid global expansion, surpassing 9 million active customers just weeks after crossing the 8 million mark.
The milestone highlights the accelerating growth of Starlink, which has now been adding over 20,000 new users per day.
9 million customers
In a post on X, SpaceX stated that Starlink now serves over 9 million active users across 155 countries, territories, and markets. The company reached 8 million customers in early November, meaning it added roughly 1 million subscribers in under seven weeks, or about 21,275 new users on average per day.
“Starlink is connecting more than 9M active customers with high-speed internet across 155 countries, territories, and many other markets,” Starlink wrote in a post on its official X account. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell also celebrated the milestone on X. “A huge thank you to all of our customers and congrats to the Starlink team for such an incredible product,” she wrote.
That growth rate reflects both rising demand for broadband in underserved regions and Starlink’s expanding satellite constellation, which now includes more than 9,000 low-Earth-orbit satellites designed to deliver high-speed, low-latency internet worldwide.
Starlink’s momentum
Starlink’s momentum has been building up. SpaceX reported 4.6 million Starlink customers in December 2024, followed by 7 million by August 2025, and 8 million customers in November. Independent data also suggests Starlink usage is rising sharply, with Cloudflare reporting that global web traffic from Starlink users more than doubled in 2025, as noted in an Insider report.
Starlink’s momentum is increasingly tied to SpaceX’s broader financial outlook. Elon Musk has said the satellite network is “by far” the company’s largest revenue driver, and reports suggest SpaceX may be positioning itself for an initial public offering as soon as next year, with valuations estimated as high as $1.5 trillion. Musk has also suggested in the past that Starlink could have its own IPO in the future.
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NVIDIA Director of Robotics: Tesla FSD v14 is the first AI to pass the “Physical Turing Test”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine.
NVIDIA Director of Robotics Jim Fan has praised Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14 as the first AI to pass what he described as a “Physical Turing Test.”
After testing FSD v14, Fan stated that his experience with FSD felt magical at first, but it soon started to feel like a routine. And just like smartphones today, removing it now would “actively hurt.”
Jim Fan’s hands-on FSD v14 impressions
Fan, a leading researcher in embodied AI who is currently solving Physical AI at NVIDIA and spearheading the company’s Project GR00T initiative, noted that he actually was late to the Tesla game. He was, however, one of the first to try out FSD v14.
“I was very late to own a Tesla but among the earliest to try out FSD v14. It’s perhaps the first time I experience an AI that passes the Physical Turing Test: after a long day at work, you press a button, lay back, and couldn’t tell if a neural net or a human drove you home,” Fan wrote in a post on X.
Fan added: “Despite knowing exactly how robot learning works, I still find it magical watching the steering wheel turn by itself. First it feels surreal, next it becomes routine. Then, like the smartphone, taking it away actively hurts. This is how humanity gets rewired and glued to god-like technologies.”
The Physical Turing Test
The original Turing Test was conceived by Alan Turing in 1950, and it was aimed at determining if a machine could exhibit behavior that is equivalent to or indistinguishable from a human. By focusing on text-based conversations, the original Turing Test set a high bar for natural language processing and machine learning.
This test has been passed by today’s large language models. However, the capability to converse in a humanlike manner is a completely different challenge from performing real-world problem-solving or physical interactions. Thus, Fan introduced the Physical Turing Test, which challenges AI systems to demonstrate intelligence through physical actions.
Based on Fan’s comments, Tesla has demonstrated these intelligent physical actions with FSD v14. Elon Musk agreed with the NVIDIA executive, stating in a post on X that with FSD v14, “you can sense the sentience maturing.” Musk also praised Tesla AI, calling it the best “real-world AI” today.
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Tesla AI team burns the Christmas midnight oil by releasing FSD v14.2.2.1
The update was released just a day after FSD v14.2.2 started rolling out to customers.
Tesla is burning the midnight oil this Christmas, with the Tesla AI team quietly rolling out Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.2.2.1 just a day after FSD v14.2.2 started rolling out to customers.
Tesla owner shares insights on FSD v14.2.2.1
Longtime Tesla owner and FSD tester @BLKMDL3 shared some insights following several drives with FSD v14.2.2.1 in rainy Los Angeles conditions with standing water and faded lane lines. He reported zero steering hesitation or stutter, confident lane changes, and maneuvers executed with precision that evoked the performance of Tesla’s driverless Robotaxis in Austin.
Parking performance impressed, with most spots nailed perfectly, including tight, sharp turns, in single attempts without shaky steering. One minor offset happened only due to another vehicle that was parked over the line, which FSD accommodated by a few extra inches. In rain that typically erases road markings, FSD visualized lanes and turn lines better than humans, positioning itself flawlessly when entering new streets as well.
“Took it up a dark, wet, and twisty canyon road up and down the hill tonight and it went very well as to be expected. Stayed centered in the lane, kept speed well and gives a confidence inspiring steering feel where it handles these curvy roads better than the majority of human drivers,” the Tesla owner wrote in a post on X.
Tesla’s FSD v14.2.2 update
Just a day before FSD v14.2.2.1’s release, Tesla rolled out FSD v14.2.2, which was focused on smoother real-world performance, better obstacle awareness, and precise end-of-trip routing. According to the update’s release notes, FSD v14.2.2 upgrades the vision encoder neural network with higher resolution features, enhancing detection of emergency vehicles, road obstacles, and human gestures.
New Arrival Options also allowed users to select preferred drop-off styles, such as Parking Lot, Street, Driveway, Parking Garage, or Curbside, with the navigation pin automatically adjusting to the ideal spot. Other refinements include pulling over for emergency vehicles, real-time vision-based detours for blocked roads, improved gate and debris handling, and Speed Profiles for customized driving styles.
Starlink passes 9 million active customers just weeks after hitting 8 million
NVIDIA Director of Robotics: Tesla FSD v14 is the first AI to pass the “Physical Turing Test”
