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SpaceX Starship rocket rolls to launch pad to prepare for Starhopper-style hop test
SpaceX has finished its third full-scale Starship prototype and rolled the rocket’s tank and engine section to a nearby launch pad just a matter of weeks after work began, now ready to prepare for a potentially imminent Starhopper-style hop test.
SpaceX’s rapidly-growing Boca Chica, Texas Starship factory is now producing so much rocket hardware that it’s hard to track any single vehicle’s birth. However, it still appears that SpaceX’s Texas team managed to complete the Starship SN3 prototype in less than a month, measured from first steel ring stacking to the ship’s integrated business end being transported to the launch pad. Simultaneously, the company fabricated, assembled, and tested an entirely separate Starship test tank, verifying that a design flaw that likely lead to Starship SN1’s February 28th destruction had been rectified.
Featuring the same design improvements that allowed that Starship test tank to become the first to pass proof testing intact, Starship SN3 is the best candidate yet to kick off true wet dress rehearsal (WDR) and Raptor engine static fire testing. Both will require real liquid methane and oxygen propellant to be loaded, potentially turning Starship SN3 into the equivalent of many tons of TNT if things were to go south. To be clear, there is a significant chance that such an early, rapidly-built prototype will not survive its upcoming test campaign. Nevertheless, Starship SN3 has the numerous lessons learned from both the successes and failures of all previous vehicles built into it, giving it the best chance yet. Still, the massive rocket will need to pass one or several less risky tests before it can begin to attempt more groundbreaking feats.
Set to follow in the footsteps of all previous Starship test articles, SpaceX will soon kick off Starship SN3’s test campaign with a liquid nitrogen proof test – still extremely cold (i.e. cryogenic) but chemically neutral (i.e. can’t explode). Delivery trucks were spotted topping off SpaceX’s liquid nitrogen supplies just yesterday. The company also has a four-hour road closure scheduled to start at 5pm CDT (22:00 UTC) today, shortly after this article went live.
If it isn’t delayed, that March 29th road closure is likely meant to allow SpaceX to pressurize Starship SN3 with liquid nitrogen, pushing it beyond flight pressures (6 bar/90 psi) in what’s known as a proof test. If successful, it would verify that the rocket’s tank section is sound while also bringing it to cryogenic temperatures, potentially strengthening the steel with cryogenic hardening.
Beyond those initial plans, the FAA license SpaceX used to support Starhopper’s July and August 2019 hop tests may actually enable test flights of full-scale Starship prototypes, too. Incredibly, according to Cameron County, Texas beach closure requests made on March 23rd, SpaceX’s goal is to prepare Starship SN3 for a Raptor engine static fire test as early as April 1st (no fool), followed by a potential 150m (500 ft) Starhopper-style flight test on April 6th.
For obvious reasons, delays to that ambitious schedule – particularly the flight test – are extremely likely, but Starship SN3 is now unequivocally at the launch pad. Stay tuned for updates on the rocket’s potentially imminent proof test and the impacts that might have on future tests.
Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2026 on Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what the company reported compared to what Wall Street analysts expected.
The earnings results come after Tesla reported a massive beat on vehicle deliveries for the second quarter, delivering 489,126 vehicles and building 451,758 cars during the three-month span.
This was a major shock for those on Wall Street as they anticipated somewhere around 400,000 deliveries for the quarter, and showed Tesla still has plenty of demand for its vehicles around the world and in the U.S. despite losing the $7,500 EV Tax Credit last year.
Tesla Q2 2026 Earnings Results
- Non-GAAP EPS – $0.33 reported vs. $0.53 expected
- Revenues – $28.236 billion reported vs. $26.4 billion expected
- Free Cash Flow- -$1.092B
- Profit -$ 4.751B
Tesla (beat/missed) analyst expectations, so the market response to the company’s quarter is what we will look for next.
Tesla shares closed today down just over 1 percent, trading at $374.01.
In the past, it has been anyone’s guess with what Tesla shares will do after they report earnings. Strong quarters have resulted in sharp drops, while lackluster quarters have seen the stock shoot up considerably.
Tesla will hold its Q2 2026 Earnings Call in about 90 minutes at 5:30 p.m. on the East Coast. Remarks will be made by CEO Elon Musk and other executives, who will shed some light on the investor questions that we covered earlier this week.
You can stream it below. Additionally, we will be doing our Live Blog on X and Facebook.
Q2 2026 Earnings Call https://t.co/zZS6ii2TWK
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 22, 2026
Tesla is about to make parking in busy parking lots at businesses and other points of interest less stressful than ever by allowing drivers more control over where they park and how, CEO Elon Musk confirmed on X.
Tesla has been working to improve the parking performance of vehicles utilizing the Full Self-Driving suite, but now it is looking to add more customization, allowing drivers to choose the specific space they park in, but also potentially the orientation the car pulls into the spot:
It’s coming soon
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 21, 2026
Musk has reiterated on X twice over the past several weeks that Tesla is working to make things with the FSD suite based more on the driver’s specific preferences and behaviors that were seen in past drives.
Essentially, it sounds like if you tend to park away from a business to avoid other vehicles, Tesla FSD will soon recognize that preference of yours and start parking further away as well. Additionally, the prospect of assigned parking spaces has been something many owners have voiced concerns about.
Living in a community with assigned parking spaces makes using FSD incredibly difficult as it will rarely park in the correct spot when there are so many to choose from. This is also pertinent in work settings where there are sometimes assigned parking spaces.
The updates to Tesla’s Full Self-Driving suite in terms of listening to driver preferences with parking are also extending to routing. Tesla announced yesterday that with the release of its 2026 Summer Update, it was adding Automatic Navigation and Preferred Routes:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla has always maintained the idea that any human input is bad input, and that, ideally, Tesla Full Self-Driving will always make the right decision. Of course, this is all in theory, but the issue is that so many of Tesla’s interventions have come because it does something that is not necessarily wrong, but perhaps not what the driver would prefer.
Taking these preferences into account will help Tesla alleviate some of the potentially unnecessary interventions that drivers perform.
Tesla is starting to prepare for the launch of the Optimus robot in its smartphone app, new coding strings show. Elon Musk has referred to Optimus as what will be the greatest-selling product of any kind of all time, and now, Tesla is getting ready for its launch.
Tesla’s smartphone app had several first-time mentions of the Optimus program, according to Tesla App Updates, who intially reported on the appearance. Here’s what they found:
A Dedicated “Robot” Phone Key Authentication
Tesla is working on a Bluetooth Low Energy, or BLE, authentication that is specifically for robots. This does not only apply to Optimus, though, as Robotaxi, which is Tesla’s autonomous ride-hailing platform, might also identify vehicles within the fleet as robots as well.
Tesla shows rapid teardown of Model S and X lines, paving the way for Optimus at Fremont
Essentially, pairing your phone as a key to anything Tesla identifies as a robot to a “whitelist” of authorized devices. Optimus, Robotaxi, or other products that fall into this category will only respond if the device trying to communicate with it is authorized.
This is a great security feature that will eliminate at least face-value and low-level threats.
Home Data Collection and System Alerts
This appears to be somewhat of a neural network for Optimus within your house. There will be a dedicated screen that asks for consent to collect both video and spatial data while Optimus performs in-home tasks. Everything from vacuuming, washing dishes, dusting, and other activities will be tracked.
There will also be a comprehensive alert system that will track everything from low battery to mechanical issues.
Other Changes
Most of the changes tracked in this particular app update are related to Tesla’s 2026 Summer Update, and include things such as image assets for new features, a preview of the new custom wraps feature, and other unique features.
You can check out our coverage on what is included with the 2026 Summer Update here:
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla (TSLA) Q2 2026 earnings results: miss on EPS, beat on revenue
Tesla is about to make parking in busy lots less stressful than ever
