News
SpaceX targeting Starlink launch, Starship static fire in 24-hour period
Update: SpaceX has scrubbed Falcon 9’s Starlink 4-1 due to unfavorable weather both at Cape Canaveral and downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. The next available launch opportunity is 7:19am EST (12:19 UTC), November 13th, with forecasts showing an 80% chance of favorable weather – up from 60% for Friday.
The window for Starship S20’s third static fire is now open and while no preparations for the test are visible as of yet, SpaceX has until 2pm CST (20:00 UTC).
SpaceX is scheduled to attempt Falcon 9’s next East Coast Starlink launch and a record-breaking Starship static fire less than eight hours apart on Friday, November 12th.
Barring delays or operational constraints, both of which are fairly likely, that Starship static fire and Starlink launch could technically happen just an hour or two apart. After nearly two weeks of mysterious delays, Starship S20 – SpaceX’s first orbital-class prototype – could easily run into more issues. Nevertheless, after a false-start on November 10th, Ship 20 is currently scheduled to attempt to fire up Raptor engines for the third time between 6am and 2pm CST (12-18:00 UTC).
A thousand miles (~1600 km) east of Boca Chica, Texas, a well-worn Falcon 9 booster is vertical at SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral LC-40 facilities for the company’s first dedicated Florida Starlink launch since May 26th. Weather is about 60% favorable for the ‘Starlink 4-1’ mission, which is set to lift off at 7:40am EST (12:40 UTC).
Unexpectedly, despite the surprise appearance of Falcon 9 booster B1062 – (already attached to a new upper stage) earlier this month, SpaceX has assigned a different rocket to launch Starlink 4-1. Instead of B1062, SpaceX’s first full East Coast batch of laser-linked Starlink V1.5 satellites will be carried into space on Falcon 9 B1058 as part of the booster’s 9th orbital-class launch in less than 18 months. As is now routine, the mission will also launch with two flight-proven fairing halves.
Back in Boca Chica, SpaceX could technically fire up its first orbital Starship prototype less than an hour later. While a test early in the window would be extraordinarily rare, it’s not unprecedented. Generally speaking, from the start of the road closure (no earlier than 6am CST), it takes at least an hour or two to prime pad hardware and load Starship with propellant, meaning that Starship S20’s third static fire is unlikely to occur before 7:30-8am CST (8:30-9am EST).
Depending on what SpaceX goes for, it could arguably also be the most ambitious ground test the company has ever attempted in South Texas. After an oddly long multiweek process, Ship 20 has been outfitted with a full six operational Raptor engines and there’s a real chance that SpaceX intends to fire up all six tomorrow. As of now, SpaceX has never fired more than three Raptor engines on a Starship or Super Heavy prototype, making a six-engine test at least twice as stressful as any test prior for both the pad and rocket. Even at their minimum throttle settings, Starship S20’s six Raptors would likely produce more than 600 tons (1.3M lbf) of thrust, while all six at full thrust (~1100 tons or 2.45M lbf) would briefly make Starship almost 50% more powerful than a Falcon 9 at liftoff.
As usual, there will be no official SpaceX webcast for Starship S20’s possible static fire attempt and delays are more likely than not. Unofficial streams from NASASpaceflight and others are the best place to watch.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk and Tesla AI Director share insights after empty driver seat Robotaxi rides
The executives’ unoccupied tests hint at the rapid progress of Tesla’s unsupervised Robotaxi efforts.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and AI Director Ashok Elluswamy celebrated Christmas Eve by sharing personal experiences with Robotaxi vehicles that had no safety monitor or occupant in the driver’s seat. Musk described the system’s “perfect driving” around Austin, while Elluswamy posted video from the back seat, calling it “an amazing experience.”
The executives’ unoccupied tests hint at the rapid progress of Tesla’s unsupervised Robotaxi efforts.
Elon and Ashok’s firsthand Robotaxi insights
Prior to Musk and the Tesla AI Director’s posts, sightings of unmanned Teslas navigating public roads were widely shared on social media. One such vehicle was spotted in Austin, Texas, which Elon Musk acknowleged by stating that “Testing is underway with no occupants in the car.”
Based on his Christmas Eve post, Musk seemed to have tested an unmanned Tesla himself. “A Tesla with no safety monitor in the car and me sitting in the passenger seat took me all around Austin on Sunday with perfect driving,” Musk wrote in his post.
Elluswamy responded with a 2-minute video showing himself in the rear of an unmanned Tesla. The video featured the vehicle’s empty front seats, as well as its smooth handling through real-world traffic. He captioned his video with the words, “It’s an amazing experience!”
Towards Unsupervised operations
During an xAI Hackathon earlier this month, Elon Musk mentioned that Tesla owed be removing Safety Monitors from its Robotaxis in Austin in just three weeks. “Unsupervised is pretty much solved at this point. So there will be Tesla Robotaxis operating in Austin with no one in them. Not even anyone in the passenger seat in about three weeks,” he said. Musk echoed similar estimates at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting and the Q3 2025 earnings call.
Considering the insights that were posted Musk and Elluswamy, it does appear that Tesla is working hard towards operating its Robotaxis with no safety monitors. This is quite impressive considering that the service was launched just earlier this year.
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.
News
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.
Elon Musk and Tesla AI Director share insights after empty driver seat Robotaxi rides
Starlink passes 9 million active customers just weeks after hitting 8 million
