News
SpaceX to replace Falcon 9’s titanium grid fins with steel on Starship’s Super Heavy booster
Following a question on Twitter about how SpaceX intends to manufacture the truly massive grid fins shown in renders of Starship’s Super Heavy booster, CEO Elon Musk revealed that SpaceX will build them out of welded steel.
For the first several years of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy booster recovery operations, SpaceX built grid fins – used for maneuvering the rockets at high speeds – out of aluminum. With Falcon 9 Block 5, aluminum grid fins were phased out entirely in favor of larger titanium fins, necessitated by exceptionally high-speed reentries that nearly melted through the aluminum fins on several occasions. Now, SpaceX wants to move from titanium to steel fins for its next-generation Starship launch vehicle.
Welded steel— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 3, 2019
In response to the Twitter user’s question, Musk simply stated that Super Heavy’s grid fins would be manufactured out of “welded steel”, certainly keeping with the CEO’s now well-known love for the material. In October 2018, Musk finally managed to convince most of the senior engineers reporting to him that – despite years of work and full-scale testing – SpaceX needed to radically redesign Starship.
Prior to this radical change, SpaceX had spent at least 2-3 years on a Starship design (formerly Big F_____ Spaceship; BFS) made almost entirely out of carbon fiber composites, an extremely lightweight material that can be optimized for high strength. However, as Musk ultimately concluded in late 2018, although carbon composites are undeniably light and strong (optimal for spaceflight), they have extremely low heat tolerance and can react violently with supercooled liquid oxygen. Built almost entirely out of aluminum alloys with similarly low melting points, Falcon 9 has also struggled with the challenges posed by material choices, made far more difficult by the need to recover and reuse orbital-class rocket stages.
Musk ultimately decided that redesigning Starship with steel (alloys with particularly high melting points and good strength) was the right way to go. According to Musk, the high-quality carbon fiber composites SpaceX was originally pursuing cost something like $130,000 per metric ton, translating to a truly gobsmacking cost – accounting for unavoidable wastage – of $400M-$500M or more just to buy the materials needed to build a single Starship and Super Heavy booster. Steel, on the other hand, is quite literally 50 times cheaper, costing SpaceX around $2500 per ton, or as little as $10M in structural materials for each ship/booster pair.
Man of Stainless Steel
Speaking at a September 28th presentation on the 2019 status of Starship’s design, CEO Elon Musk couldn’t praise his decision to move to stainless steel enough, describing it as likely being the single best design decision he has ever made. It remains to be seen if the eccentric self-taught engineer’s decision was the correct one, but the progress SpaceX has made in just 10-11 months is undeniable. SpaceX has gone from a nearly blank slate to Starhopper’s 150m (500ft) test flight in ~6 months and gone from nothing to Starship Mk1 in another 6 or so months.
According to Musk, the properties of stainless steel – mainly a high melting point/working temperature and a tendency to strengthen at cryogenic temperatures – mean that the relatively heavy material is able to produce a launch vehicle that could eventually be far lighter and higher-performance than one made with carbon composites (BFR) or aluminum alloys (Falcon 9). Thanks to those properties, Starship/Super Heavy will become much stronger when filled with cold propellant and will also require little to no external heat shielding on its leeward half, whereas a reusable Al/composite rocket would require major thermal protection on nearly all exposed surfaces.
As part of the move to remove any ultra-expensive nonessential materials from the designs of Starship and Super Heavy, Musk has apparently also turned his gaze on the booster’s grid fins. As described at the top of this article, SpaceX replaced Falcon 9’s aluminum grid fins with titanium fins, requiring the company to create the largest single-piece titanium casting in the world. Musk has repeatedly indicated that each grid fin is extremely expensive.
In light of their expense, Musk (or SpaceX) has seemingly decided that future (larger?) SpaceX rockets will try to avoid large, titanium castings. Super Heavy nevertheless still needs massive grid fins: official renders published by SpaceX last month revealed a new diamond shape for the booster’s fins, and Musk later took to Twitter to reveal that they would be made out of welded steel instead of titanium.
Based on SpaceX’s official 2019 Super Heavy renders, the booster’s grid fins measure approximately 7m by 3m (23 ft by 10 ft), dwarfing Falcon 9’s titanium fins (perhaps 2m by 1.2m) with something like 8-10 times the surface area. Although 301-series stainless steel has a melting point and heat capacity roughly 15% lower than Grade 5 titanium, its strength characteristics are otherwise similar, while also remaining mechanically functional at almost three times the working temperature of titanium (840C vs. 330C).
Most importantly, not only is 301 steel roughly 15-20 times cheaper than titanium, but the process of fabricating large steel components – particularly with welding instead of casting – is dramatically faster, easier, and cheaper than working with and forming titanium. With their reasonably similar properties and the increased size of Super Heavy, it’s likely that steel grid fins would exhibit little to no ablation during even the hottest atmospheric reentries, and it would nevertheless be extremely easy and cheap to either repair or replace fins in the unlikely event of damage.
Given just how quickly and relatively easily SpaceX has built full-scale flight hardware out of steel and assuming there are no technical showstoppers caused by changing scales, it wouldn’t be surprising in the slightest to see SpaceX fabricate and test welded steel grid fins on Falcon 9 boosters in the near future.
Check out Teslarati’s Marketplace! We offer Tesla accessories, including for the Tesla Cybertruck and Tesla Model 3.
News
Tesla China comeback: Retail sales hit second-highest month of 2025
Tesla’s September numbers are just below the 74,127 units that were sold domestically in March.
Tesla’s retail sales in China climbed to 71,525 vehicles in September, the company’s second-highest monthly total this year, as per data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
The result reflects a steady rebound, narrowing Tesla’s year-on-year sales decline to just 0.93%, while showing a 25% jump from August’s weaker numbers. Tesla China’s September numbers are just below the 74,127 units that were sold domestically in March.
Tesla China’s September
Despite the uptick, Tesla China’s retail sales have now logged seven months of year-on-year declines this 2025, managing growth only in March and June, though a good portion of these lost sales was due to the changeover to the new Model Y. The Shanghai Gigafactory, which produces both the Model 3 and Model Y, continues to serve as a dual-purpose hub for domestic and export markets.
In September, Tesla exported 19,287 vehicles from its Shanghai facility, up 19.6% year-on-year but down 25.9% from August, as noted in a CNEV Post report. This is in line with Tesla China’s strategy of prioritizing exports early in each quarter. Including exports, Tesla China’s total wholesale volume reached 90,812 units in September, up 2.82% year-on-year and 9.16% month-on-month.
Model Y still leads
The Tesla Model Y still led the electric vehicle maker’s sales in China with 59,907 units sold wholesale during the month, rising 17.1% from last year, while Model 3 reached 30,905 units, dipping 16.8% year-on-year but up 27% from August. Tesla’s overall market share in China’s NEV segment rose to 5.52%, and its BEV share climbed to 8.66%, modest gains hinting at the company’s resilience in a fiercely competitive market.
Across Q3, Tesla sold 169,294 vehicles in China, down 6.9% year-on-year, marking its second consecutive quarterly decline but a strong 31.4% recovery versus Q2. Year-to-date, Tesla’s retail total stands at 432,704 units, down 5.97% compared to last year.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk teases ‘Banish’ feature to pair perfectly with Summon
Tesla has long promised the possibility of completely hands-off parking: arrive, drop off at the entrance, the car parks itself, and the car retrieves you at the end of your visit.
Elon Musk has once again teased the “Banish” feature that could come to Tesla vehicles in the near future. It would be a perfect pairing to the popular Assisted Smart Summon (ASS), which the company launched earlier this year.
Banish has been something Tesla has teased for years. The company has promised the possibility of completely hands-off parking: arrive, drop off at the entrance, the car parks itself, and the car retrieves you at the end of your visit.
Ultimately, even though it is technically a driverless feature, Tesla has not refined its parking portion of the Full Self-Driving (Supervised) suite enough to release Banish to the public.
Tesla recently started performing specified parking tasks at the driver’s discretion. In the FSD (Supervised) v14.1 release, Tesla has added the ability to pick your parking scenario. Drivers can choose a Charger, Parking Lot, Curbside, Street, Driveway, or Parking Garage.
To achieve Banish, Tesla would have to gather enough data with these scenarios to then gain the capability to park after dropping vehicle occupants off.
🚨 Tesla Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.1’s new Arrival Options pic.twitter.com/P8GDY7BIZ6
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 10, 2025
However, CEO Elon Musk recently hyped Banish to the point of stating Teslas will be capable of it “in the near future.”
His remark came in response to a video where FSD v14.1 drove around a Costco parking lot for twenty minutes looking for a spot:
In the near future, your Tesla will drop you off at the store entrance and then go find a parking spot.
When you’re ready to exit the store, just tap Summon on your phone and the car will come to you. https://t.co/7oUEk9Bb0H
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 10, 2025
Summon is a feature that has given Tesla its challenges, but the release of Assisted Smart Summon (ASS) has improved some of its capabilities.
I tested it after receiving v14.1, and it did a great job of taking the correct route and driving safely to my location:
🚨 There were no noted improvements to Tesla’s Actually Smart Summon (ASS) with the v14.1 Full Self-Driving (Supervised) update
However, with v13.2.9, ASS turned the wrong way on this exact route.
Not this time! Exceptionally done! pic.twitter.com/vYHL0zjlOk
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) October 10, 2025
There will likely be some time between now and when Tesla is able to release Banish. As previously noted, Tesla will need to collect enough data from real-world scenarios and obtain a proven track record of being able to handle lots and parking in a variety of environments while supervised.
News
Tesla faces new blockade in Sweden as IF Metall escalates dispute
The action takes effect October 15 and will remain in place until Tesla signs a collective agreement.
Just over a month after the Swedish Meditation Institute threw in the towel on Tesla and IF Metall’s conflict, the labor union has announced a new industrial action aimed at disrupting the electric vehicle maker’s operations in the country.
Potential Tesla disruptions
The latest news involves a total work stoppage by Linde Material Handling, one of Sweden’s largest forklift companies, which services industrial clients nationwide. The action takes effect October 15 and will remain in place until Tesla signs a collective agreement, as noted in a Dagens Arbete (DA) report.
The stoppage will halt all forklift-related work Linde performs for Tesla’s local subsidiary, TM Sweden, including maintenance, repair, and service of trucks used across its facilities. Simon Petersson, IF Metall’s contract secretary, shared described the union’s latest effort in a comment to the publication.
“We know that Tesla has trucks in several locations and that they are in need of service, maintenance and repair. We are stopping that now. For Linde, this is not a big deal. They service trucks for a lot of companies and Tesla is a small player in their portfolio,” Petersson noted.
Not a sure strategy
Whether IF Metall’s latest effort will succeed against Tesla remains to be seen, especially since the electric vehicle maker has been pretty firm in its stance that its employees do not need a collective agreement. Still, the IF Metall contract secretary stated that Linde’s strike against Tesla should make it more difficult for the electric vehicle maker to operate its business in Sweden.
“It remains to be seen. But as I have said before, it is about many small streams. This stops everything Linde does for Tesla. So not only with them, but regardless of where the work takes place. So if Tesla has problems with a truck, they will not have it repaired or serviced,” Petersson stated.
Following the decision of the Swedish Meditation Institute to end the negotiations between IF Metall and Tesla early last month, the union noted that it would still try to pressure the EV maker to sign a collective agreement. Since then, the Electricians union, as well as the postmen’s unions Seko and ST have continued to initiate blockades against Tesla Sweden.
Tesla China comeback: Retail sales hit second-highest month of 2025
Elon Musk teases ‘Banish’ feature to pair perfectly with Summon
Tesla faces new blockade in Sweden as IF Metall escalates dispute
-
News2 weeks agoTesla Giga Berlin’s water consumption has achieved the unthinkable
-
News2 weeks agoTesla unveils charging innovation that will make the Semi instantly successful
-
News2 weeks agoWaymo responds to shocking video that would have gotten Tesla FSD crucified
-
News2 weeks agoLucid CEO shades Tesla Model S: “Nothing has changed in 12 years now”
-
News2 weeks agoElon Musk slams Sky News over Epstein invite: “Deserves complete contempt”
-
News2 weeks agoTesla Model Y sells faster than diesel cars and other EVs in Sweden’s used market
-
News6 days agoTesla FSD (Supervised) V14.1 with Robotaxi-style dropoffs is here
-
News1 week agoTesla all but confirms that affordable Model Y is coming Tuesday