SpaceX
SpaceX’s Starship, Starhopper prototypes continue slow and steady progress
The last few weeks of SpaceX’s work on Starship and Starhopper prototypes has been marked by less visible progress relative to the past few months. The changes that are visible, however, confirm that its Boca Chica engineers are working around the clock to complete the first orbital Starship prototype.
At the same time, it appears that SpaceX’s South Texas facilities are preparing for a rapid period of expansion and build-up. New work around the ad-hoc Starhopper pad has recently begun, while construction of a second concrete jig for concurrent prototype fabrication and what will likely be a more permanent hangar and control facility are also ramping up. Things have been quiet news-wise for SpaceX’s McGregor and Hawthorne facilities but there is reason to believe that Raptor production and testing is going smoothly.
And over at its pal’s place, the orbital prototype (and the build-up of another jig)
?@BocaChicaGal
Dedicated Updates: https://t.co/FYHRkwZ2dd pic.twitter.com/glg8Yr6oO6— Chris B – NSF (@NASASpaceflight) April 20, 2019
Starship Alpha
The most obvious visible progress made in April is centers around SpaceX’s first orbital Starship prototype, soon to begin its third month of active construction. As of mid-March, the shells of two large steel barrel sections – together about 18 m (60 ft) tall – were fully erected at the build site, with a handful of other sections in various states of welding. The height of those two cylinders has remained unchanged since then but it’s safe to assume that a ton of work has been going on inside them, invisible to anyone viewing from public perspectives since drones were effectively banned in March. In other words, the two pieces – most likely the barrel sections of Starship’s liquid methane and liquid oxygen (LOX) tanks – are likely being carefully transformed into actual propellant tanks.
There is also a good reason for their height differential: the larger (LOX) section is almost exactly a third larger than the small section (methane) in part because of the physical reality that Starship will need almost exactly 33% more LOX than methane by volume. Large propellant tanks – particularly those meant for cryogenic fluids and spaceflight applications – are often quite complex, with the vast majority of that complexity happening under the hood. The above render was made while SpaceX was still planning on carbon fiber tanks and also appears to be significantly simplified, but it still offers a small look at some of that complexity.
Aside from successfully completing thousands of welds throughout the assembly, a lot of the effort of building an advanced tank is put into plumbing – both internal and external – needed to load, unload, pressurize, depressurize, and generally manage cryogenic (i.e. super cold) liquid propellant. SpaceX decided to utilize a partial balloon tank design to keep the steel skins of its stainless steel Starship and Super Heavy as thin as possible, adding yet another level of internal work due to the need for stringers and longerons on top of baffles and hardware to mount COPVs or header tanks.
Adding further complexity to the internal structure of Starship is the presence of major aerodynamic surfaces and landing legs, both of which will need to survive extreme stresses if they are to function as intended. Those structures must be aerodynamically streamlined and attach to the outside of Starship’s hull, likely requiring significant structural reinforcements both inside the spacecraft’s nose and rearmost propellant tank.
Super Heavy?
SpaceX began construction of a second concrete fabrication jig just a handful of days ago. Effectively a copy of a jig occupied with the larger of the two barrel sections of the orbital Starship prototype, the simple structure acts as a mount and includes a large door that allows scissor lifts to get inside the steel structure. The new jig is being built directly adjacent to Starship’s smaller barrel section, suggesting that it could simply be a way to concurrently work on both the LOX and methane tanks. Given the inherent simplicity of a concrete jig, it could also end up being used to support the simultaneous assembly and integration of the first Super Heavy booster prototype.
Back in December 2018, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk indicated that the first Super Heavy prototype would start production in “spring” (i.e. NET April 2019). Musk has also indicated that Starship and Super Heavy will be simultaneously built both in Boca Chica, Texas and Cape Canaveral, Florida. In general, SpaceX is clearly beginning another round of expansion and improvement for its Boca Chica facilities, including the new concrete jig and an entirely new building on the same plot of land.
Starhopper
Last but not least is SpaceX’s Starhopper prototype. After completing an inaugural round of multiple wet dress rehearsals (WDRs) and two Raptor static fires/hops, SpaceX technicians removed the vehicle’s lone Raptor engine on April 8th. Starhopper has remained more or less inactive in the last two weeks, aside from some work going on inside the vehicle (per the open access hatch).
Without a Raptor engine, there is admittedly not a whole lot that SpaceX can do with Starhopper, aside from additional WDRs if the first handful of tests were not enough. Instead, some minor work has been going on around the Hopper’s ad hoc pad, mainly taking the appearance of dirtmoving. Without aerial views, its hard to tell what exactly is taking shape, but it’s safe to say that Starhopper is simply waiting for additional Raptors to be produced, tested, and delivered to Boca Chica. Once more Raptors are ready, it’s understood that SpaceX will move into multi-engine (likely 3+) hop tests, perhaps loosing Starhopper from its tethers.
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SpaceX officially launched the Starlink Mini 2 on November 10, delivering the first portable Starlink terminal designed around independent power.
Invitation-only preorders for select U.S. customers are priced at $999 plus tax, a figure that includes a full year of Roam Unlimited service valued at roughly $2,100. A refundable $100 deposit reserves the kit, with the balance due at shipment, expected to begin in mid-December. Broader availability is listed as coming soon.
Starlink just unveiled Mini 2, its next-gen portable dish.
Quick-swap battery, up to 4.5 hrs per charge
USB-C power
Built-in Wi-Fi
Online in about 60 secondsPreorders are open now. https://t.co/QawqgbswrQ
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 10, 2026
The headline feature is the quick-swap 71 Wh battery. Clipped to the rear of the dish without tools, it delivers up to 4.5 hours of connectivity on a single charge.
The 490-gram pack includes its own USB-C port and LED indicators, so users can charge a spare separately and swap it in seconds while staying online. Starlink notes that the terminal can continue operating while the battery charges or run directly from a 60 W USB-C source. The retail box includes one battery, a 60 W USB-C charger, and a 3-meter cable.
Beyond power, the Mini 2 is thinner at 23.1 mm (versus 38.5 mm on the original Mini) while measuring 263 × 314 mm. With the battery and kickstand attached it weighs 1.6 kg.
Built-in Wi-Fi 6 expands coverage to up to 1,800 square feet, an IP67 rating protects against dust and water, and a standard 1/4-20 tripod thread plus physical power button round out the design. Field of view remains 110 degrees, and the unit retains support for mobile use.
For travelers, campers, and remote workers, the swappable battery removes the longstanding requirement for an external power bank or vehicle outlet that defined the first Mini. Spare packs sold separately further extend runtime, turning the compact terminal into a more self-contained solution.
While the bundled $999 invitation price sits well above the original Mini’s current $149 starting point, the included year of service and genuine untethered operation mark a clear step forward in portable satellite internet.
Elon Musk
SpaceX’s $24B Starbase supercomputer plan slipped past a key roadblock
SpaceX wants a Starbase tax break for a $24 billion gas plant and supercomputer campus.
SpaceX is asking its own company town for a tax break on a $24 billion natural gas power plant and supercomputing facility at Starbase, Texas, and the land it picked sits just outside the reach of a data center moratorium that took effect in neighboring Brownsville last week.
A City of Starbase public hearing notice says SpaceX “proposes to construct, own, and operate a gas-fired power plant and super-compute facility” on roughly 444 acres between Boca Chica Boulevard and the Port of Brownsville. The $24 billion figure covers only the initial phases, and the notice leaves room for future expansions. The Starbase City Commission will consider a property tax abatement and a related economic development agreement at a 7 p.m. hearing on December 9. The notice does not disclose the size or length of the abatement, or how much computing capacity the site would hold.
The location has a history. Over the summer, SpaceX asked Brownsville to remove the tract from its city limits and offered $220 million for water and wastewater projects in return. Brownsville approved the move in August, and Starbase later annexed the land. Brownsville’s own 90-day pause on data center applications took effect last week, and had the tract stayed inside the city, the project likely would have needed a different home.
The power side is already in front of state regulators. SpaceX has applied to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for air permits covering 35 mobile gas turbines producing roughly 750 megawatts, according to Politico, which also noted that two of the three Starbase commissioners voting on the incentives are SpaceX executives.
Building its own plant lets SpaceX skip the Texas grid. Gov. Greg Abbott paused new data center grid connections in August pending an audit, but a facility that generates its own electricity does not need one. The air permit still has to clear the TCEQ, where Abbott also ordered a halt on data center permits.
The bigger test arrives in January. Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, who unseated Abbott last week, has said she will block data center approvals until the legislature passes new protections, and she has already asked state officials to hold off on any sale of Boca Chica State Park to SpaceX until she is sworn in. Tesla and SpaceX shares both fell the day after the election, and Musk’s first reaction on X was “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now.”
That line points to Starmind, SpaceX’s orbital compute constellation. Musk has said terrestrial compute will be “peanuts compared to orbital compute” and expects monthly orbital deployments to pass ground deployments around the end of 2028, as Teslarati reported. Until then, SpaceX still needs gigawatts on the ground. It ended the third quarter with 1.7 GW of nameplate compute, is targeting 2.5 to 3 GW by the end of this year and wants at least 10 GW more in 2027. Its existing Colossus sites around Memphis already run on gas turbines and face a lawsuit from residents over emissions.
Local reaction is split. The South Texas Environmental Justice Network has announced a protest, citing air quality, water use and energy bills, while some Brownsville residents told the Tribune they welcome the jobs. SpaceX did not respond to the Tribune’s questions about the project.
Elon Musk
SpaceX just cleared a key FCC hurdle in its fight with Verizon and AT&T
The FCC accepted SpaceX’s bid for Grain’s 800 MHz spectrum, opening review for Starlink Mobile.
The Federal Communications Commission has formally opened its review of SpaceX’s plan to buy a nationwide block of 800 MHz spectrum from Grain Management, moving Starlink Mobile one step closer to operating as a full U.S. wireless carrier.
In a public notice issued Tuesday, the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau said it accepted for filing the applications to transfer control of two Grain license companies, Prism License Co. 1 and Prism License Co. 2, to Starlink Spectrum Holdings, a wholly owned SpaceX subsidiary. The deal covers 546 paired licenses across 3,224 counties, reaching roughly 100% of the U.S. population in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The proceeding sits under WT Docket No. 26-313.
Acceptance is not approval. It means the applications cleared an initial review and the public comment window is now open. Comments and petitions to deny are due December 1, and oppositions are due December 8. The bureau also said the conditions attached to Grain’s July purchase of the licenses from T-Mobile, which require rapid buildout for terrestrial and direct to device service, would carry over to SpaceX if the transfer is approved.
SpaceX announced the agreement on October 8, saying the new airwaves would let Starlink Mobile’s signal reach phones inside buildings, something its 2 GHz spectrum from EchoStar cannot do as well. The portfolio includes up to 14 MHz of paired spectrum in the 817 to 824 MHz and 862 to 869 MHz bands, which most existing phones already support. Elon Musk called it “the last critical piece of the spectrum puzzle needed for SpaceX to provide complete phone coverage in America.”
According to the filing, SpaceX would hold up to 89 MHz of total spectrum in any given market after the deal closes, including up to 14 MHz below 1 GHz. That is far under the 385 MHz threshold the FCC uses to flag a transaction for closer competitive scrutiny, and well short of the roughly 300 MHz each of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile holds.
Tuesday’s notice does not decide how SpaceX can use the spectrum from orbit. A separate application SpaceX filed on October 27 seeking authority to provide supplemental coverage from space on the same frequencies, along with related waiver requests, is still pending before the commission.
The ground network is already taking shape. Last week, SpaceX picked Qualcomm to supply radios, baseband units and software for a nationwide 5G build, with deployment across tens of thousands of U.S. cell sites starting in 2027. The FCC also voted on October 29 to advance a proposal opening another 482 MHz to direct to device service, though AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile hacritive pushed to strip nearly 300 MHz from it. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell has said service on SpaceX’s own airwaves is targeted for early 2028.
Starlink Mini 2 arrives with one feature for true off-grid connectivity
SpaceX’s $24B Starbase supercomputer plan slipped past a key roadblock
