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SpaceX swaps “suspect” Starship engine in record time

SpaceX has swapped out a misbehaving Raptor engine in record time and fired up Starship SN10 just 48 hours after the rocket's first "suspect" static fire. (NASASpaceflight - bocachicagal)

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SpaceX has reportedly swapped a “suspect” Raptor engine installed on Starship serial number 10 (SN10) in record time, setting the company up for what appeared to be an excellent static fire just 48 hours after the first test.

In a February 24th tweet, CEO Elon Musk told followers that “one of [SN10’s three Raptor] engines is suspect, so we’re swapping it out.” Engine swap-outs have been a regular procedure for SpaceX’s Starship team as the company continually pushes the envelope of both Starship and Raptor prototype fidelity and implement major design changes and upgrades. Of the five Starship prototypes (including Starhopper) with intentional flights under their belts, all required at least one engine replacement before being cleared to launch.

Within ~18 hours of Tuesday’s “suspect” Starship SN10 static fire, SpaceX dispatched a replacement Raptor down the road from a nearby storage site. Within ~12 hours, the faulty engine had been removed and a backup engine installed in its place. Another ~12 hours after that, SpaceX teams cleared the launch pad for Starship SN10 to attempt a second static fire and (hopefully) qualify the rocket for flight.

Starship SN10 – set to be the sixth prototype to fly – is now part of that elite but buggy group of flightworthy test articles. For the most part, that bugginess is all according to plan: SpaceX’s ability to move and react with extreme speed is what allows the company to make such rapid progress and begin test flights as early in the development process as it does. That speed of action includes responding to the inevitable bugs that crop up while testing cutting-edge rocket prototypes.

Case in point, after Tuesday’s 5pm CST static fire, it took SpaceX less than 48 hours to pore through the test’s data, conclude that one of SN10’s three Raptor engines was “suspect,” select a replacement engine, remove the faulty engine, install that replacement, and fire up Starship SN10 a second time. Even SpaceX’s world-class reusable Falcon rockets would have a hard time challenging that engine swap turnaround. Taking a broader look at the lay of the land, NASA’s SLS rocket booster – outfitted with four former Space Shuttle engines – will reportedly require more than three weeks for teams to swap out a faulty valve in one of those four engines.

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The first SLS Core Stage suffered an early abort during its first static fire test in mid January. As of publishing, NASA is now working towards a second static fire attempt in mid March – two full months later. By all appearances, SpaceX turned Starship SN10 around in 48 hours, performing what looked like a full-duration, nominal three-engine static fire on February 25th. Unlike February 23rd’s static fire, Starship exhibited no signs of an abort immediately after the test, whereas SN10 began large depressurization venting the second its Raptors shut down on Tuesday.

Unfortunately, everything will remain uncertain until SpaceX official confirms its plans, but Starship SN10 should be fully cleared for a launch attempt as early as Monday, March 1st if a data review of its Thursday static fire raises no red flags. Stay tuned for updates as SpaceX prepares to find out if the third time really is the charm.

Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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Tesla says texting and driving capability is coming ‘in a month or two’

“In the next month or two, we’re going to look at the safety statistics, but we’re going to allow you to text and drive, essentially.”

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that within the next month or two, the company will be able to open the ability for people to text and drive because its Full Self-Driving suite will be robust enough to allow drivers to take their attention away from the road.

In its current state, Tesla Full Self-Driving is a supervised driver assistance suite that requires the vehicle operator to maintain control of the vehicle and pay attention to the road surroundings.

However, the company has been aiming to release a fully autonomous version of the Full Self-Driving suite for years, teasing its future potential and aiming to release a Level 5 suite as soon as possible.

CEO Elon Musk believes the company is on the cusp of something drastic, according to what he said at yesterday’s Annual Shareholder Meeting.

One thing Musk hinted at was that the company should be able to allow those sitting in the driver’s seat of their cars to text and drive “in the next month or two,” as long as the statistics look good.

He said:

“In the next month or two, we’re going to look at the safety statistics, but we’re going to allow you to text and drive, essentially.”

The company recently transitioned to its v14 Full Self-Driving suite, which is its most robust to date, and recently expanded to Cybertruck, completing its rollout across the vehicle lineup.

Currently, Tesla is running v14.1.5, and when major improvements are made, that second number will increase, meaning v14.2 will be the next substantial improvement.

Musk said that v14.3 will be when you can “pretty much fall asleep and wake up at your destination.”

We’ve heard a considerable amount of similar statements in the past, and Tesla owners have been conditioned to take some of these timeframes with autonomous driving with a grain of salt.

However, with the upgrades in FSD over the past few months, especially with the rollout of Robotaxi in Austin, which does not utilize anyone in the driver’s seat for local roads, it does not seem as if autonomy is that far off for Tesla.

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Tesla Semi undergoes major redesign as dedicated factory preps for deliveries

The Semi has been one of the most anticipated products in the Tesla lineup due to the disruption it could cause in the trucking industry.

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Tesla put its all-electric Semi truck through quite a major redesign as its dedicated factory for the vehicle is preparing for initial deliveries to the public starting next year.

The Semi has been one of the most anticipated products in the Tesla lineup due to the disruption it could cause in the trucking industry.

It has already been in numerous pilot programs for some pretty large companies over the past couple of years, PepsiCo. being one of them, and it is moving toward first deliveries to other companies sometime in 2026.

Yesterday at the 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting, Tesla unveiled its new Semi design, which underwent a pretty significant facelift to match the aesthetic and vibe of the other vehicles in the company’s lineup.

Additionally, Tesla announced some other improvements, including changes to efficiency, and some other changes that we did not get details on yet.

The first change was to the design of the Semi, as Tesla adopted its blade-like light bar for the Class 8 truck, similar to the one that is used on the new Model Y and the Cybertruck:

There also appear to be a handful of design changes that help with aerodynamics, as its efficiency has increased to 1.7 kWh per mile.

Tesla also said it has an increased payload capability, which will help companies to haul more goods per trip.

All of these changes come as the company’s Semi Factory, which is located on the same property as its Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada, is just finishing up. In late October, it was shown that the Semi facility is nearly complete, based on recent drone imagery from factory observer HinrichsZane on X:

Tesla Semi factory looks nearly complete

The factory will be capable of producing about 50,000 Tesla Semi units annually when it is completely ramped. The company has major plans to help get the Semi in more fleets across the United States.

Other entities are also working to develop a charging corridor for electric Class 8 trucks. The State of California was awarded $102 million to develop a charging corridor that spans from Washington to Southern California.

Another corridor is being developed that spans from Southern California to Texas, and 49 applicants won $636 million from the Department of Transportation for it.

Tesla requested funding for it, but was denied.

The Semi has been a staple in several companies’ fleets over the past few years, most notably that of Frito-Lay and PepsiCo., who have reported positive experiences thus far.

Musk said last year that the Semi had “ridiculous demand.”

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Tesla Cybercab production starts Q2 2026, Elon Musk confirms

Elon Musk highlighted that the fully autonomous vehicle will be the first Tesla designed specifically for unsupervised self-driving.

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Credit: Tesla/X

Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed that production of the company’s autonomous Cybercab will begin in April 2026, and its production targets will be quite ambitious. 

Speaking at Tesla’s 2025 Annual Shareholder Meeting, Musk highlighted that the fully autonomous vehicle will be the first Tesla designed specifically for unsupervised self-driving.

A robotaxi built for an autonomous world

Musk described the Cybercab as a clean-slate design optimized for autonomy, with no steering wheel, pedals, or side mirrors. “It’s very much optimized for the lowest cost per mile in an autonomous mode,” Musk said, adding that every Tesla produced in recent years already carries the hardware needed for full self-driving.

The Cybercab will be assembled at Giga Texas and will serve as the company’s flagship entry into the commercial robotaxi market. Musk emphasized that the project represents Tesla’s next evolutionary step in combining vehicle manufacturing, artificial intelligence, and mobility services.

One Cybercab every ten seconds

Musk reiterated that the Cybercab’s production process is more closely modeled on consumer electronics assembly than on traditional automotive manufacturing. This should pave the way for outputs that far exceed conventional automotive products.

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“That production is happening right here in this factory, and we’ll be starting production in April next year. The manufacturing system is unlike any other car. The manufacturing system of the Cybercab, it’s closer to a high volume consumer electronics device than it is a car manufacturing line. So the net result is that I think we should be able to achieve, I think, ultimately, less than a 10-second cycle time, basically a unit every 10 seconds.

“What that would mean is you could get on a line that would normally produce, say, 500,000 cars a year at a one minute cycle time, Model Y. This would be maybe as much as 2 million or 3 million, maybe ultimately it’s theoretically possible to achieve a 5 million unit production line if you can get to the 5-second cycle time,” the CEO said.

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