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SpaceX Starship test plans solidify after bad weather delays hop
Around the same time SpaceX was preparing for its 100th Falcon rocket launch, bad Texas weather forced the company to abort its second Starship hop test of the month.
Since that abort, SpaceX’s near-term Starship test plans have begun to solidify, offering a clearer picture of what to expect over the next week or two. Pending better weather at its Boca Chica, Texas test facilities, Starship serial number 6 (SN6) is still first in line and has been preparing for its hop debut ever since the prototype completed a Raptor engine static fire test on August 23rd.
Measuring approximately 30m (~100 ft) tall, SN6 is a full-scale Starship tank and engine section – the bottom ~60% and business end of the reusable orbital spacecraft. Of course, SpaceX has a ways to go before Starship is actually ready for its first orbital test flight, let alone reuse after such a test flight, but the company did take its biggest step yet towards that lofty ambitions with Starship SN5’s successful August 4th hop debut.
Effectively twins, Starship SN5 and SN6 have since been expected to take turns completing “several” hops to improve SpaceX’s familiarity with Starship launch operations and work towards a smooth procedure that can be completed multiple times per day. With SN6 now scheduled to hop no earlier than 8am CDT (UTC-5), September 3rd, 29 days after SN5’s debut, SpaceX still has its work cut out for it.
Nevertheless, SN5’s 150m (~500 ft) hop was the first flight of any kind for a full-scale Starship prototype, as well as the first use of an entirely new landing leg design and Raptor’s first flight in almost a year. In the history of rocket development, there is no precedent for launching and landing a prototype rocket and then repeating the same test with an entirely new prototype less than a month later.
Additionally, most of the 29 days since SN5’s first hop have been spent preparing Starship SN6 for a crucial “cryo proof” qualification test. Had that cryo proof been completed before SN5’s hop debut, SN6 could have been ready to fly as few as ~10 days later. That still leaves SpaceX a long ways away from multiple Starship hops per day but does offer encouragement that flight-proven Starship SN5 could be ready for its second hop not long after the pad is clear.
However, it appears that SpaceX instead plans to follow up SN6’s hop debut with a new ‘test tank’ meant to demonstrate an upgraded Starship “thrust puck” built out of a different steel alloy. Known as Starship SN7.1, the test will follow on the heels of a more traditional tank (SN7) that completed a record-breaking pressure test in June 2020 and proved that Starship would likely be better off with a different steel alloy.
While SN7 was a basic test tank (two domes and a few steel rings), SN7.1 adds a skirt section at its base and replaces the aft dome with a thrust dome. Likely built entirely out of a steel alloy closer to 304L than the 301 SpaceX has used for all prior Starship prototypes, that thrust dome features a new ‘thrust puck’ – the structural element Raptor engines attach to and transmit their thrust through.
Unlike past single tank tests, SN7.1 will be put through something more like a full prototype’s cryo pressure test. SN7.1 will be installed on a launch mount, allowing its skirt clamps to firmly secure the prototype to the stand, itself secured to a concrete slab on the ground. That launch mount also allows SpaceX to install a hydraulic ram designed to mechanically simulate the thrust of 1-3 Raptor engines without the risk involved in an actual static fire. SN7.1 is scheduled to begin testing no earlier than (NET) 8 am CDT (UTC-5), September 6th – just three days after SN6’s next planned hop attempt.
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Investor's Corner
NASA taps SpaceX to launch the telescope that could unlock new worlds
NASA’s Roman Space Telescope heads to orbit this August aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy with massive scientific ambitions.
SpaceX is set to play a central role in one of NASA’s most anticipated science missions in years. The company’s Falcon Heavy rocket, currently the most powerful operational launch vehicle in the world, will carry the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope into orbit on August 30 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Roman is now in final preparations inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, where on June 26 technicians used a crane to lift the observatory into a specialized stand for fueling and pre-launch testing.
Roman is named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief of astronomy, whose career helped shape how the agency approaches space science.
NASA chose SpaceX Falcon Heavy because of Roman’s needs to reach a specific orbit far from Earth, well beyond where a standard Falcon 9 can deliver it. The Falcon Heavy, which first flew in 2018, has since become NASA’s go-to option for missions that need serious muscle without the cost and complexity of older launch systems.
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Roman will carry a field of view at least 100 times wider than the Hubble Space Telescope, meaning it can photograph enormous swaths of the universe in a single shot rather than the narrow slices Hubble captures. That difference in scale is significant. While Hubble reshaped our understanding of the cosmos over 30 years, Roman is built to work faster and wider, surveying hundreds of millions of galaxies at once.
One of Roman’s most compelling capabilities is its potential to discover and photograph planets orbiting stars outside our solar system, and with enough precision to directly image planets that would otherwise be lost. That means scientists could study the atmosphere and surface characteristics of distant worlds rather than simply confirming they exist. Combined with Roman’s sweeping field of view, the telescope could detect thousands of exoplanets, and some of those planets may be in habitable zones where liquid water could exist. No telescope currently in operation has this level of power and capability. That capability alone could change what we know about other worlds, and perhaps finally answer the question: are we the only intelligent lifeforms in existence?
What Roman actually finds once it reaches orbit is an open question, and that is exactly what makes this launch worth watching.
Tesla has confirmed a crucial detail of its Miami Robotaxi launch, stating that the fleet is operating on an Unsupervised basis, joining a few other cities where company employees do not watch over the vehicles from inside.
Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, confirmed the detail on X, answering a highly speculated question about the Robotaxi Service in Miami, which was launched on June 3:
Unsupervised
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) July 3, 2026
The first launch of Robotaxi in Florida, Miami presents a unique opportunity for Tesla as it is operating the Unsupervised Robotaxi ride-hailing service in a major tourist hotspot in the Sunshine State. It also signals the suite will expand to other cities soon; many have requested Orlando, a heavy tourist spot with Disney and other resorts nearby, get access to the program soon as well.
Miami is getting a conservative rollout as well, just as Tesla has done with other cities. The initial geofence covers a compact 10–14 square mile zone in western Miami-Dade County, primarily West Miami extending toward Doral and Sweetwater. It is bounded roughly by SR-826 (Palmetto Expressway) to the north and US-41 (Tamiami Trail) to the south, excluding downtown Miami, Miami Beach, the airport, and most of Coral Gables.
Tesla has also been pretty slim on other details. For example, Tesla has not disclosed the exact fleet size, but field reports and license plate tracking indicate just two unsupervised Model Y vehicles were active on launch day, increasing to three within 48 hours.
According to The Road to Autonomy, a nearby staging lot near Miami International Airport holds dozens of Cybercabs alongside additional Model Y units, suggesting capacity for rapid scaling as demand and data collection grow.
The confirmation of Robotaxi being Unsupervised carries immense weight. It establishes that Tesla’s Miami Robotaxi operations run without human safety drivers or remote supervision, relying entirely on the company’s Full Self-Driving technology. Miami becomes the second major U.S. city after Austin to offer unsupervised Robotaxi rides from day one.
The move reflects rapid progress in Tesla’s AI efforts. Neural networks trained on vast real-world data now handle complex urban environments, including South Florida’s heavy traffic, pedestrians, and rainy conditions. Industry observers see it as validation of Tesla’s vision-centric, data-driven approach versus traditional rule-based systems; a truly unorthodox approach in this day and age.
Challenges remain, including regulatory oversight, public trust, and scaling the fleet to match geofence ambitions. Miami’s small initial footprint and limited vehicles highlight a deliberate, measured expansion strategy focused on safety and data gathering.
Nevertheless, the unsupervised confirmation marks a pivotal milestone. It showcases technical readiness and advances Tesla’s vision of transforming vehicles into autonomous revenue generators while reshaping urban mobility. For Miami users, driverless transportation has moved from concept to reality.
A California radiologist who drove his Tesla Model Y off a 250-foot cliff in an attempt to kill his family has had his charges dismissed after doctors say he is “doing well” in a mental health program.
Dharmesh Patel was charged with three counts of attempted murder in connection with a January 2023 crash where he drove his Tesla off a cliff, injuring his wife and two children, aged 7 and 4 at the time.
Patel drove the Tesla off Devil’s Slide in California, an area that is extremely rough to the point that investigators and rescuers expected the worst when arriving at the scene for the first time. Patel supposedly had schizoaffective disorder, according to Deputy District Attorney Dominique Davis.
Shockingly, Patel’s wife, who was in the vehicle, testified that she did not want her husband to be prosecuted, noting that their children missed their father and they wanted him to come back home. Patel’s attorney argued, “not everyone who commits a crime is a criminal.”
Doctor who took Tesla off cliff gets support from unlikely person
A three-day trial in Mental Health Diversion Court ruled in Patel’s favor, which kept him out of jail and instead on house arrest. He was admitted to a Mental Health Diversion Program, which he successfully completed, the Associated Press reported. San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said the judge was “required by law” to dismiss the charges:
“If the person who’s given mental health diversion follows the treatment plan, there’s nothing that can be done, and at the end of the two years he gets it wiped out of his record.”
Wagstaffe said he has argued, along with other DAs in California, to have attempted murder removed from the list of charges eligible to be dismissed due to mental health diversion programs.
Patel had the charges officially dismissed on Monday; his wife waited for him as he left court and they departed the building together, according to Mercury News. Patel surrendered his California medical license in December.
The crash has been one of the best examples of Tesla’s incredible engineering, which has saved four lives in this particular instance. The car was totalled but kept the four human beings alive and safe, which is something that many referred to as “an absolute miracle.”
NASA taps SpaceX to launch the telescope that could unlock new worlds
Tesla confirms crucial detail of Miami Robotaxi launch
