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SpaceX Starship test tank set for destructive finale after ‘cryo proof’
SpaceX’s fourth Starship test tank is set for a destructive finale after completing a “cryo proof” pressure test on Thursday.
SpaceX’s newest Starship test tank – SN7.1 – is the second in a series of two planned prototypes, both designed to test the viability of using a new steel alloy to build future Starships and Super Heavy boosters. CEO Elon Musk says that SpaceX is technically customizing its own steel alloy for Starship production but Musk’s comments and the results from SN7 testing in June 2020 point towards an offshoot of 304L with minor metallurgical tweaks.
Prior to SN7’s test campaign, Musk revealed that the main goal of the new alloy was to reduce the brittleness of Starship tanks and any adjacent steel components under cryogenic conditions (i.e. extreme cold). Ultimately, SN7 appeared to confirm that the new alloy’s behavior was far more forgiving under cryogenic loads, reaching what were believed to be record pressures before the tank finally burst on June 24th.
Following in SN7’s footsteps, SN7.1 is much closer to an actual Starship prototype.
“SN7.1 is significantly more complex than its sibling and will test a ~304L Raptor mount (thrust puck) and skirt section. The forces and general conditions those new parts will be subjected to are substantially different than most of what SN7 was subjected to, meaning that there is a chance that 304L steel is actually worse in some scenarios.
With any luck, though, SN7.1’s test campaign – scheduled to begin as early as 9pm CDT (UTC-5), September 10th – will be a flawless success, proving that SpaceX’s new steel alloy is superior to 301 for all Starship-related applications. If that’s the case, Starship SN8 – the first full new-alloy prototype – will likely be fully outfitted with a nosecone and header tanks before beginning acceptance testing later this month.”
Teslarati.com — September 10th, 2020
For SN7.1, increased ductility could theoretically be a mixed bag. Assuming SpaceX has also built the thrust puck out of 304L-adjacent steel, it may end up being too squishy under the extreme forces it will be subjected to. At full throttle, the thrust of three Raptor engines will compress the thrust puck – a cone with dimensions roughly the same as a large circular table – with the equivalent force of a ~600 metric ton (1.3 million lb) weight.
On September 10th, SpaceX put SN7.1 through its paces, performing a cryogenic proof test with liquid nitrogen (LN2) while the tank was still installed on the simple steel frame used to support it during production and transport. That simple decision offers a brief glimpse at the extensive planning that allows SpaceX to optimize for speed and efficiency while still conducting successful tests. While SpaceX could have technically installed SN7.1 directly onto a brand new launch mount custom-built for the exact kind of testing expected, the company instead left the tank on its build stand – much cheaper and far easier to replace than the former.
Technically, moving directly to the launch mount would have slightly simplified the test process, but a tank rupture during a routine cryogenic proof test could have extensively damaged or destroyed the mount, requiring weeks of work to build a full replacement. After SN7.1 successfully completed a cryogenic pressure test on September 10th, SpaceX simply lifted it off its work stand and installed it on a custom-built launch mount.
As early as 9pm CDT (UTC-5) on September 14th, SpaceX will once again load SN7.1 with liquid nitrogen. This time around, the tank – after reaching flight pressures of 7.5 to 8+ bar (110-120+ psi) – will be subjected to the simulated thrust of three Raptor engines by a series of hydraulic rams. Based on a public schedule of road closures, at least two tests are planned. The first will likely put SN7.1 through a range of Raptor thrust scenarios and profiles under the same tank pressures needed for orbital Starship flights. If that test is successful, SpaceX may move SN7.1 back to its work stand before intentionally pressurizing the tank until it bursts sometime around September 17th.
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Tesla Cybercab is set to launch in Austin, Texas, on September 3, as the company has officially started sending out invitations to a dedicated event it will hold in the city where its headquarters is located.
The Cybercab is Tesla’s dedicated ride-sharing vehicle: it features just two seats and has no steering wheel or pedals. It is aimed at fully autonomous passenger transport, and will operate in the Robotaxi fleet alongside the Tesla Model Y, which has been performing driverless rides for real-world passengers for more than a year.
Thank you so much @Tesla for inviting us to the Cybercab launch in Austin! 🤠 pic.twitter.com/F1rAR8zd5O
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) August 22, 2026
The launch of the Cybercab marks the next chapter in Tesla’s autonomy story. The company has been developing autonomous transport for years with its Full Self-Driving (Supervised) platform, which is available in any vehicle the company has built with the proper hardware and software capabilities.
Its capabilities vary by hardware and software version, but Tesla says its latest hardware version, known as AI4, can deliver full autonomy. However, future vehicles will operate with even more robust hardware packages, as Tesla will develop AI4.5 and AI5 for even more capability in its vehicles.
Following a report from The Information that surfaced earlier this week, the writing was on the wall that Tesla was set to launch Cybercab in the near term. The report stated Tesla could launch Cybercab as soon as the end of August. Tesla came close and has booked it for September 3.
The big thing with this event being scheduled is not necessarily that Tesla is launching a new vehicle, but instead that it is launching a vehicle that has no steering wheel or pedals and will operate exclusively on a self-driving program that is evidently nearing full autonomy. If the event allows vehicles to take passengers on public roads and drop them off wherever they please within the City of Austin, it will be a drastic advancement in the company’s self-driving story.
People have ridden in Cybercab previously: Tesla had the “We, Robot” event in October 2024, which allowed people to experience fully autonomous rides in a closed circuit at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank.
🚨 Ride in a Tesla Cybercab with us
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) May 11, 2025
Additionally, Tesla launched employee rides in Cybercab in July.
It’s a drastic step forward for Tesla, whose CEO, Elon Musk, has promised for years that the company would release a fully autonomous vehicle and platform capable of allowing drivers to relinquish any responsibility behind the wheel.
Elon Musk put a number on where he thinks SpaceX’s Starship program is headed by 2030, replying on X a day after President Trump signed a memo pushing the country toward 1,000 space launches and reentries a year.
The exchange started when Aaron Burnett, co-founder of propulsion startup Mach 33, posted that “1,000 launches/reentries is the goal,” quoting White House science adviser Michael Kratsios on the newly signed National Space Transportation Policy. Burnett noted that the FAA’s own bull-case forecast reached only 385 annual launches by 2030, while his firm’s conservative model already put SpaceX alone near 940. Musk responded, “We’re aiming to reach 30+ Starship launches/day in 2030, which is ~10k annualized. Still tiny numbers compared to airplane flights!”
We’re aiming to reach 30+ Starship launches/day in 2030, which is ~10k annualized.
Still tiny numbers compared to airplane flights!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 21, 2026
That figure is specific to Starship, the rocket SpaceX is still developing for orbital and lunar missions, not the Falcon 9 fleet that carries most of the company’s current launch volume. Starship has flown twice this year, a slower pace than the four and five flights SpaceX managed in 2024 and 2025. Getting from two flights a year to 30 a day is the scale of jump the new federal policy is meant to clear regulatory room for.
Trump’s memo, signed Thursday, directs agencies to identify new launch and reentry sites on federal land, including a new reentry site within 90 days, and to speed up the permitting and environmental reviews that have long slowed cadence growth. It also sets a goal of returning American astronauts to the moon by 2028 and placing initial lunar base elements by 2030, tying the launch buildout directly to NASA’s Artemis program.
SpaceX has already been pushing the FAA toward higher numbers on its own. The agency approved up to 44 annual Starship launches from Kennedy Space Center in February, on top of a 2024 review that raised the cap at Starbase in Texas to 25 a year. Those approvals cover a fraction of the 10,000 annual flights Musk is now describing, which shows how far current permitting still sits from the administration’s stated target.
The near-term test of all this is more modest. SpaceX cleared a full-duration, six-engine static fire on its next Starship vehicle this week, the last major hardware checkpoint before Flight 14, which is targeting no earlier than August 28 and is expected to attempt the vehicle’s first full orbital mission. Musk said last week that a tower catch of the upper stage is still probably months away, a reminder that the immediate roadmap remains far more incremental than the daily launch numbers he just posted.
Tesla will resolve its massive recall of nearly three million vehicles in China with stickers and a software update.
On Friday, Chinese regulators filed recall plans against Tesla, Xiaomi, Leapmotor, Xpeng, Chery, Geely, Dongfeng, Arcfox, and FAW to resolve what is essentially a carbon-copy issue throughout each of the companies’ vehicle models: emergency door release latches are simply not visible enough.
Tesla door handle saga gets its latest chapter and a big change is coming
The companies will be required to add things that will make these latches, which will open the door in the event of an emergency, more visible. Of the 7 million vehicles impacted, Tesla accounts for 2,975,910 units. More than 1.9 million of those are Model Y vehicles, with the rest, just over 970,000, being Model 3s.
To resolve the issue, Tesla is going to add warning labels to the emergency latches free of charge, and then utilize an Over-the-Air update to add a post-crash window-lowering strategy, according to CNEVpost.
This massive effort to fix the all-electric Model Y and Model 3’s emergency latch system comes just months after several probes across various markets identified the trouble some had identifying this latch. Those who had gotten involved in car accidents that stripped the vehicle of its power were not aware that every Tesla has emergency door latches.
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said that severe crashes that disable a vehicle’s low-voltage system could not only hinder occupants from getting out, but also make it more difficult for emergency response workers to gain entry.
SAMR is starting to tighten the regulations it has on door handles on vehicles. A new mandatory national standard will take effect for all models starting January 1, 2027, and will require all doors to be equipped with mechanical release mechanisms. This will effectively end purely electronic door handles. Models already on sale with type approval have been granted a two-year transition period, which will enable things to change until January 2029.
Tesla will launch Cybercab on September 3
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