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SpaceX installs full set of car-sized grid fins on second Super Heavy booster
SpaceX appears to have installed a full set of car-sized grid fins on Starship’s second flightworthy Super Heavy booster, leaving the massive rocket just a few steps away from completion.
Measuring ~69m (~225 ft) tall and 9m (~30 ft) wide, Super Heavy Booster 5 (B5) – like B4 before it – will be one of two of the largest rocket boosters ever built once completed. In broad strokes, Super Heavy B4 and B5 are the same. Aside from near-identical dimensions, both have been built to hold up to 29 Raptor engines while Starbase has already begun receiving parts of the first 33-engine Super Heavy. That means that Booster 4 and 5 – while both potentially capable of flight – are also pathfinders for an upgraded version of Super Heavy with similar dimensions but the potential to produce more than 40% more thrust once Raptor 2 production takes over.
While more similar than not, there are significant differences between SpaceX’s first and second flightworthy Super Heavy boosters.
The biggest visible differences are tweaks SpaceX has made to the Super Heavy assembly process. Booster 4 was assembled out of mostly naked steel rings and only had thousands of feet of external plumbing, wiring, raceways, and hardware installed after it was stacked to its full height. That may partially be because CEO Elon Musk had ordered SpaceX to complete the first full-height Starship stack by early August, requiring the build team to prioritize speed above all else.
Regardless, SpaceX appears to be outfitting Super Heavy Booster 5’s exterior before and during the process of stacking the booster to its final height. Most sections of 3-4 steel rings have had partial plumbing and raceways preinstalled, meaning that Booster 5 will be far closer to test readiness than Booster 4 once stacking is complete. Booster 4, on the other hand, required at least several more weeks of outfitting after SpaceX briefly rolled the rocket to the orbital launch pad for a full-stack photo-op and fit check.
On October 12th, after rapidly stacking Super Heavy B5’s upper methane tank to completion, SpaceX began installing the booster’s four car-sized grid fins. Fixed in place and assembled out of welded steel unlike the Falcon family’s deployable, cast titanium fins, Super Heavy grid fins are several times larger and heavier but still serve the same purpose of stabilizing boosters during atmospheric reentry, descent, and landing. Like Booster 4, SpaceX has also installed all four Booster 5 grid fins before stacking the Super Heavy to its full 69-meter height.
Based on B4, that final stack could happen just a few days from now, though there are signs that it might take B5 a fair bit longer. Notably, whereas Booster 4’s aft liquid oxygen (LOx) tank was already fully stacked by the start of grid fin installation, Booster 5’s LOx section is still waiting on its thrust dome. That thrust section was most recently spotted inside a production tent on October 11th – far more thoroughly outfitted than Booster 4’s aft but awaiting installation nonetheless.
That slight difference in timing pales in comparison to a massive tube that may or may not have been installed inside Super Heavy B5 late last month and that definitely wasn’t installed in B4. Without official information, it’s hard to know for sure, but the general community consensus is that this new tube (possibly one of two installed inside Booster 5’s LOx tank) is some kind of header tank or sump meant to collect propellant for Super Heavy’s boostback and/or landing burn.
If SpaceX really is adding header tanks to Super Heavy, it would drastically increase the complexity of booster plumbing, potentially explaining why Super Heavy B5’s thrust section installation is taking longer than B4. Only time (and hopefully a tweet or two from Musk) will tell.
Tesla has officially revealed its 2026 Summer Update, which comes with a variety of crazy new features, including Navigation fixes that owners have been wanting for months.
Tesla routinely releases a larger update with the Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter updates, where it ships a variety of new features, bug fixes, and other additions to customer cars.
The 2026 Spring Update featured things like “Hey Grok” voice assistance, a redesigned self-driving app, Unreal Engine visual upgrades, and more.
🚨 TESLA’S SUMMER UPDATE FOR 2026 IS HERE:
Featuring:
✅ Self-Driving Stats in Mobile App
✅ Caraoke with Scoring
✅ Automatic Navigation
✅ Preferred Routes
✅ Set Arrival Energy from Mobile App
✅ Send Custom Wraps from Mobile App
✅ Rear Display Lock
✅ Other Improvements
🔌… https://t.co/C9IW3egEhH
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) July 21, 2026
Tesla’s Summer Release has about ten new features; we’ll show you each and detail them below:
New Grok Voice Commands
“Grok can now make phone calls, search and play music, adjust climate, open the glovebox, and answer questions about your Tesla.”
Self-Driving Stats in Mobile App
“View and share self-driving stats from the mobile app.”
Caraoke With Scoring
“Caraoke now scores your singing while in Park. High scores are saved to your Tesla profile.”
Automatic Navigation
“Automatic Navigation now adapts to your routine.
In addition to Home, Work, and upcoming calendar events, your vehicle can now suggest and route to places you visit regularly – like a school drop-off on the way to work, or the gym on the way home.”
Preferred Routes
“For a more personalized experience, navigation now prioritizes routes that you’ve taken before”
Set Arrival Energy from Mobile App
“Set your desired Arrival Energy from your phone.”
Send Custom Wraps from Mobile App
“Skip the USB drive and upload a custom wrap of your car from the mobile app. Instructions for creating a custom wrap here: https://github.com/teslamotors/custom-wraps.”
Rear Display Lock
“Kids can watch content on the rear screen, but only the front row can control it through the rear screen app.”
Other Improvements
- Find Superchargers by name when searching for a destination
- Add Apple Music songs to queue from search and artist page
- Set your preferred zoom level for the Self-Driving visualization
- Intro animations for new Model 3 and Y
Tesla’s reason for Starlink integration on Cybercab might surprise you, as the company’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, finally shed some light on the reason they are putting a satellite internet terminal on its ride-hailing-geared vehicle.
On Monday, Tesla officially confirmed that it would integrate Starlink V5 terminals into Cybercab vehicles, something many Tesla fans had figured the company would do, as the vehicle is primarily geared toward giving rides without any passenger intervention.
Starlink V5 directly integrated in Cybercab pic.twitter.com/FxzTtzjB6I
— Tesla (@Tesla) July 20, 2026
The ability to access the internet would allow riders to work or play in the car with their devices. It seemed like a more-than-reasonable feature to add to the Cybercab, which made its way off the production lines for the first time earlier this year.
Tesla reveals first vehicle model to receive Starlink integration
However, the move is not for the rider, as Elluswamy confirmed on Monday night. Instead, it’s actually for Tesla to be able to have a constant connection to the cars in the Robotaxi fleet so it can troubleshoot issues, contact riders, or resolve other issues.
Elluswamy said:
“It is still not required for safe operation of the vehicle. Connectivity is primarily meant for navigation, customer service and, in general, fleet management.”
It is still not required for safe operation of the vehicle. Connectivity is primarily meant for navigation, customer service and, in general, fleet management.
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) July 20, 2026
Many initially assumed the option of constant connectivity would be enabled on the Cybercab for passenger entertainment or work. With the Cybercab, passengers won’t be doing anything but enjoying the ride, so it seemed more than logical that they would be hanging out with Starlink internet access as an amenity.
However, Tesla’s primary concern with Robotaxi is safety, and nailing these first unsupervised rides is a crucial step to setting a good narrative on how effective driverless transportation can be.
Being able to get in touch with passengers or a vehicle if something is wrong is a crucial part of the overall experience, and preventative measures are being taken by Tesla to ensure a smooth process, even in the worst-case.
Tesla has expanded its Robotaxi program in Florida to include two new cities: Tampa and Orlando.
This marks the second and third cities to be added to the company’s available locations for autonomous ride-hailing in the Sunshine State, joining Miami, which was the first Florida city to offer Robotaxi rides.
Tesla announced the addition of Orlando and Tampa to the Robotaxi program on Tuesday morning. The cities now join Austin, Dallas, Houston, Miami, and the San Francisco Bay Area as locations where Tesla can operate its Robotaxi platform:
Robotaxi now in Tampa & Orlando! pic.twitter.com/fYtmXgJq3O
— Tesla Robotaxi (@robotaxi) July 21, 2026
These rides are unsupervised, as AI Head Ashok Elluswamy confirmed the suite in Florida is operating without safety drivers or anyone within the cabin to assist with operation.
Orlando Tesla Robotaxi Operation
The geofence in Orlando covers a prominent irregular shaded zone on the map, roughly 4-6 miles across in key dimensions, so it likely measures somewhere between 25 and 45 square miles, which is comparable to other early Tesla launches in other cities.
It encompasses central and southern areas bounded by major highways including SR-417 and SR-528, including parts of the Orlando metro core, tourism-adjacent zones, and residential/commercial districts. This represents an initial targeted rollout in a tourist-heavy region, positioned for quick expansion via Tesla’s software updates.
Tampa Tesla Robotaxi Operation
In Tampa, the shape of the geofence is a shaded polygon covering key neighborhoods, explicitly including West Tampa, Tampa Heights, Hyde Park, and downtown Tampa proper, with boundaries along major roads and the Hillsborough River area.
This focuses on high-demand central zones and will offer tourists and citygoers rides without drivers.
Robotaxi Progress
Tesla has been operating Robotaxi since last June, when it launched in Austin. The geofences in most regions have already expanded several times since their launch last year, but the bigger complaint is vehicle availability. Tesla has been working to add more Robotaxi-enabled vehicles to its fleet.
The company still plans to utilize its Cybercab, a new vehicle that is being produced at Gigafactory Texas, for the Robotaxi suite alongside the Model Y, which has been the vehicle of choice for Tesla with early operations.
Tesla reveals 2026 Summer Update with crazy fixes to Nav and more
Tesla’s reason for Starlink integration on Cybercab might surprise you
