News
SpaceX moves Super Heavy booster to make room for Mechazilla arm installation
For the second time, SpaceX has removed the first potentially flightworthy Super Heavy from Starbase’s orbital launch mount – this time to reportedly make room for the installation of a pair of huge ‘Mechazilla’ arms.
Designed with three primary purposes in mind, SpaceX has decided to outfit Starbase’s Starship launch tower – an almost 500 ft (150m) tall framework – with three massive arms that CEO Elon Musk has informally deemed “Mechazilla.” The first of those arms is a relatively simple swinging structure that has already been installed on the tower and outfitted with a giant claw-like appendage. Once a few more parts are installed and a bit more plumbing completed, that “quick disconnect arm” or QD arm will help stabilize Super Heavy during Starship installation and connect the massive reusable upper stage to the pad’s tank farm and power supplies while still on the ground.
The star of the show, though, has always been a pair of even larger arms that are hoped to one day all SpaceX to catch Super Heavy boosters and Starships out of the air.
Of course, those catcher arms – deemed chopsticks by SpaceX employees – have more than one purpose. Likely explaining why they were ever considered in the first place, SpaceX’s Starbase launch site – situated walking distance from the Gulf of Mexico on the South Texas coast – was always going to have to deal with extreme weather and high winds on a practically daily basis. Additionally, conditions that are already disruptive at sea level become a near-constant nightmare for vertical launch vehicle integration, where Starship and Super Heavy are effectively hollow cylinders with extensive surface areas that need to be regularly and precisely manipulated 50-150m (200-450 ft) above the ground.
Already, SpaceX regularly has to halt work involving cranes and boom lifts at Starbase. For Starbase (Boca Chica) to ever be able to support regular orbital Starship launches, let alone the dozens to hundreds per year Musk has hinted at, cranes were never going to be a viable long-term solution for the all-weather capabilities and rapid reusability SpaceX requires. In other words, whether SpaceX ever actually manages to routinely ‘catch’ the world’s largest rocket booster and upper stage in the future, a tower with giant arms (or some other exotic crane-free solution) was always going to be needed at Starbase.
Mauricio, thanks for the shout-out. I got some great feedback from folks and updated this diagram once more. Added another @NicAnsuini photo to show the scale of these parts! pic.twitter.com/o54hdBITfL— LunarCaveman (@LunarCaveman) September 16, 2021

This is all to say that the Starship launch tower’s massive pair of arms – (in)famous for Musk’s plans to catch rockets – have a more immediate and guaranteed purpose: lifting, stacking, and otherwise manipulating Starship and Super Heavy in almost all weather conditions. Using tiny hardpoints located just under Super Heavy’s grid fins and (once installed) under Starship’s forward flaps, the chopstick arms will be mounted on a carriage that will attach to rails installed on the exterior of three of the tower’s arms. A complex system of cables, winches, motors, and pulleys will then attach to that carriage, giving the carriage and its arms the ability to move up and down the tower.
In theory, that means that the launch tower arms will be able to drop down, grab Super Heavy off of a SpaceX transporter, and lift it onto the orbital launch mount. Then, once the quick disconnect arm has swung into place and ‘grabbed’ Super Heavy’s interstage to secure it, the main arms will again drop down, grab Starship off of another transporter, and raise the 50m (~165 ft) rocket around 100m off the ground to install it on top of Super Heavy. Finally, the QD arm can then connect Starship to the pad systems.


SpaceX has been working around the clock on those chopstick arms for months. However, thanks to information shared by a forum member who visited Starbase and briefly chatted with one of the SpaceX technicians on-site, they might be almost finished. According to the employee they spoke with, SpaceX planned to temporarily remove Super Heavy Booster 4 from the orbital launch mount to make room for Mechazilla chopstick arm installation as early as this weekend (now come and gone) or next week. Mere days later, SpaceX returned B4 to a transport stand and moved the booster out of the way. In other words, having already been proven right with Super Heavy, it appears that SpaceX really does intend to install the Starship launch tower’s chopstick arms and carriage as early as this week. Stay tuned for more!
Investor's Corner
Tesla receives major institutional boost with Nomura’s rising stake
The move makes Tesla Nomura’s 10th-largest holding at about 1% of its entire portfolio.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) has gained fresh institutional support, with Nomura Asset Management expanding its position in the automaker.
Nomura boosted its Tesla holdings by 4.2%, adding 47,674 shares and bringing its total position to more than 1.17 million shares valued at roughly $373.6 million. The move makes Tesla Nomura’s 10th-largest holding at about 1% of its entire portfolio.
Institutional investors and TSLA
Nomura’s filing was released alongside several other fund updates. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings by 11.8%, as noted in a MarketBeat report, and Revolve Wealth Partners lifted its TSLA position by 21.2%. Bison Wealth increased its Tesla stake by 52.2%, AMG National Trust Bank increased its position in shares of Tesla by 11.8%, and FAS Wealth Partners increased its TSLA holdings by 22.1%. About 66% of all outstanding Tesla shares are now owned by institutional investors.
The buying comes shortly after Tesla reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, posting $0.50 per share compared with the $0.48 consensus. Revenue reached $28.10 billion, topping Wall Street’s $24.98 billion estimate. Despite the earnings beat, Tesla continues to trade at a steep premium relative to peers, with a market cap hovering around $1.34 trillion and a price-to-earnings ratio near 270.
Recent insider sales
Some Tesla insiders have sold stock as of late. CFO Vaibhav Taneja sold 2,606 shares in early September for just over $918,000, reducing his personal stake by about 21%. Director James R. Murdoch executed a far larger sale, offloading 120,000 shares for roughly $42 million and trimming his holdings by nearly 15%. Over the past three months, Tesla insiders have collectively sold 202,606 shares valued at approximately $75.6 million, as per SEC disclosures.
Tesla is currently entering its next phase of growth, and if it is successful, it could very well become the world’s most valuable company as a result. The company has several high-profile projects expected to be rolled out in the coming years, including Optimus, the humanoid robot, and the Cybercab, an autonomous two-seater with the potential to change the face of roads across the globe.
@teslarati Tesla Full Self-Driving yields for pedestrians while human drivers do not…the future is here! #tesla #teslafsd #fullselfdriving ♬ 2 Little 2 Late – Levi & Mario
News
Tesla rolls out fresh Supercharger pricing strategy to more locations
Live Pricing aimed to resolve some of the shortcomings of the off-peak and on-peak system, aiming to keep prices low and base them on current utilization instead of a set time when prices change.
Tesla has rolled out a fresh Supercharger pricing strategy to more locations, as it confirmed it has added 550 additional sites in the United States to its “Live Pricing” strategy.
Live Pricing for Superchargers launched back in May, and was the company’s latest strategy to keep charging your EV cheap, affordable, and easy to understand.
Tesla has adjusted its pricing strategy at Superchargers several times over the past few years, with the most notable being the 2020 introduction of off-peak and on-peak Supercharging rates.
Live Pricing aimed to resolve some of the shortcomings of the off-peak and on-peak system, aiming to keep prices low and base them on current utilization instead of a set time when prices change.
Tesla explained the program when it launched:
“We are piloting on-peak and off-peak pricing based on live Supercharger utilization rather than estimations. The average price remains unchanged, but this live feedback loop improves accuracy. This corrects off-peak pricing during times of congestion, or on-peak pricing when Superchargers are plentiful. You’ll always see the price before your session begins, and prices do not change mid-session. A small-scale pilot is launching at 10 sites and will expand based on feedback and success.”
The initial rollout only included Superchargers in California, but it was not all of them, only a handful instead. Tesla was attempting to launch it in a very controlled manner by using a Pilot Program that would iron out all the early bugs and potential issues it might run into.
However, the company expanded the program by launching it at an additional 550 sites in California, New Jersey, New York, Florida, and Illinois:
Live pricing expanded to an additional 550 sites in California, New Jersey, New York, Florida and Illinois.
Currently the average price remains the same, peak prices are unchanged and will be paid by fewer sessions.
We’ll keep iterating on getting it right, based on impact and…
— Tesla Charging (@TeslaCharging) November 14, 2025
The price you pay is locked in when you plug in, so if the Supercharger station you are charging at becomes more crowded and the program bumps up the rates because of high utilization rates, you will still receive the cheaper price that was enabled when you arrived.
@teslarati With a pedestrian in the crosswalk, Tesla Full Self-Driving shows off its courtesy. Human drivers? Not so much. #tesla #teslafsd #fullselfdriving ♬ AMERICAN HEART – Maxwell Luke
News
Tesla Robotaxi was just spotted in a new state for the first time
The company is still attempting to expand and has explicitly stated that it plans to offer rides in Nevada, Arizona, and Florida in the near future. However, a pair of Robotaxi mules, fitted with LiDAR equipment for ground truth validation, was spotted in a new region for the first time.
Tesla Robotaxi mules were spotted in a new state for the first time as the company plans to expand the ride-sharing service to new areas of the United States in the coming months.
Tesla is offering Robotaxi rides in Austin already, where nobody is present in the driver’s seat except for on freeway routes. In California, Tesla refers to its platform as a ride-hailing suite, and a “Safety Monitor” is present in the driver’s seat at all times, but the vehicle operates on Full Self-Driving.
The company is still attempting to expand and has explicitly stated that it plans to offer rides in Nevada, Arizona, and Florida in the near future. However, a pair of Robotaxi mules, fitted with LiDAR equipment for ground truth validation, was spotted in a new region for the first time.
Over the weekend, Tesla Robotaxi mules were spotted in Enola, Pennsylvania, just about ten minutes from downtown Harrisburg:
🚨 Enola is about 10 minutes from Harrisburg, the State Capitol
Interesting tidbit of information as Tesla is testing Robotaxi close to PA’s legislators https://t.co/5rDlcYrV8w
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) November 17, 2025
Enola is situated to the northwest of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania’s State Capitol. Interestingly, you’d expect Tesla to be testing these types of vehicles in other, more populated areas; Philadelphia is about two hours East, and Pittsburgh is about three hours west. State College is about an hour North of Enola.
Looking at the location of where the vehicles were spotted tells an interesting story, as Enola, located right outside of the State Capitol, could be a move to nudge legislators to consider looking at some of the laws that deal with driverless and autonomous vehicle operation.
Pennsylvania’s Act 130 of 2022 and subsequent guidelines permit the testing of driverless vehicles in the Commonwealth, but PennDOT requires a permit from Tesla or any other company that wants to operate a ride-hailing service in PA.
It’s also important to note that the cars could have simply been stopping through, as they were spotted at a Supercharger location along Interstate 81, which spans from Tennessee to New York.
It is not to say the vehicles are testing along the entire route, but likely a segment of it. The fact that they were spotted in Pennsylvania does bode well for Tesla’s expansion efforts moving forward.
@teslarati Tesla Full Self-Driving yields for pedestrians while human drivers do not…the future is here! #tesla #teslafsd #fullselfdriving ♬ 2 Little 2 Late – Levi & Mario
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