SpaceX is in the final stages of preparing a trio of Falcon 9 rockets for a set of launches scheduled less than two days apart.
The potential hat trick will likely be the last opportunity for a salvo of Falcon launches before the end of 2022. As a disclaimer, while unofficial launch dates (derived from regulatory documents or well-sourced public manifests) were consistently close to actual launch dates for most of 2022, that ceased to be the case when SpaceX began experiencing an abrupt uptick in launch delays over the last two months. As a result, Falcon launch dates – even once confirmed by SpaceX – should be assumed to be a bit more uncertain than usual until it’s clear that that trend has died down.
Nonetheless, all available signs indicate that SpaceX and its customers are moving forward with plans for three back-to-back launches before the end of the week.
The update that's rolling out to the fleet makes full use of the front and rear steering travel to minimize turning circle. In this case a reduction of 1.6 feet just over the air— Wes (@wmorrill3) April 16, 2024
Set to kick off the diverse trio is the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) spacecraft, a roughly $1.2 billion joint mission between NASA and French space agency CNES. Thanks in part to the COVID pandemic, which has and continues to impact large swaths of NASA and the aerospace industry, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory completed its portion of SWOT around 9% over budget and eight months behind schedule [PDF] since mission formulation began in 2012. Over a similar time scale, several other NASA missions have experienced cost increases of 10-100%, generally reflecting well on SWOT’s management.
SWOT, a roughly two-ton (~4400 lb) satellite, is designed to conduct the first global survey of all surface water on Earth using two large synthetic aperture radar (SAR) antennas and a conventional radar altimeter. At a cost of roughly $112 million, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch SWOT to low Earth orbit (LEO) no earlier than (NET) 3:46 am PST (11:46 UTC) on Thursday, December 15th. SpaceX successfully tested SWOT’s Falcon 9 well in advance on December 10th. The rocket was then returned to the company’s hangar at Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) Space Launch Complex 4E for payload installation before rolling back to the pad on December 13th.
The light satellite and low target orbit will allow Falcon 9’s booster to return to the launch site and land at SpaceX’s LZ-4 landing zone, precluding the need for a drone ship recovery.
Up next, another Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch the first two of eleven Boeing-built O3b mPOWER communication satellites for operator SES as early as 4:21 pm EST (21:21 UTC), Friday, December 16th. After lifting off from SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) LC-40 pad, Falcon 9 is set to launch the roughly 3.4-ton (~7500 lb) pair of satellites to a medium Earth orbit (MEO) with an altitude of 7825 kilometers (4862 mi).
It’s unclear what orbit Falcon 9 will launch the satellites to, but the rocket’s booster will land on drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas (ASOG) some 700 kilometers (~435 mi) downrange, indicating that it will need as much performance as the rocket can give. ASOG departed Port Canaveral on December 11th, confirming that launch preparations are well underway.
Finally, a third Falcon 9 rocket could launch SpaceX’s first Starlink mission since October 28th as early as 4:54 or 5:13 pm EST (21:54 or 22:13) on December 16th, potentially just 33 or 52 minutes after O3b mPOWER 1&2. If the two missions do launch on December 16th, which a reliable source of unofficial information has indicated is not guaranteed, it will smash the US record for back-to-back launches of the same rocket family. Russia’s R-7 rocket family will retain the international crown, however, having launched twice in 25 minutes in 1969.
Starlink 4-37 will lift off from SpaceX’s NASA Kennedy Space Center LC-39A pad, and its Falcon 9 booster will attempt to launch on drone ship Just Read The Instructions (JRTI). JRTI departed Port Canaveral on December 12th.
Following Starlink 4-37, SpaceX has at least two more launches tentatively scheduled before the end of 2022. NextSpaceflight.com reports that SpaceX could launch its sixth Transporter rideshare mission from Florida on December 27th, and two Israeli EROS-C3 Earth observation satellites out of California on December 29th. However, it’s worth noting that in the almost 17-year history of SpaceX Falcon operations, the company has never launched a rocket after December 23rd or before January 6th. Transporter-6 and EROS-C3 – SpaceX’s 60th and 61st launches of the year – would have to break through that apparent firewall to launch when they are currently scheduled.
Cybertruck
Tesla Cybercab just rolled through Miami inside a glass box
Tesla paraded a Cybercab in a glass display at Miami’s F1 Grand Prix event this week.
Tesla set up an “Autonomy Pop-Up” at Lummus Park in Miami Beach from April 29 through May 3, 2026, embedded within the official F1 Miami Grand Prix Fan Fest. The centerpiece was a Cybertruck towing the Cybercab inside a glass display case marked “Future is Autonomous,” rolling through the beachfront crowd.
Miami is on Tesla’s confirmed list of cities for robotaxi expansion in the first half of 2026, making the promotion a strategic promotion that lays groundwork in a target market.
This was not Tesla’s first time using Miami as a showcase city. In December 2025, Tesla hosted “The Future of Autonomy Visualized” at its Miami Design District showroom, coinciding with Art Basel Miami Beach. That event featured the Cybercab prototype and Optimus robots interacting with attendees. The F1 pop-up this week marks Tesla’s return to Miami and follows a pattern Tesla has been running since early 2026. Just two weeks before Miami, Tesla stationed Optimus at the Tesla Boston Boylston Street showroom on April 19 and 20, directly on the final stretch of the Boston Marathon, letting tens of thousands of runners and spectators meet the robot for free, generating massive earned media at zero advertising cost.
Tesla is sending its humanoid Optimus robot to the Boston Marathon
Tesla has confirmed plans to expand its robotaxi service to seven cities in the first half of 2026, including Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Las Vegas, building on the unsupervised service already running in Austin. Musk has said he expects robotaxis to cover between a quarter and half of the United States by end of year. On the production side, Musk told shareholders that the Cybercab manufacturing process could eventually produce up to 5 million vehicles per year, targeting a cycle time of one unit every ten seconds. Scaling robotaxis to 10 million operational units over the next ten years is a key condition of his compensation package, alongside selling 20 million passenger vehicles.
As for the Cybercab’s price, Musk has said buyers will be able to purchase one for under $30,000, with an average operating cost around $0.20 per mile. Whether those numbers hold through full production remains to be seen.
Cybercab at F1 Fan Fest in Miami
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News
Tesla Semi gets new product launch as mass manufacturing hits Plaid Mode
While the 1.2 MW Megacharger handles quick 30-minute en-route boosts, the Basecharger serves as a reliable overnight solution for longer dwell times at warehouses, distribution centers, fleet yards, and even, potentially, homes.
The Tesla Semi is getting a new production launch as mass manufacturing on the all-electric truck is gearing up to hit Plaid Mode.
Tesla has introduced a game-changing addition to its commercial charging lineup with the new 125 kW Basecharger for Semi. Launched this week as part of the new “Semi Charging for Business” program, this compact unit is purpose-built for depot and overnight charging of Tesla Semi trucks.
While the 1.2 MW Megacharger handles quick 30-minute en-route boosts, the Basecharger serves as a reliable overnight solution for longer dwell times at warehouses, distribution centers, fleet yards, and even, potentially, homes.
Our new 125 kW Basecharger is designed for longer dwell times and overnight charging of Semis. It’s the “home charging” for heavy-duty fleets.
It features a fully integrated design that eliminates the need for a separate AC-to-DC cabinet, simplifying installation. The 6 meter… https://t.co/ovy1C4PsRW pic.twitter.com/vBUCNMzs57
— Tesla Charging (@TeslaCharging) May 1, 2026
Delivering up to 60 percent of the Semi’s range in roughly four hours, perfect for overnight top-ups during mandated driver rest periods or while trucks are loaded or unloaded. Its fully integrated design eliminates the need for bulky separate AC-to-DC cabinets.
Tesla engineers tucked one of the power modules from a V4 Supercharger Cabinet directly inside the sleek post, resulting in a compact footprint. It also features a six-meter cable for layout flexibility. This is one thing that must have been learned through the V4 Supercharger rollout.
Installation and operating costs drop dramatically thanks to daisy-chaining. Up to three Basechargers can share a single 125 kVA breaker, slashing electrical infrastructure requirements. The unit outputs 150 amps continuous across an 180–1,000 VDC range, matching the Semi’s high-voltage architecture while supporting the MCS 3.2 standard.
Tesla Semi sends clear message to Diesel rivals with latest move
Priced from $40,000 for a minimum order of two units, the Basecharger is far more affordable than the $188,000 Megacharger setup for two posts. Deliveries begin in early 2027. Buyers also receive Tesla’s full network-level software, remote monitoring, maintenance, and a guaranteed 97 percent or higher uptime—critical for fleet reliability.
This launch arrives as Tesla accelerates high-volume Semi production at its Nevada factory, targeting 50,000 units annually. By pairing affordable depot charging with ultra-fast highway options, Tesla removes one of the biggest obstacles to electrifying Class 8 trucking: infrastructure cost and complexity.
Fleet operators stand to gain lower electricity rates during off-peak hours, dramatically reduced maintenance compared to diesel, and quieter yards at night. The Basecharger isn’t just another charger—it’s the practical bridge that makes large-scale electric semi adoption economically viable.
With the Basecharger handling “home” duties and Megachargers powering the road, Tesla is delivering a complete ecosystem that could finally tip the scales toward zero-emission freight. For trucking companies ready to go electric, the future just got a whole lot more charger-friendly.
News
Tesla revises new Intervention Reporting system with Full Self-Driving
It is the second revision to the program as Tesla is trying to make it easier to decipher driver and owner complaints, but also to make it easier to report issues within the suite for them.
Tesla has revised its new Intervention Reporting system within the Full Self-Driving suite that now categorizes reasons that drivers take over when the semi-autonomous driving functionality is active.
It is the second revision to the program as Tesla is trying to make it easier to decipher driver and owner complaints, but also to make it easier to report issues within the suite for them.
With the initial rollout of Full Self-Driving v14.3.2, Tesla included a new reporting menu that gave four options for an intervention: Preference, Comfort, Critical, and Other. A slightly revised version of Full Self-Driving with the same ID number then came out a few days later, changing the “Other” option to “Navigation” after numerous complaints from owners.
It appears Tesla has listened to those owners once again and has not only made it smaller and more compact, but also easier to report the issues than previously.
The new menu is now embedded within the request for a Voice Memo from Tesla, and does not block the entire screen, as the second rollout of the menu was:
Thank you Tesla! The new intervention screen is much better! @Tesla_AI pic.twitter.com/1lea9G27N1
— Dirty Tesla (@DirtyTesLa) May 1, 2026
There will likely be one additional revision to the Interventions Menu, as we have coined it here at Teslarati.
Unfortunately, at times, there are no reasons for an intervention at all, but the menu does not give an option to simply disregard the reporting and forces the driver to choose one of the options. We, as well as other notable Tesla influencers, indicated that there is not always a reason for an intervention.
For example, I choose to back into my parking spot in my neighborhood at least some of the time for the reason of charging. I usually hit “Preference” for this, but it sends a false positive to Tesla that there was a reason I took over that I was unhappy with.
Tesla begins probing owners on FSD’s navigation errors with small but mighty change
Instead, I’m simply performing a maneuver that is not yet available to us. When Tesla allows drivers to choose the orientation at which their car enters a parking spot, I and many others won’t have to deal with this menu.
Others are still skeptical that it will help resolve any issues whatsoever and prefer to disregard the menu altogether. It does seem as if Tesla will issue another revision in the coming days to allow this to happen.
Tesla Cybercab just rolled through Miami inside a glass box
Tesla Semi gets new product launch as mass manufacturing hits Plaid Mode
