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SpaceX aces three Falcon 9 launches in 34 hours

Three SpaceX launches in less than 34 hours. (NASA | Richard Angle | SpaceX)

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SpaceX has successfully launched three Falcon 9 rockets less than 34 hours apart, leaving the company only one mission shy of CEO Elon Musk’s ambitious target of 60 launches in 2022.

The period was almost even more intense, with two launches briefly scheduled minutes apart and all three set to launch in the space of 10-11 hours. But the more conservative sequencing SpaceX ultimately settled on still produced impressive results and allowed the company to break its own world record for the fastest time to complete three launches of the same rocket. In June 2022, SpaceX managed three similar launches – a Starlink mission, a scientific Earth observation satellite, and a commercial communications satellite – in 36 hours and 18 minutes.

Six months later, SpaceX has shaved more than two hours off of its own feat with the successful launches of another Earth observation satellite, a pair of commercial communications satellites, and 54 Starlink satellites in 33 hours and 46 minutes.

SpaceX’s latest hat trick began on December 16th with a Falcon 9 launch of the joint US-French Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission out of Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB), California. Delayed from December 12th and 15th, the launch was nonetheless a perfect success, placing the 2.2-ton (~4850 lb) radar satellite into a low Earth orbit that will allow it to precisely analyze virtually every inch of exposed water on Earth. That unprecedented capability should make it easier for scientists to study and understand Earth’s water cycle, as well as humanity’s substantial impact on those processes.

A little over 11 hours later, a second Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station LC-40 pad carrying the first two Boeing-built O3b mPOWER satellites for satcom provider SES. Once again, SpaceX’s workhorse rocket did its job perfectly, even managing to exceed its contracted parameters according to SES CEO Steve Collar. Falcon 9’s better-than-expected performance will reduce the amount of time and propellant each 1.7-ton (~3750 lb) mPOWER satellite requires to reach its operational orbit, potentially ensuring a quicker path to revenue generation and longer useful lifespans.

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SpaceX is on contract to launch all 11 initial mPOWER satellites. The next nine satellites will head to orbit sometime in 2023 and 2024 as Boeing completes them.

(Richard Angle)
(Richard Angle)

Finally, less than a day later after O3b mPOWER 1&2, a third Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from SpaceX’s NASA Kennedy Space Center LC-39A pad (just a few miles north of LC-40) with what could be the last full batch of “Group 4” Starlink V1.5 satellites. SpaceX’s first-generation Starlink constellation is comprised of five groups of satellites operating in distinct orbital ‘shells,’ and the company’s December 18th launch of Starlink 4-37 will leave SpaceX just 14 satellites away from fully finishing the second of two shells of 1584 satellites. All told, Starlink 4-37 was SpaceX’s 65th operational Starlink launch since November 2019 and the company likely has just ~20 launches to go to complete its first satellite constellation – already the largest in history by an order of magnitude.

All three launches were completed in less than a day and a half. Further emphasizing the breadth of SpaceX’s expertise, each Falcon 9 booster successfully landed after supporting their respective orbital launch, ensuring that those boosters will all be able to support more launches in the near future. In fact, Starlink 4-37 was the 15th mission for its Falcon 9 booster, B1058, breaking SpaceX’s internal reuse record and pushing the technology’s envelope. It remains to be seen if the company will push beyond 15 flights. In June 2022 interviews with Aviation Week, SpaceX executives stated that Falcon boosters would be retired after 15 flights – a big change from past indications that there was nothing preventing each booster from launching 100+ times with regular maintenance.

Starlink 4-37 was also SpaceX’s 59th successful orbital launch of 2022. In March, CEO Elon Musk raised an earlier annual target of 52 launches to 60 launches. At the time, 60 launches in one year was almost inconceivable. Set in 1980, the all-time record for a family of rockets (the Russian R-7) is 61 successful launches in one calendar year.

But against all odds, SpaceX has relentlessly executed week after week and sustained an average of one launch every six days for more than 12 months. Multiple sources currently indicate that SpaceX has two more Falcon 9 launches scheduled this year: another Starlink mission as early as December 28th and a mission carrying the Israeli EROS-C3 Earth imaging satellite on December 29th. SpaceX’s Falcon rocket family thus has a chance to tie the all-time record of 61 R-7 family launches, which was backed by the entire Soviet Union at the peak of its national launch cadence.

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Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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Tesla has started rolling out initial round of Robotaxi invites

Tesla is putting safety above all in its initial Robotaxi rollout.

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Credit: @BLKMDL3/X

Tesla has started rolling out an initial round of invites for its upcoming Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas.

Screenshots shared by several Tesla community members who received the invites provided a quick overview of the autonomous ride-hailing service.

As noted in a techAU report, the initial round of Robotaxi service invites has gone to longtime Tesla owners and active members of the EV community. These include owners such as @SawyerMerritt, @BLKMDL3, @WholeMarsBlog, @ItsKimJava, and @HerbertOng, all of whom shared screenshots of the invitation that Tesla has sent about the upcoming service.

You’re Invited to Early Access of Tesla Robotaxi!

The Future is Now! You’re invited to Early Access of Tesla’s Robotaxi service in Austin, TX!

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As an Early Access rider, you can be among the first to use our new Robotaxi App and experience an autonomous ride within our geofenced area in Austin. Through this exclusive preview, you’ll have the opportunity to provide valuable feedback on our Robotaxi service.

Based on Tesla’s message, it appears that participation in the service would be strictly invite-only for now. Participants must also download Tesla’s dedicated Robotaxi App to hail a ride. Rides can also be requested and initiated to and from any location within a geofenced area of Austin.

The robotaxi service will be available from 6:00 AM to 12:00 AM, seven days a week, though these hours may change depending on factors such as inclement weather. Interestingly enough, Tesla is inviting the first participants of the Robotaxi program to share photos and videos of their experience with the service.

While the vehicles themselves are autonomous and would operate without human input, the Robotaxis would still be accompanied by a Tesla staff member to monitor the vehicle. This strategy suggests that Tesla is really putting safety above all in its initial Robotaxi rollout.

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Texas lawmakers urge Tesla to delay Austin robotaxi launch to September

The letter urges Tesla to delay its initial robotaxi launch in the interest of public safety.

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Credit: @HanChulYong/X

A group of Democratic lawmakers from Austin is asking Tesla to postpone its planned robotaxi rollout, at least until a new state law governing autonomous vehicles takes effect in September.

The letter, which was sent Wednesday, urges Tesla to delay its initial robotaxi launch in the interest of public safety.

What the lawmakers’ letter says

In their letter, the Democratic lawmakers stated that delaying Tesla’s initial robotaxi launch would build trust in the electric vehicle maker’s autonomous vehicle operations.

“We are formally requesting that Tesla delay autonomous robotaxi operations until the new law takes effect on September 1, 2025. We believe this is in the best interest of both public safety and building public trust in Tesla’s operations,” the letter read.

The lawmakers noted that if Tesla wishes to push through with its planned June 22 launch, the company must provide detailed information explaining its robotaxi service’s initial launch.

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New rules kick in September

The new Texas law passed state legislature last month, and it introduces stricter requirements for companies deploying fully self-driving cars. 

Current state law allows autonomous vehicle testing without a human driver, as long as vehicles meet basic registration and insurance standards. The updated framework gives state agencies more oversight, including the ability to revoke permits if autonomous vehicles pose safety risks.

It remains to be seen if the Democratic lawmakers’ efforts will bear fruit, especially since Texas is state where Republicans hold the governorship and majorities in both legislative chambers, as noted in a Reuters report.

Elon Musk, for his part, confirmed that Tesla’s initial robotaxi launch for Austin this June will start with a small fleet of Model Y vehicles. He also noted the service would initially operate only in parts of the city the company deems safest.

Tesla has not issued a comment about the Democratic lawmakers’ letter as of writing.

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xAI’s Grok 3 partners with Oracle Cloud for corporate AI innovation  

Elon Musk’s xAI partners with Oracle to deliver Grok 3 to enterprise users via OCI. The move boosts Grok’s reach.

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Credit: Elon Musk | X

xAI’s Grok 3 is partnering with Oracle Cloud to deliver its advanced AI model to corporate customers.

Oracle announced its collaboration with xAI earlier this week. The partnership leverages Oracle’s robust infrastructure to offer xAI’s Grok 3, positioning it as a transformative tool for business applications.

“Today, we announced xAI has selected Oracle to offer xAI’s Grok models via OCI Generative AI service for a wide range of use cases and will use OCI’s leading AI infrastructure to train and run inferencing for its next-generation Grok models,” said Clay Magouyrk, Executive Vice President at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, via LinkedIn.

Oracle’s cost-effective AI capabilities will support xAI’s demanding workloads, enabling faster processing for enterprise users.

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Oracle’s Karan Batta told Reuters: “Our goal here is to make sure that we can provide a portfolio of models – we don’t have our own.” Oracle will host Grok 3 alongside models from Meta, Mistral, and Cohere, ensuring corporate data remains secure within existing Oracle protections.

Oracle’s strategy focuses on integrating popular AI models into corporate software, and xAI’s Grok 3 enhances this portfolio. The collaboration expands Grok’s reach to businesses seeking secure, high-performance AI solutions for diverse use cases.

Elon Musk’s xAI launched Grok 3 in February. It competes with models from DeepSeek and OpenAI. Grok 3 is free for all X users, but features are limited. X offers Premium and Premium+ subscribers access to Grok 3’s advanced capabilities like DeepResearch and Think modes. Users who are not paid subscribers have access to Grok 3’s basic features.

Elon Musk’s companies have a longstanding relationship with Oracle. In 2018, Tesla appointed Oracle founder Larry Ellison to its board, a move Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives called a “home run appointment.”

In 2023, Ellison–who is no longer on Tesla’s board but still close with Musk–revealed plans for a Tesla Cybertruck police car.

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“Our next-generation police car is coming out very soon,” Ellison said at the 2023 Oracle CloudWorld conference in Las Vegas. “It’s my favorite police car. It’s my favorite car, actually. It’s Elon’s favorite car.”

Grok 3’s integration into Oracle Cloud strengthens xAI’s position in the corporate artificial intelligence market. By combining Oracle’s infrastructure with Grok’s cutting-edge capabilities, this collaboration could redefine enterprise AI adoption, driving innovation across industries.

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