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SpaceX rocket ready for second rideshare launch with 100+ small satellites

An artist rendering of Transporter-2 payload deployment. (Exolaunch)

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5 years ago

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For the second time in six months, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is ready to launch around 100+ small satellites into low orbit as part of a rideshare mission for dozens of companies and institutions.

Known as Transporter-2, the mission is SpaceX’s second dedicated launch under the Smallsat Rideshare Program it established in 2019. In 2020, SpaceX began its first launches under the program and delivered eight Earth observation satellites to orbit for Planet and BlackSky as co-passengers on three Starlink missions. A fourth Starlink rideshare was later completed with payloads from Capella Space and Tyvak in May 2021.

In January 2021, Falcon 9 successfully launched 143 small satellites into orbit on a mission known as Transporter-1, setting an all-time record for the number of spacecraft flown on a single rocket and emphasizing just how serious and competitive SpaceX’s Smallsat Program really is.

Six months after that milestone mission, Transporter-2 is now ready to launch. On June 22nd, a Falcon 9 rocket was loaded with hundreds of tons of liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene (RP1) and flight-proven booster B1060 successfully ignited its nine Merlin 1D engines, completing a routine wet dress rehearsal (WDR) and static fire test. Transporter-2 will be B1060’s eighth spaceflight and orbital-class launch in less than a year, representing an average of one flight every ~45 days or six weeks.

Falcon 9 booster B1060 launched for the seventh time on April 29th. (Richard Angle)

Now cleared for flight, SpaceX will have since brought Falcon 9 horizontal and rolled the rocket back to its Cape Canaveral LC-40 pad’s integration hangar. Once there, Transporter-2’s payload ‘stack’ – already encapsulated in a payload fairing – will be installed on top of Falcon 9’s expendable second stage and the rocket will be rolled back out to the pad and brought vertical a second time.

It remains to be seen what exactly Transporter-2 will be carrying to orbit. Transporter-1 carried 133 customer spacecraft and 10 of SpaceX’s own Starlink satellites with a collective liftoff mass of around five metric tons (~11,000 lb). The true mass is unknown but the Falcon 9 booster supporting the mission had to land on a drone ship ~550 km (~340 mi) downrange. Transporter-2, however, will reportedly involve an increasingly rare return-to-launch-site (RTLS) landing for Falcon 9 booster B1060, implying that its payloads may be substantially lighter than its predecessor’s.

SpaceX preparing salvo of polar Starlink launches from West and East coasts

Based on a rough accounting of known Transporter-2 payloads from rideshare managers Spaceflight, Exolaunch, and others, the mission could feasibly launch with 100+ small satellites onboard. Relative to Transporter-1, the most obvious weight-saving solution would be to exclude Starlink satellites, which likely represented more than a third of missions payload mass at liftoff. Given that SpaceX also appears to be preparing for a flurry of dedicated polar Starlink launches from its West and East Coast pads that could begin as early as July, it’s fairly safe to assume that Transporter-2 will be Starlink-free.

Ultimately, Transporter-2 appears to be on track for a 2:56 pm EDT (18:56 UTC) launch on Friday, June 25th. Stay tuned for updates and webcast details.

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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 Model Y L’s new features flexed at unveiling event at Diner

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2 hours ago

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July 31, 2026

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Tesla Model Y L in a field
Credit: Tesla

Tesla flexed the new features of the Model Y L with a dedicated media event at the company’s Diner on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles.

The Model Y L is the extended-wheelbase version of the all-electric crossover, which has been voted the best-selling car in the world on three occasions. The vehicle is already rolling off production lines at Gigafactory Texas, and first deliveries are slated to take place later this year.

Tesla brings Model Y L ‘Launch Series’ to the U.S. at $61,990

Teslarati was invited to the event, but due to some scheduling conflicts, we could not make it to Los Angeles. Instead, we will have our hands on a media unit sometime in August, so we’ll be able to spend some more extended time with the Model Y L.

However, plenty of those who made it to LA shared some cool features that set the Model Y L apart from the Model Y.

Multi-Row Climate Control

Tesla fitted the Model Y L with full climate control on all three rows on the front screen. It can be adjusted by selecting which row you’d like to modify on the right-hand side of the touch screen:

Better Rear Window Visibility

One of the strangest things about the Model Y, especially the Juniper iteration, is the rear window has extremely limited visibility when looking into the rearview mirror.

Tesla has improved upon this with the Model Y L:

PowerShare will be included

Model Y L will come with PowerShare in North America, with an 11.5kW output to your home. Tesla said it would require Powerwall 3 for operation.

Wireless Charging Pad

There has been some speculation that Tesla would upgrade the wireless charging pads in the United States, but this is not the case.

Tesla owner fixes common feature complaint with crafty DIY retrofit

Tesla confirmed that it does not come with the cooled pads as the Y L in China does. This is because North America has not adopted Qi charging yet.

Thermal Management Improvements

These improvements in the Model Y L were seen with thermal management:

  • Up to 15% faster cabin cooling
  • +23% thermal efficiency gained in hot weather, 7 miles of real-world range gained
  • 8x more solar energy reflection off of glass roof
  • 30% reduction in solar energy entering the cabin

Demand

Tesla said the Model Y L is almost sold out in the U.S. It comes with

  • 1 year of FSD Supervised
  • 1 year of Supercharging
  • 1 year of Premium Connectivity
  • Free exterior paint color, interior, and wheel option at no additional cost
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Elon Musk

Tesla CEO Elon Musk denies ridiculous Gigafactory Shanghai rumor

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4 hours ago

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July 31, 2026

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(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to his social media platform X on Thursday night to deny a ridiculous rumor regarding the sale of the company’s Chinese vehicle production plant, Gigafactory Shanghai.

On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter, claimed in a scathing new report that Tesla was exploring a potential sale of the entire China business in an effort to help bolster a potential merger between SpaceX and Tesla.

Musk immediately denied the rumor not once but twice, initially calling it “fake news,” and then calling it “absurdly fake news” in a separate post just a few moments later:

The original poster of the Wall Street Journal article that Musk saw deleted the initial post sharing the headline and the rumored sale of Tesla’s China business.

The report seemed absolutely and unequivocally false to begin with; Tesla’s business in China is among the most important pieces of the company’s business. Not only does the factory supply vehicles for the domestic market, but also for various other markets in Asia and Europe.

China is also one of the largest automotive markets in the world, and Tesla has performed well there despite the robust competition.

The speculation regarding a Tesla and SpaceX merger has started to gain steam this year as the space exploration company went public just a month ago. There has been speculation that Musk will bridge all of his companies under one “umbrella company,” and analysts believe this could happen before the end of the decade.

The Tesla and SpaceX merger everyone is talking about is quietly building

This is the latest iteration of Musk’s very evident war on mainstream media. Reports regarding any of Musk’s companies are quick to get the dreaded “false” or “fake news” response from the CEO when they are unfounded.

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Elon Musk

Tesla AI boss reveals how big Optimus is going to get

Tesla’s Optimus chief corrected himself on X, confirming a staggering 10 million robot production target.

Published

12 hours ago

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July 31, 2026

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Tesla Optimus Gen 3 [Credit: Tesla]

Tesla’s Optimus program has a new number attached to it, after Ashok Elluswamy, the executive who has run the humanoid robot program since June 2025, posted a three word correction on X Thursday, “Correction, 10 million robots.”

The line clarifies the long term annual capacity Tesla is building toward its planned second Optimus production line at Gigafactory Texas, a figure Musk has cited repeatedly since last year’s shareholder meeting.

The scale is worth noting, because ten million robots a year would mean Tesla building more units annually than most countries sell in new cars. Tesla has framed this as a second line, not the first. The buildout is happening in two phases: a roughly one million unit per year line inside Tesla’s Fremont factory, installed on the floor space vacated when Model S and Model X production ended earlier this year, and a much larger dedicated facility under construction at Giga Texas that broke ground on its first steel structure in May. That Texas facility is the one Elluswamy’s correction refers to, and is expected to reach volume production sometime in 2027.

Tesla Optimus project fires up as Musk sees production line progress

Elluswamy took over Optimus from Milan Kovac last summer and has spent the months since talking up the program’s trajectory. Elon Musk has also floated the ten million figure at Tesla’s 2025 shareholder meeting.

Ending Model S and Model X production to make room for the first Optimus line was one of the more consequential manufacturing decisions in the company’s recent history, retiring two flagship vehicles in favor of a robot that has yet to enter mass production. Musk has previously estimated per unit production costs at $20,000 to $25,000 once Tesla reaches a million units a year, though he hasn’t said what that cost looks like at ten times the volume.

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