News
SpaceX to demonstrate weekly launch cadence: 3 launches in 14 days

LC-39A undergoing repairs and tests after the launch of CRS-11. (/r/SpaceX)
SpaceX is in the process of preparing to launch BulgariaSat-1, with the first attempt scheduled for Saturday, June 17th between 2:10 p.m and 4:10 p.m. EST. BulgariaSat-1 will be Bulgaria’s second satellite ever and will act as a telecommunications hub in geostationary orbit, around 30,000 miles above Earth.
Following a highly successful launch and docking of the eleventh cargo mission of its Dragon spacecraft, Launch Complex 39A has since undergone routine checks to verify its condition and has likely been lightly repaired. The static fire for the upcoming mission is scheduled as early as tomorrow. Both the static fire and launch were pushed back two days due to a 48 hour delay of the CRS-11 launch.
The launch of BulgariaSat-1 is already exceptional for several reasons. First and foremost, the Falcon 9 first stage to be used in the upcoming mission has already flown once before, assisting in the successful launch of Iridium’s first ten NEXT satellites in early January of this year. It will thus mark the second time SpaceX has truly reused a Falcon 9 first stage. There has even been a bit of circumstantial evidence that the choice to launch on a recovered F9 resulted in BulgariaSat-1 being moved ahead of Intelsat 35e, which is now scheduled for no earlier than July 1st. Regardless, another successful reuse will be a boon for a SpaceX in the throes of an unprecedentedly busy year of launches by once again demonstrating the viability of their program of reuse and thus hopefully swaying more customers to take the leap to reused rocket cores.
The second reason, as touched on above, is that BulgariaSat-1 will mark the beginning of a two week period in which SpaceX could potentially conduct three separate launches, two at Cape Canaveral and one at Vandenberg Air Force Base. If successful, this would demonstrate weekly single-vehicle launch cadence, something that has not been seen in the launch industry in quite some time. This weekly cadence, if successful, will demonstrate a maturing company that is truly preparing for extraordinary launch cadence. By using two pads, one in California and one in Florida, SpaceX will still be able to provide two weeks between launches in order to prepare each launch site for the next launch, while effectively launching once a week. While Vandenberg Air Force Base can only support polar orbit launches, LC-40 is currently deep into the process of being repaired and reactivated following the failure of a Falcon 9 late last year.
With LC-40 preparing for reactivation sometime in August or September, SpaceX will find themselves at long last with two viable all-purpose launch pads in very close proximity to each other. By staggering launches on each pad and continuing to maintain the two week pad turnaround time after launches, SpaceX could theoretically begin to sustain regular weekly launches as few as three months from now. A successful weekly cadence this month could reinforce that such a sequence of events is a possibility.

Iridium NEXT 1’s Falcon 9 first stage after recovery in the Pacific Ocean. (SpaceX)
SpaceX has long been working to rapidly increase its ability to launch frequently, and this year has been an exceptional example of several pieces fitting together. The company has begun to use an automated flight termination system, which will allow them to rely less upon the availability of Cape Canaveral’s Range Officers while crafting their manifest and launch schedules. Normally, the flight termination system in rockets is monitored by an actual team of people who have barely a few seconds to decide if rocket telemetry is less than nominal and prevent what is effectively a large missile from impacting populated areas. SpaceX has replaced this with an arguably much safer approach dependent upon their mature autonomous avionics systems, simply meaning that computers on board their rockets and spacecraft automatically analyze telemetry and control vehicle performance and guidance. SpaceX has been testing this system in a way that is almost identical to Tesla’s method of installing inert autonomy software that can learn without actually controlling the vehicle, and it is consequently only now being implemented after SpaceX and the Air Force have a high degree of confidence that it will outperform its human colleagues.
The ultimate goal of this automated flight termination system (AFTS), as well as many other significant changes to both the hardware of pads and vehicles, is to eventually allow SpaceX to accomplish Elon Musk’s long fabled and oft-ridiculed goal of 24-hour reusability, and thus 24-hour launch cadence. SpaceX and the USAF have both stated that AFTS alone will likely allow Cape Canaveral to support up to 48 launches a year. While shared between ULA and SpaceX, even 36 launches a year would effectively leave SpaceX with a shrinking launch manifest and significantly increased revenue and profit. This would speculatively allow them to more rapidly develop their pursuits of Mars, a vast constellation of broadband satellites, and more.

BulgariaSat-1 being prepared for launch. (SSL)
Nevertheless, this is all of course speculation and dependent upon many things going well. If SpaceX is able to successfully launch BulgariaSat-1 on June 17th, Iridium NEXT 2 on the 25th, and Intelsat 35e on July 1st, they will have successfully demonstrated the ability to support a weekly launch cadence and will have to do little more than wait for the availability of a second East coast pad to begin to take full advantage of it.
With ten launches scheduled between now and October and ten more launches scheduled between October and the end of December, it is guaranteed to be one incredible year for SpaceX and their fans.
Cybertruck
Tesla is ending Cybertruck production
Tesla is ending Cybertruck production sometime in mid-2027, according to CEO Elon Musk.
Musk made the announcement on X last night, which came as a shock to many. He said that the Cybertruck will end production “to make room for increased Cybercab production” at Gigafactory Texas.
It is a huge blow to the fans of Tesla who have come to love the Cybertruck and identify with it as a symbol of their fandom. It has been the best-selling electric pickup, but it has had an underwhelming sales performance in terms of what was expected. This is mostly due to Tesla not meeting the prices it planned to offer the Cybertruck, as its unveiling and actual release were four years apart.
Tesla will be winding down production of the Cybertruck at Gigafactory Texas around the middle of next year to make room for increased Cybercab production
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 6, 2026
Overall, the responses were mixed. Some fans understood the move toward Cybercab production, especially as Tesla is truly pushing the autonomous future through its Robotaxi platform. However, others did not understand it.
“Damn, how many Cybercabs do you guys need?” one response read. Another said it was “Sad but understandable.”Even analyst Gary Black had responded to the news, stating he hoped Tesla planned to replace it with a traditional pickup design.
It doesn’t seem like that will be the case.
Tesla is so hell-bent on delivering autonomy and eventually providing a driverless service that owning a car seems like an arbitrary idea, according to their thesis. Instead, Cybercabs will be available to pick you up and drop you off on demand, safely, without any human help.
As a result, Tesla has thinned its lineup considerably, and one can only ask where the vehicle lineup goes from here. Eventually, it seems like Cybercab could be the only vehicle that Tesla will sell.
Elon Musk
SpaceX’s next Starship flight set to make history on Friday the 13th
SpaceX is targeting Friday, November 13 for Starship Flight 15 and its first ship catch.
SpaceX is targeting Friday, November 13 for Starship Flight 15, the mission the company plans to use for its first attempt at catching the ship itself with the launch tower.
SpaceX Vice President of Launch Kiko Dontchev shared the date on stage at the UP.Summit on Thursday, according to Ars Technica’s Eric Berger, who was in attendance. It is the first launch target to come directly from a SpaceX executive. Until now, the public schedule had relied on FAA air traffic planning slides, which listed Flight 15 for no earlier than November 8 and later November 12. SpaceX has not posted an official mission page yet, and no launch time has been shared.
The date lands inside the window Elon Musk sketched out last month. Speaking at Giga Texas on October 10, Musk said the flight would “probably launch a little bit before Thanksgiving,” as Teslarati reported. On SpaceX’s third quarter earnings call ten days later, he confirmed that Flight 15 would try to catch both the Super Heavy booster and the ship, and put the odds of a successful ship catch at “more likely than not.” SpaceX also aired an animation of the maneuver during that webcast, showing the ship swinging vertical over Starbase before dropping into the tower’s chopsticks.
The hardware is ready. Booster 22 fired all 33 of its Raptor engines for a full duration static fire at Pad 2 on October 25. Ship 42 followed with a single engine burn simulating a deorbit maneuver on October 26 and a 60 second firing of all six engines the next day, according to NASASpaceflight. Ship 42 had already rehearsed the catch in September, when the Pad 2 arms lifted it into position and crews connected the quick disconnect arm while the vehicle hung from the tower.
The remaining hurdle is regulatory. The FAA’s Starship page does not yet list a Flight 15 license. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said in October that, after “significant constructive engagement with the FAA,” she expects the license to cover a return to the launch site and a tower catch for both stages. Bringing the ship home means a reentry path that heads toward land, rather than ending over open ocean as every Starship flight so far has.
SpaceX has caught Super Heavy three times, on Flights 5, 7 and 8, but the ship comes back from orbital velocity and has never been caught. Flight 14 on September 28 was the first Starship to reach orbit, deploying 26 Starlink V3 satellites before splashing down despite an early engine shutdown that Musk blamed on engine computer software.
Musk has called a successful ship catch “the first time that there’s been full recovery of an orbital class rocket,” and he has already named the step after it: a Flight 16 where both the booster and the ship fly again. NASASpaceflight reports that Ship 43, the next vehicle in line, is set for static fire testing in December.
News
EVgo taps Tesla Superchargers for mass charging expansion
EVgo has tapped Tesla Superchargers for its most recent efforts to expand its charging presence in the United States, a move that seems logical based on the effectiveness of the automaker’s own infrastructure.
EVgo opened its first Supercharger site in Illinois, a 12-stall station near downtown Chicago at 3145 South Ashland Avenue in the Riverside Square & River’s Edge center, right beside a grocery store. This marks the start of the company’s plan to deploy hundreds of Supercharger stalls across the United States, primarily at grocery-anchored Regency Centers properties where drivers can shop, eat, or run errands while they charge.
We’ve opened our first EVgo Supercharger location in Illinois, marking the start of our plan to add hundreds of Supercharger stalls across the U.S.
Designed for both NACS and CCS vehicles with Magic Dock technology, these new sites help make fast charging more accessible and convenient for all EV drivers. Learn more: https://t.co/V92t5FDryQ
— EVgo Fast Charging Network (@evgonetwork) November 5, 2026
The new location uses Tesla’s Magic Dock technology so both NACS and CCS vehicles can plug in natively without drivers needing to carry their own adapters. Peak power reaches 325 kW at this site, with pricing set between $0.25 and $0.35 per kWh depending on the hour—the same rate for Tesla and non-Tesla drivers.
The stalls also appear in Tesla’s in-car navigation and Trip Planner, making them easy for Tesla owners to find and route to. Illinois has seen EV registrations rise nearly 60 percent over the past two years, and EVgo’s broader network has experienced more than 700 percent growth in charging demand over three years, so the timing fits the market’s trajectory.
Choosing Tesla hardware through the Supercharger for Business program turns out to have been a smart, practical move.
Tesla’s V4 stalls and cabinets deliver high, reliable power with a proven track record of strong uptime, while Magic Dock delivers true dual-standard compatibility in one package. Because the sites show up in Tesla’s navigation tools, EVgo instantly gains visibility among millions of existing Tesla drivers, which should raise utilization and help the company double its addressable market as more vehicles adopt NACS. EVgo still owns the stations and sets pricing, yet benefits from Tesla’s established hardware, longer cables, and operational support.
The result is faster, lower-risk infrastructure expansion that serves every EV driver—Tesla or otherwise—with convenient, high-power charging at everyday retail locations. For drivers, that means fewer adapters, more predictable stops, and a denser network just as electric vehicles become everyday transportation.