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SpaceX’s first BFR manufacturing facility approved by the Port of LA

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SpaceX has been given initial approval by the Port of Los Angeles to acquire and develop a massive vacant lot into a facility capable of manufacturing the first BFR prototypes and refurbishing the company’s reusable Falcon 9 boosters. This approval is without a doubt the biggest step forward yet for the company’s ultimate goal of sending massive spaceships to Mars.

A request summary completed on March 6 details SpaceX’s proposal, laying out a bright future of rocket manufacturing for the abandoned 18-acre lot at Berth 240, one that might soon support “composite curing, cleaning, painting, and assembly [of commercial transportation vessels]” that “would need to be transported by water due to their size.” This description meshes almost perfectly with past discussion of BFR manufacturing plans from SpaceX executives like Elon Musk and Gwynne Shotwell, both of which have in the recent past affirmed the need for any BFR manufacturing facility to be located adjacent to a large body of water due to the difficulty of transporting rocket hardware as large as BFR.

On March 15, around a week after the environmental impact assessment gave a green light for SpaceX’s facility, Port of Los Angeles’ Board of Harbor Commissioners approved the proposal, effectively giving SpaceX permission to begin serious demolition and construction activities at Berth 240, an abandoned lot located on the San Pedro side of the greater Port of Los Angeles, which refers to both Ports of San Pedro and Long Beach. To provide context, SpaceX’s primary manufacturing facilities in Hawthorne, CA occupy 10-15 acres of urban real estate – in other words, even partial development of Berth 240’s 18 acres would mark a huge expansion of the company’s available manufacturing and refurbishment space, an absolute necessity for the construction of a launch vehicle as large as BFR.

The construction of such a facility would make it significantly easier for SpaceX to build its first BFR/BFS prototypes, avoiding the massive disruption and cost that transporting the 9m-diameter vehicle through downtown LA. Rather than dealing with that nightmare, SpaceX would instead be able to simply crane an assembled booster or spaceship onto a barge (perhaps a drone ship?) that would then ship the rocket hardware through the Panama Canal to the company’s facilities in Cape Canaveral, FL or Boca Chica, TX.

While it is likely to take a fair amount of time to prepare the lot for the construction of a facility capable of manufacturing advanced composite rocket components, the wording in the Port documentation also suggests that SpaceX means to transfer its Falcon 9 recovery work to the new berth as soon as it’s available. Indeed, the comparatively massive space would give SpaceX far more room for recovery operations with the drone ship Just Read The Instructions (JRTI), and could potentially become a one-stop-shop for booster recovery and refurbishment. As of now, boosters recovered on the West Coast are transported to the Hawthorne factory for all refurbishment work, operations that themselves already require brief road stoppages to accommodate the sheer size of Falcon 9. As of 2018, SpaceX is planning for BFR to be 50% taller and close to three times as wide as Falcon 9 (350 feet long and 30 feet in diameter).

Although SpaceX is specifically named in the study, the company appears to have created a distinct LLC to lease the lot, referred to as “WW Marine Composites” by the authors. At the point of publishing, WW Marine Composites does at least appear to exist, but that is the sum of all info available on the circa-2016 LLC. This obscure, stealthy LLC appears to continue SpaceX’s habit of purchasing and leasing land through shell corporations, a common behavior of businesses thanks to its tax benefits and protection against liability. Finally, an additional document from December 2017 hints that SpaceX is still working closely with Janicki Industries, a globally-renowned carbon composite structures manufacturer that SpaceX tasked with the creation of the first 12m-diameter composite tank, revealed to the surprise of almost everyone in 2016 and soon after tested to destruction in 2017.

Regardless, it will be exciting to watch SpaceX develop what will likely become its newest property acquisition. BFR is a massive rocket and will require commensurately massive manufacturing hardware, hardware that is likely to be spotted by any number of eagle-eyed SpaceX fans and observers in the LA area. Berth 240 may also uniquely lend itself to some incredible photos of the company’s progress, thanks in part to the fact that it’s all but surrounded by shoreline that is accessible to the public. Teslarati photographer Pauline Acalin visited the site just after receiving insight on the latest development to get a feel for the location.

It’s liable (and perhaps probable) to change, but curious observer can currently walk up right beside Berth 240, a location that might soon support SpaceX’s first BFR manufacturing. (Pauline Acalin)

Follow us for live updates, behind-the-scenes sneak peeks, and a sea of beautiful photos from our East and West coast photographers.

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Pauline Acalin  Twitter

Eric Ralph Twitter

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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Elon Musk argues lidar and radar make self driving cars more dangerous

The CEO is not just stating that using sensors like lidar is unnecessary to achieve self-driving.

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Credit: Tesla/YouTube

Elon Musk is taking a firmer stance in the vision vs lidar debate for autonomous driving. In his more recent comments, the CEO is not just stating that using sensors like lidar is unnecessary to achieve self-driving. 

Musk is stating that using lidar actually makes self-driving cars more dangerous. 

Uber CEO’s comments

During a recent interview, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi shared his thoughts on the autonomy race. As per the CEO, he is still inclined to believe that Waymo’s approach, which requires outfitting cars with equipment such as lidar and radar, is necessary to achieve superhuman levels of safety for self-driving cars. 

“Solid state LiDAR is $500. Why not include lidar as well in order to achieve super human safety. All of our partners are using a combination of camera, radar and LiDAR, and I personally think that’s the right solution, but I could be proven wrong,” the Uber CEO noted.

Elon Musk’s rebuttal

In response to the Uber CEO’s comments, Elon Musk stated that lidar and radar, at least based on Tesla’s experience, actually reduce safety instead of improving it. As per the Tesla CEO, there are times when sensors such as lidar and radar disagree with cameras. This creates sensor ambiguity, which, in turn, creates more risk. Musk then noted that Tesla has seen an improvement in safety once the company focused on a vision only approach. 

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“Lidar and radar reduce safety due to sensor contention. If lidars/radars disagree with cameras, which one wins? This sensor ambiguity causes increased, not decreased, risk. That’s why Waymos can’t drive on highways. We turned off the radars in Teslas to increase safety. Cameras ftw,’ Musk wrote.

Musk’s comments are quite notable as Tesla was able to launch a dedicated Robotaxi pilot in Austin and the Bay Area using its vision-based autonomous systems. The same is true for FSD, which is quickly becoming notably better than humans in driving. 

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Tesla Model Y L sold out for September 2025

This was hinted at in Tesla China’s configurator for the all-electric crossover.

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Credit: Tesla China

It appears that the Tesla Model Y L has been sold out in China for September 2025. This was hinted at in Tesla China’s configurator for the all-electric crossover.

Model Y L deliveries

Since the Model Y L’s official launch earlier this month, Tesla has been pretty consistent in the idea that the extended wheelbase variant of its best-selling vehicle will see its first deliveries sometime in September. This was quite an impressive timeframe for Tesla, considering that the Model Y L has only been launched this August. 

Nevertheless, both Tesla China’s Model Y configurator and comments from company executives have noted that the vehicle will see its first customer deliveries in September. “Tesla cars are fun to drive alone, whether you have children or how many children, this car can meet all your needs. We will deliver in September and wait for you to get in the car,” Tesla China VP Grace Tao wrote on Weibo.

Credit: Tesla China

October 2025 deliveries

A look at Tesla China’s order page as of writing shows that the earliest deliveries for the Model Y L, if ordered today, would be October 2025 instead. This suggests that the six-seat Model Y variant has effectively been sold out for September. This bodes well for the vehicle, and it suggests that it is a variant that may be able to raise Tesla’s sales numbers in China, as well as territories where the Model Y L could be exported.

Rumors of the Model Y L’s strong sales have been abounding. After the vehicle’s launch, industry watchers estimated that Tesla China has received over 35,000 orders for the Model Y L in just one day. Later estimates suggested that the Model Y L’s orders have breached the 50,000 mark.

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Starship Flight 10 rescheduled as SpaceX targets Monday launch

SpaceX said it is now targeting Monday evening for Starship’s 10th flight test.

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Credit: SpaceX/X

SpaceX stood down from its planned Starship Flight 10 on Sunday evening, citing an issue with ground systems. 

The launch attempt was scheduled during a one-hour window that opened at 7:30 p.m. ET, but it was called off just 17 minutes before the window opened. SpaceX said it is now targeting Monday evening for Starship’s 10th flight test.

Flight 10 rescheduled

A lot of excitement was palpable during the lead up to Starship Flight 10’s first launch window. After the failures of Starship Flight 9, many were interested to see if SpaceX would be able to nail its mission objectives this time around. Starship itself seemed ready to fly, with the upper stage being loaded with propellant as scheduled. Later on, SpaceX also noted that Starship’s Super Heavy booster was also being loaded with propellant.

However, 17 before the launch window opened, SpaceX noted that it was “standing down from today’s tenth flight of Starship to allow time to troubleshoot an issue with ground systems.” Elon Musk, in a post on X, further clarified that a “ground side liquid oxygen leak needs to be fixed.” Musk did state that SpaceX will attempt Flight 10 again on Monday, August 25, 2025.

Starship and SpaceX’s development goals

The fully integrated Starship system is the tallest and most powerful rocket ever built, standing over 400 feet when stacked. Composed of the reusable Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage, the vehicle is central to SpaceX’s long-term ambitions of lunar and Martian missions. NASA has already selected Starship as the crewed lunar lander for Artemis, with its first astronaut landing mission tentatively set for 2027, as noted in a Space.com report.

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So far, Starship has flown nine times from Starbase in Texas, with three launches this year alone. Each flight has offered critical data, though all three 2025 missions encountered notable failures. Flight 7 and Flight 8 ended in explosions less than 10 minutes after launch, while Flight 9 broke apart during reentry. Despite setbacks, SpaceX has continued refining Starship’s hardware and operations with each attempt. Needless to say, a successful Flight 10 would be a significant win for the Starship program.

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