Tech • AI • Robotics
SpaceX Just Did the Impossible...
9.3/10TL;DR
SpaceX is recovering an intact Starship from the Indian Ocean, Tesla may finally unveil a redesigned Roadster, the vast TerraFab site in Texas is entering early construction, and Tesla has ended its long labor standoff in Sweden without signing a collective agreement.
KEY POINTS
Starship survives at sea
SpaceX has completed its first known recovery effort for an intact Starship after the vehicle floated following splashdown in the Indian Ocean. Earlier flights typically ended with the ship breaking apart after landing, but Ship 40 remained buoyant, giving engineers a rare chance to inspect the effects of suborbital flight on a full-scale vehicle.
A difficult recovery route
Recovering the roughly 170-foot spacecraft proved far harder than floating it. Rough seas in remote waters off northwestern Australia threatened the mission, and at one stage Elon Musk said recovery was “not looking good.” After about 24 days at sea, the ship was guided instead toward Christmas Island, where calmer conditions are expected to allow closer inspection before eventual transport back to Starbase, Texas.
Roadster may reappear after years of delays
The next-generation Tesla Roadster, first revealed in 2017 with planned deliveries in 2020, could reportedly be unveiled as early as August 2026. The long delay has eroded some of the shock value of its original performance claims, as other models, including the Model S Plaid, have already matched or surpassed the once-headline 1.99-second 0-to-60 target.
Thruster version planned for dramatic debut
The reported unveiling would be highly unconventional: a demonstration at SpaceX’s McGregor, Texas rocket engine test site, where a limited SpaceX-branded edition of the car is said to use cold-gas thrusters. That version is reportedly not street legal and could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars or more, serving as an extreme halo car rather than a mainstream production model.
A separate customer Roadster
Alongside the showcase version, Tesla is reportedly developing a more conventional Roadster for customers. The project is said to have been substantially reworked, moving away from an earlier design tied to Model S Plaid components and toward a lighter carbon-fiber hypercar architecture. Musk has previously claimed the thruster-equipped variant could reach 0 to 60 mph in under one second, though no official launch event has been confirmed.
TerraFab begins taking shape in Texas
In Grimes County, Texas, crews have started clearing land for TerraFab, a giant semiconductor project linked to Tesla and SpaceX. Machinery is already removing trees and preparing the site, located about 100 miles from Giga Texas, even as land acquisition continues.
A factory so large the land is still being assembled
The scale is unusually large even by industrial standards. The companies reportedly control about 6,640 acres, with another 2,300 acres close to final recording, yet estimates suggest they still need 2,000 to 3,000 more acres. The main building is planned to stretch for more than 4 miles, forcing development to proceed in stages as parcels are acquired plot by plot.
Major engineering obstacles on site
The terrain is far more complex than the flat ground used for Giga Texas. The footprint includes forests, ponds, streams, ranchland, hills and valleys, plus a man-made lake that sits directly where the core building is planned. Power lines, gas pipelines and buried utilities also cross the site and must be relocated. The project is divided into 10 phases, with phase one alone estimated at $17 billion and full buildout potentially reaching $120 billion.
Swedish labor conflict ends with Tesla holding out
Tesla’s dispute with Swedish unions, which began in October 2023, has ended after 1,021 days. The conflict started when IF Metall sought a collective agreement and expanded pressure through sympathy actions by dockworkers, postal staff, cleaners, painters and electricians. Despite the campaign reaching Sweden’s Supreme Court, Tesla never signed the agreement.
Ghost Superchargers come online
One of the most visible effects of the dispute involved Superchargers. Electricians refused to connect new sites to the grid, leaving more than 250 stalls across 20 locations fully built but inactive, nicknamed “ghost stations.” With the blockade now lifted, those chargers are being energized, expanding Tesla’s Swedish charging network by more than 20% and immediately improving support for local EV drivers.
CONCLUSION
The week’s developments show Tesla and SpaceX pushing ahead on multiple fronts at once, from rocket recovery to vehicles, factories and charging networks. The common thread is scale: projects once seen as stalled or improbable are now moving into visible execution.
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