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SpaceX’s highly reusable Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket targets early May debut
SpaceX has confirmed that its next-generation Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket will debut in early May, according to statements from Bangabandhu project director Md Mesbahuzzaman.
This slight shift from late April to early May follows shortly after an email interview SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell gave to AviationWeek, where she confirmed that Bangabandhu-1 would in fact be launched by the first Block 5 Falcon 9 booster and sketched out a rough outline of the highly-reusable rocket’s future.
“US company SpaceX, who will put Bangabandhu-1 into orbit, has sent us a letter confirming the new [May 4] schedule.”
While Shotwell largely rehashed previously-known information about the next-generation Falcon 9, she reiterated features expected to debut with Block 5, including a bolted (rather than welded) octaweb structure, retractable landing legs, titanium grid fins, and an upgraded thermal protection system, as well as “upgraded…operational capability of components across the board.”
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- SpaceX Block 5 Falcon9 at McGregor, Texas [Credit: Chris G – NSF via Twitter, Reprinted with permission from NASASpaceflight.com]
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- Falcon 9 1044 vertical at Pad 40 around 72 hours before launch. (Tom Cross)
Most importantly, Shotwell confirmed that the thermal protection system upgrades have already been flight-tested on Falcon 9 Block 4, seven boosters of which were produced. Aside from B1044, which was sadly expended with the launch of Hispasat 30W-6 due to bad weather in the Atlantic, six of those seven have already flown, five of those six were recovered after launch, and two of those five recovered boosters have since completed a second mission.
The final Block 4 booster is expected to complete a static fire test on Wednesday at Cape Canaveral’s LC-40 pad, ahead of the launch of NASA’s TESS, an exoplanet surveyor. Excitingly, TESS’ launch is expected to feature what will likely be the first drone ship landing attempt in nearly six months. The last drone ship landing occurred in October 2017. Success is presumed due to Falcon 9 Block 4’s flawless history of booster recovery, and strengthened the relatively lightweight payload the rocket will be tasked with launching. After months of down-time, Of Course I Still Love You and its famous Octagrabber (Roomba) companion may well get their first taste of rocket recovery in far too long.
OCISLY and Octagrabber spied on March 20 by Reddit user 360_forever. (Reddit /u/360_forever)
If all goes smoothly leading up to its launch, the first Falcon 9 Block 5 will also find itself aboard OCISLY just three weeks later, after a (fingers crossed) successful launch of the 3700 kg Bangabandhu-1 geostationary communications satellite.
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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Armored Tesla Cybertruck “War Machine” debuts at Defense Expo 2025
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Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan
Tesla plans to supply over 100 Megapack units to support a large stationary storage project in Japan, making it one of the country’s largest energy storage facilities.
Tesla’s Megapack grid-scale batteries have been selected to back an energy storage project in Japan, coming as the latest of the company’s continued deployment of the hardware.
As detailed in a report from Nikkei this week, Tesla plans to supply 142 Megapack units to support a 548 MWh storage project in Japan, set to become one of the country’s largest energy storage facilities. The project is being overseen by financial firm Orix, and it will be located at a facility Maibara in central Japan’s Shiga prefecture, and it aims to come online in early 2027.
The deal is just the latest of several Megapack deployments over the past few years, as the company continues to ramp production of the units. Tesla currently produces the Megapack at a facility in Lathrop, California, though the company also recently completed construction on its second so-called “Megafactory” in Shanghai China and is expected to begin production in the coming weeks.
READ MORE ON TESLA MEGAPACKS: Tesla Megapacks help power battery supplier Panasonic’s Kyoto test site
Tesla’s production of the Megapack has been ramping up at the Lathrop facility since initially opening in 2022, and both this site and the Shanghai Megafactory are aiming to eventually reach a volume production of 10,000 Megapack units per year. The company surpassed its 10,000th Megapack unit produced at Lathrop in November.
During Tesla’s Q4 earnings call last week, CEO Elon Musk also said that the company is looking to construct a third Megafactory, though he did not disclose where.
Last year, Tesla Energy also had record deployments of its Megapack and Powerwall home batteries with a total of 31.4 GWh of energy products deployed for a 114-percent increase from 2023.
Other recently deployed or announced Megapack projects include a massive 600 MW/1,600 MWh facility in Melbourne, a 75 MW/300 MWh energy storage site in Belgium, and a 228 MW/912 MWh storage project in Chile, along with many others still.
What are your thoughts? Let me know at zach@teslarati.com, find me on X at @zacharyvisconti, or send us tips at tips@teslarati.com.
Tesla highlights the Megapack site replacing Hawaii’s last coal plant
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Elon Musk responds to Ontario canceling $100M Starlink deal amid tariff drama
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said, opens new tab on February 3 that he was “ripping up” his province’s CA$100 million agreement with Starlink in response to the U.S. imposing tariffs on Canadian goods.
Elon Musk company SpaceX is set to lose a $100 million deal with the Canadian province of Ontario following a response to the Trump administration’s decision to apply 25 percent tariffs to the country.
Starlink, a satellite-based internet service launched by the Musk entity SpaceX, will lose a $100 million deal it had with Ontario, Premier Doug Ford announced today.
Starting today and until U.S. tariffs are removed, Ontario is banning American companies from provincial contracts.
Every year, the Ontario government and its agencies spend $30 billion on procurement, alongside our $200 billion plan to build Ontario. U.S.-based businesses will…
— Doug Ford (@fordnation) February 3, 2025
Ford said on X today that Ontario is banning American companies from provincial contracts:
“We’ll be ripping up the province’s contract with Starlink. Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy. Canada didn’t start this fight with the U.S., but you better believe we’re ready to win it.”
It is a blow to the citizens of the province more than anything, as the Starlink internet constellation has provided people in rural areas across the globe stable and reliable access for several years.
Musk responded in simple terms, stating, “Oh well.”
Oh well https://t.co/1jpMu55T6s
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2025
It seems Musk is less than enthused about the fact that Starlink is being eliminated from the province, but it does not seem like all that big of a blow either.
As previously mentioned, this impacts citizens more than Starlink itself, which has established itself as a main player in reliable internet access. Starlink has signed several contracts with various airlines and maritime companies.
It is also expanding to new territories across the globe on an almost daily basis.
With Mexico already working to avoid the tariff situation with the United States, it will be interesting to see if Canada does the same.
The two have shared a pleasant relationship, but President Trump is putting his foot down in terms of what comes across the border, which could impact Americans in the short term.
Armored Tesla Cybertruck “War Machine” debuts at Defense Expo 2025
Tesla Megapacks chosen for 548 MWh energy storage project in Japan
