ELON CHRON: The Daily Chronicle of Elon Musk’s Companies

“Moon Base Alpha…” – Elon Musk (@elonmusk)

■ TESLA ($440.10, -4.63%):

– The UP.FIT Patrol Cybertrucks for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department feature steel front and rear bumpers with integrated lighting, a carbon fiber hood equipped with a 50-inch light bar, joystick-controlled spotlights, lightweight UP.FIT Forged PD wheels, upgraded brakes, a rear sway bar for enhanced pursuit capabilities, a prisoner partition, custom mounts, organized wiring harnesses, and secure weapon mounts. Pics by Bryan Benitez, Digital Marketing Manager at Unplugged Performance.

– Megan Jackson, Sr Manager of Sales Engineering at Tesla, presented at the All Energy conference on “Ensuring Network Security & Reliability,” explaining how grid-forming batteries reshape system strength and inertia for a 100% renewable grid. She highlighted that 4.5 GW and 12 GWh of grid-forming Megapacks are currently operating or under construction across Australia. Jackson emphasized that achieving full-scale 100% renewables depends on ongoing collaboration among industry, regulators, and technology providers. Per Abhishek Rane, Tesla’s Asset Manager, “Incredible energy (pun intended), inspiring innovations, and great conversations with some of the brightest minds driving the renewable revolution.”

– Tesla China VP Grace Tao Lin announced via Weibo that Cybercab will debut in the Asia-Pacific region at the 8th China International Import Expo from November 5th – 10th, in Booth A3-03 of Hall 2.1 at Shanghai’s National Exhibition and Convention Center.

– Genera PR initiated construction of a 52 MW Balanced Energy Storage System (BESS) at the Cambalache Power Plant in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, featuring 68 Megapacks following a February contract for installations across six power plants. Groundbreaking occurred today, with battery delivery scheduled for April 2026 and operations by year-end. It is supported by $109.5 million in federal funds—90% from FEMA and 10% from the state Department of Housing via CDBG-DR—as part of a $758 million island-wide program including $533.5 million for equipment.

– Gantuya Yura, Tesla Germany Senior Recruiter, spoke at the Youth2Business Forum 2025 organized by AIESEC in Germany last Friday, sharing her experiences and representing Tesla’s mission to create sustainable solutions and empower the next generation through technology. She thanked AIESEC for its dedication to fostering future talent and innovation via youth initiatives, and addressed attending students, affirming their role as the future drivers of progress through energy, creativity, and passion, urging them to believe in their potential amid uncertainties.

– Drita Ahmeti of Tesla Switzerland GmbH and Lidiya Mariam Sandström, Sr Sales Campaign Coordinator at Tesla Sweden, at AUTO ZURI. Auto Zürich is Switzerland’s largest motor show in its 39th edition, runs from October 30 to November 2, 2025, at Messe Zürich.

– Tesla announced upcoming U.S. lease price increases effective November 4th. The Model 3 faces the largest hike of up to $80 monthly—from $329 to $409. The Model Y and Cybertruck will see smaller adjustments, such as $60 for the Model Y Long Range AWD from $399 to $459. These changes stem from the expiration of a federal EV lease tax credit adjustment, prompting Tesla to lower acquisition costs briefly before reverting.

FLYOVERS (flight links in sources section):

Fremont Factory: MetGod, 30th of October, ‘25.

Giga Berlin: Tobias Lindh (@tobilindh), 29th of October, ‘25.

■ SPACEX:

– SpaceX posted a Human Landing System (HLS) update! Starship cargo flights to the lunar surface for research, development, and exploratory missions will begin in 2028 at a rate of $100 million per metric ton.

“In response to the latest calls, we’ve shared and are formally assessing a simplified mission architecture and concept of operations that we believe will result in a faster return to the Moon while simultaneously improving crew safety.“ Highlights include:

Starship selected for Artemis III/IV via 2021/2023 competitions as highest technical/management ratings and lowest cost bidder.
Fabricating flight-article Starship HLS cabin with functional avionics, power, crew systems, ECLSS, comms, and thermal control for integrated testing and astronaut training.
2026 targets: long-duration orbital flight test for propulsion/thermal/propellant boil-off data; ship-to-ship propellant transfer demo in Earth orbit using V3 Starships with docking ports/probes, DragonEye sensors (ISS-proven), updated propellant connections, and experimental RF gauging sensors flown on recent tests.
Assessing simplified Artemis III mission architecture/conops for faster lunar return and improved crew safety in response to NASA requirement changes.

HLS team completed 49 milestones on time or ahead of schedule including:

Full-scale cabin life support/thermal/acoustic demos with inhabited modules.
Docking adapter qualification (androgynous, Dragon 2-based); full-scale landing leg drop tests on lunar regolith.
Raptor lunar throttle profile demos; micrometeoroid/orbital debris shielding tests.
Landing software/sensor/radar navigation demos; software architecture review.
Raptor cold start demos (sea-level/vacuum engines
Integrated mission ops plan.
Depot power module demo.
Ground RF comms demo.
Elevator/airlock ops with Axiom EVA suits.
Medical/telemedicine system demo.
Hardware-in-loop testbed for propellant transfer.

– SpaceX VP of Launch, Kiko Dontchev (@TurkeyBeaver), straight up assaulted with pies! “Promises made. Promises kept! Pie’s to the face and chicken suit dunk tank for an 8 launch month on the west coast. If all goes well, the SpaceX west coast team will fly tomorrow and complete back to back months with 8 launches each!“ Kiko is awesome!

Starbase City Commission Meeting (Located at The Hub, 39046 LBJ Blvd, Unit 2, Brownsville, TX 78521):

City Commission Regular Meeting, November 19, 2025 7:00 PM
City Commission Regular Meeting, December 17, 2025 7:00 PM

Countdown to 180 (138 – Falcon 9, 0 – Falcon Heavy, and 5 – Starship):

Launch 144! Friday, 31st of October, at 1:06 p.m. PT, Falcon 9 Starlink 11-23 will launch from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The booster will land on drone ship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean.
Launch 145! Sunday, 2nd of November, at 1:09 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 Bandwagon 4 will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The booster will land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. This is SpaceX’s 4th dedicated rideshare flight to a mid-inclination orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers.
Launch 146! Wednesday, 5th of November, at 6:08 p.m. ET, Falcon 9 Starlink 6-81 will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The booster will land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
Launch 147! Thursday, 6th of November, at 12:56 p.m. PT, Falcon 9 Starlink 11-14 will launch from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The booster will land on drone ship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean.
Launch 148! Monday, 10th of November, at ??? PT, Falcon 9 Transporter 15 will launch from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The booster will land on drone ship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean. SpaceX’s 15th dedicated rideshare flight to a sun-synchronous orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers.
Launch 149! Friday, 14th of November, at 6:00 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 Starlink 6-85 will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The booster will land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
Launch 150! Sunday, 16th of November, at ??? PT, Falcon 9 Sentinel-6B will launch from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The booster will return-to-site (RTS) and land at Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) at Vandenberg. The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich (launched November 2020) and Sentinel-6B make up the Sentinel-6 mission, also known as Jason Continuity of Service (Jason-CS), which is a partnership between NASA, NOAA, ESA, and EUMETSAT. This mission continues the long-term global sea surface height data record begun by first Jason satellites in 1992.

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■ THE BORING COMPANY:

– Blasting operations for the Music City Loop have started at the dig site and will taking place along Rosa L. Parks Boulevard from Rev. Kelly M. Smith Way to Nelson Merry Street tomorrow at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Boring employees have confirmed the blasts linked to the project, while the Tennessee Department of Transportation posted warnings of potential rolling roadblocks.

■ NEURALINK:

– “Neuralink and ALS – Building Neural Interfaces to Restore Autonomy”! Thursday, 6th of November, at 8 p.m. ET. YouTube Live link HERE.

■ STARLINK:

– Starlink billboards have been spotted in remote areas of northern Texas. This was one of two Jason Esquivel (@drvrjay) spotted outside of Abilene. He also saw one in Lubbock. Starlink is perfect for these remote areas. Thanks for the pic, Jason!

– Globalstar, Apple’s iPhone satellite partner since 2022, is considering a sale after initial SpaceX discussions. Alternatives include other buyers or independence. SpaceX’s potential buy would bolster its satellite lead post-$17B EchoStar spectrum deal, boosting Starlink cellular speeds 20x for LTE-like data, video, and apps via T-Mobile. It rivals Globalstar’s iPhone texting/emergency services, with Apple-SpaceX ties evident in spectrum integration.

– Virgin Media O2 (@VMO2News) announced O2 Satellite, a multi-year partnership with SpaceX to provide Starlink Direct to Cell in early 2026. This will be the UK’s first satellite-to-mobile service, delivering messaging and data connectivity using O2’s licensed spectrum to eliminate rural and coastal ‘not-spots’ automatically on compatible LTE handsets, targeting over 95% UK landmass coverage within 12 months while complementing the existing network and building on £700 million annual investments under the Mobile Transformation Plan. Internal trials are already underway.

– In Saskatchewan, Canada, SaskPower recently showed they paid $114,428 to SpaceX for Starlink in the 2024-25 fiscal year, as detailed in Saskatchewan’s annual payee disclosure reports for Crown corporations. New Democratic Party Member of the Legislative Assembly, Erika Ritchie, criticized the expenditure because it is a U.S. product and owned by Elon. She says they should be using the inferior SaskTel’s connectivity services. The Crown Investments Corporation explained that Starlink is essential in remote areas where SaskTel cannot deliver service, particularly for employee safety and emergency communications like medical assistance. There are similar uses by other provinces including Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro’s $200,000 annual payments in 2024.

■ 𝕏:

– X has enabled verified users to gift Premium or Premium+ subscriptions in packages of 3-month, 6-month, or 1-year to unverified users. This was previously limited to yearly subscriptions. The gifting option now appears on unverified profiles, ideal for holidays.

– X has added the feature that shows the Most Liked Posts from an Account.

– Arkadii Ivanov (@arkann1985) and Attila Blenesi (@attilablenesi) were at Droidcon London today looking for talent to fill Android roles at xAI/X.

– The X Marketing Team of Mardie Agnew (@mardieagnew), Tim Sabo (@tee_sabs), Bruna Piovesan (@brunapp), and Myles Wagner (@myleswagner) at the Tesla Diner yesterday. Per Bruna, “Team vibes on point at lunch!”

■ xAI:

– VAST Data is enhancing its AI data center market share through expanded Colossus storage integration. xAI incorporates VAST Data storage into the Frontier AI Factory expansion of its Colossus GPU datacenter, as detailed in a 5C Group post. It will feature Dell liquid-cooled rack-scale systems with Nvidia GB200 trays, fully loaded Nvidia GB200 NVL72 racks of GPUs, Nvidia Spectrum-X Ethernet for RDMA networking, and Tesla Megapacks for backup power. The facility, co-developed by xAI and Together AI for GPU cloud software orchestration, targets operational status in early 2026 and could exceed 1 million GPUs in the Colossus cluster, with VAST Data projected to deliver multiple exabytes of capacity overall.

– When xAI’s Greg Yang (@TheGregYang) and Ayush Jaiswal (@aayushjaiswal07) invite you to dinner. Pics by Aaron Ng (@localghost) and Rushi Shah (@irushishah).

– xAI has leased a 105,000 sq ft facility at the Page Mill Center office complex in Palo Alto, California, adjacent to its headquarters at 1450 Page Mill Road and across from Tesla’s Engineering HQ at 3000 Hanover Street. This expansion supports over 250 job openings. It is also being reported xAI seeks additional Palo Alto space.

– Grok Companion Ani’s new Noir outfit will rollout in the next iOS update.

■ ELON NEWS: N/A…

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