ELON CHRON: The Daily Chronicle of Musk’s Companies

“All my X’s live in Texas…” – Elon Musk (@elonmusk)

Support the ELON CHRON by subscribing for only .18¢/article!

■ TESLA ($430.41, +3.32%):

– Last week Elon met with APAC, Australia and New Zealand team members. From left to right we have Isabel Fan, APAC Director and Market Expansion Lead; Tom Zhu (@tomzhu_nz), Senior Vice President of Automotive; Tom Ridulfo, AUNZ General Sales Manager; and Thom Drew – AUNZ Country Director. I tried to find out who the woman on the right is next to Thom, but for the life of me I could not. Not much was shared about the meeting specifics, but Ridulfo emphasized software, manufacturing, and energy as core drivers fueling the vehicle business, with autonomy, robotics, and energy enabling future growth.

– On February 6th, Tesla will hold an opening event for the entrance into Morocco, it first African market. The event will take place at Anfaplace Mall in Casablanca from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. local time. where they will showcase the Model 3 and Y. Tesla already has six Supercharger stations operational in Morocco. Ismaël Zouhair, Tesla Morocco Country Manager will lead the event.

– Dennis Hong, UCLA professor and director of RoMeLa, had the Tesla Optimus team in for a visit RoMeLa. Optimus Gen 2.5 B-Build was present, but photos were not permitted. “I am VERY proud of all of our RoMeLa graduates doing great things at Tesla! Excited for Gen 3!“

– On February 4th at The DistribuTECH 2026 conference in Sand Diego, Tesla will have three representatives on the PG&E’s Flex Connect Program panel; Jia Liu, Charging Land Development Lead; Paul Luna, Commercial Charging Design Lead; and Bill Erlich, Charging Business Development. They will present on Tesla’s Supercharger integrations using IEEE 2030.5 protocol and PG&E’s DERMS, address challenges like lack of end-to-end standards, non-integrated chargers, and multi-stakeholder coordination. Their specific session will be in room 6E at 11 a.m.

– Eolian is building a 400 MW Megapack site called Padua Grid near San Antonio, Texas, at a key substation by the retiring J.K. Spruce coal plant. Padua 1 (50 MW) has been in service since last September. Padua 2 (150 MW) and Padua 3 (200 MW) will be finished in spring 2026. Total capacity will reach about 1.7 GWh. Eolian raised $463 million in October 2025 for the last phases.

Per Aaron Zubaty, Eolian CEO, “The project cuts transmission congestion and improves grid reliability for San Antonio. “We’re actually enabling [thermal plants] to last longer. Instead of retiring a plant, having to build a new one because it’s so old — you run it less, it lasts longer…”

– Copec Flux has became the first company in Chile to complete Tesla Energy’s Certified Service Provider program. The certification grants access to Tesla’s tools, training, and service technology for safe and efficient operation and maintenance of Megapack 2 XL systems. It enables independent maintenance, optimized system performance, and greater customer flexibility, including in markets without direct Tesla Energy service.

– According to a SEC FORM 10-K filing yesterday, Tesla sold $430 million in Megapacks to xAI in 2025. These sales made up about 3.4% of Tesla Energy’s business revenue. Revenue grew 27% to $12.8 billion in 2025 from $10.1 billion in 2024.

– Tesla Lithium Refinery’s Klarissa Garcia and Jason Bevan hosted Jeffrey West, Chief Workforce Development Officer at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, and crew for a tour of the facility. They shared details on refinery operations and workforce needs.

– The new Shanghai Megafactory produced more than 2,000 Megapacks in 2025. Most units were exported to markets including Europe and Australia. The factory targets an annual capacity of up to 10,000 Megapacks, equivalent to about 40 GWh. H/T Drive Tesla Canada (@DriveTeslaca).

– A few weeks back I posted about Tesla’s new 420 Solar Panel, yesterday they formally announced the product.

Tesla performed a live demonstration of installing its new solar panels at the Solarama event. The panels use cascading cell technology to create 18 power zones, three times more than conventional panels, reducing energy loss in shaded conditions and increasing output. The accompanying Panel Mount system features a groove-based frame for 33% faster installation, up to 15% fewer roof penetrations, and compatibility with shingle, tile, metal, and flat roofs. Video are by Zack (@BLKMDL3).

FLYOVERS:

Giga Texas: Joe Tegtmeyer (@JoeTegtmeyer), 30th of January, ‘26.

■ SPACEX:

– The FAA approved SpaceX’s Starship-Super Heavy operations at Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The approval allows:

Up to 44 Starship launches per year.
44 Super Heavy Booster landings per year (tower catch at LC-39A, or on drone ships in the Atlantic)
44 Starship landings (tower catch at LC-39A, or on drone ships in the Atlantic, Pacific, or Indian Oceans)

The decision follows the Draft EIS from August 2025 and includes mitigation for noise, sonic booms, and wildlife impacts. The EPA will publish a Notice of Availability on February 6th. Pic by Jake (Max-Q) (@rocketjunkie94) via Airbus’ Pleiades NEO 3.

– Last night, launch 13 of Falcon 9 Starlink 6-101 took place from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. This was the fifth flight for first stage booster B1095. It previously launched four Starlink missions. The booster landed on drone ship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean. 29 Starlinks were deployed.

– For last nights road closure at Starbase, SpaceX moved the Booster Transport Stand to the launch complex, and a Ring Transport Stand went to Massey’s. So no Booster or Ship transport.. Videos by Amy Doehring (@mymatrixplug). Follow and support Amy’s work!

– According to NSF’s (@NASASpaceflight) Ryan Caton (@dpoddolphinpro), SpaceX ‘s Sr Mission Manager in Human Spaceflight and Commercial Crew Program Lead, Lee Echerd, has confirmed launch cadence from LC-39A will focus solely on Falcon Heavy and Starship.

Per Lee, “We’re planning to launch most of our Falcon 9s from SLC-40, this includes all Dragon missions going forwards…”

Lee also confirmed the new landing zone at SLC-40 is called Landing Zone-40 (LZ-40), and SpaceX still has access to LZ-2 for Falcon Heavy flights; 1 booster lands at LZ-40, and one booster at LZ-2.

– Last night at Massey’s, Test Tank 39.1, aka S39.1, completed round 8 of its cryo-testing. Video via Avid Space’s (@LabPadre) live feed. Follow/subscribe to Avid Space and support their work!

– SpaceX fairing recovery vessel Doug returns back to Port Canaveral with the GPS III SV09 fairings on deck. This followed an hour later by Signet Warhorse I and drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas with booster B1096 aboard. Beautiful shots by John Concilus (@JConcilus). Follow John and support his work!

– The latest from NASA SpaceX Crew 12. Who will be flying aboard Crew Dragon Freedom. This will be its fifth flight. It previously flew Crew-4, Ax-2, Ax-3, and Crew-9.

2026 Launches (13 – Falcon 9, 0 – Falcon Heavy, and 0 – Starship):

Launch 14! Monday, 2nd of February, at 7:17 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 Starlink 17-32 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 15! Tuesday, 3rd of February, at 5:12 p.m. ET, Falcon 9 Starlink 6-103 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 16! Friday, 6th of February, at 9:05 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 Starlink 17-33 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 17! Saturday, 7th of February, at 4:41 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 Starlink 6-104 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 18! Tuesday, 10th of February, at 6:00 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 Starlink 17-34 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 19! Wednesday, 11th of February, at 6:00 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 NASA SpaceX Crew-12 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.

Support the ELON CHRON by subscribing on X for only .18¢/article!

Subscribe now

■ THE BORING COMPANY: N/A… boring.

■ NEURALINK: N/A…

■ STARLINK:

Elon on the possibility of a Starlink phone, “Not out of the question at some point. It would be a very different device than current phones. Optimized purely for running max performance/watt neural nets.”

– SpaceX developed a new Space Situational Awareness system named Stargaze. The system provides conjunction data to maximize safety for all satellites in orbit. SpaceX makes Stargaze conjunction data available free of charge to all satellite operators. It includes ephemeris sharing and conjunction screening services. SpaceX aims to encourage other operators to share ephemeris data and promote safe operations in space through this open approach.

Per Elon, “SpaceX is now providing precise positional awareness of objects in Earth orbit to all satellite operators for free. This will greatly reduce the probability of collisions that create orbital debris (space junk) hazards.”

Per Michael Nicolls (@michaelnicollsx), VP of Starlink Engineering, “Proud of the groundbreaking work the Starlink team is doing to advance space safety. With Stargaze, we have the beginnings of the space traffic system needed to ensure safe satellite operations.”

– The Ukrainian Minister of Defense, Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) formally thanked SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and Elon for their quick response and immediate work on a solution to stop Russian drones using Starlink to operate over Ukrainian cities.

“Elon Musk’s decision to urgently activate Starlink and send the first batch of terminals to Ukraine at the outset of the full-scale invasion was critical to the resilience of our state.”

■ 𝕏:

– Monique Pintarelli (@Monique_X) is now Head of Global Advertising at xAI. She leads the sales, content partnerships, and marketing teams for the X platform. She has worked with these teams for the last two and a half years. She expressed excitement about combining xAI and X to benefit the community and partners. This follows her prior position as head of Americas at X.

– Active poll from X’s Head of Product, Nikita Bier, on x-ing Communities. Vote and let him know how you feel about the idea.

■ xAI:

– Outside the construction site of xAI’s Water Recycle Plant near Colossus 1 in Memphis.

– According to Elon, 3D model generation for Grok Imagine is coming.

Elon has stated Grok 4.20 training is a few weeks delayed because of some power uptime issues due to the cold weather in Memphis and “some construction equipment taking out power lines”.

Per Alan McDonnell (@almc_d), X Infrastructure Lead, “Scaling and operating the world’s largest supercompute cluster is not easy. Thankfully for Grok the xAI team is unrivalled in talent and drive…”

■ ELON NEWS: N/A…

If you have any questions, feedback, or would like point out an error in the reporting, please do so in the comments. All support is greatly appreciated and a step closer to bringing the EC to the masses!

Thanks for reading the…

■ WAYS TO SUPPORT:

For January, I will be giving a X subscriber the following item…

16X20 METAL PRINT of HUMAN for SCALE ($90)! The Sun sets behind a SpaceX team member as he works on atop the Orbital Launch Mount at Pad 1 next to Super Heavy Booster 12; the first booster ever caught by Chopsticks. This was the 5th Integrated Flight Test.

Subscribe on X HERE for only $4/mo. to support the ELON CHRON and be eligible for the monthly giveaways. It’s cheap, effective, and less than .18¢/CHRON!

■ SHOP, REFERRALS, & TIPS:

– MY SHOP: Check out the awesome merch at my Shop HERE. All purchases go towards supporting the content.

– TESLA REFERRAL: If you are interested in a Tesla, use my referral by clicking HERE and get the following…

Model 3 or Y Purchase: 3 months of FREE FSD or $500 Off with FSD purchase.
Model S, X, or Cybertruck Purchase: $1000 Off.
Solar Panels &/or Powerwall Purchase: $400 Off.

– STARLINK REFERRAL: If you are interested in Starlink, use my referral by clicking HERE and get a free month of the Roam or Residential plan.

– TIPS: Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, & Buy Me a Coffee.

■ SOURCES:

Tesla:

SpaceX:

Starlink:

starlink.com/stargaze

Elon News:

Elon Quote: