“Dredging the sewage pond did not turn out to be a huge winner…” – Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
■ TESLA ($319.91, +3.62%):
– Saia Inc. is participating in the North American Council for Freight Efficiency’s (NACFE) 2025 Run on Less – Messy Middle event with their Tesla Semi. The attached video is from their Stockton, California service center and showcases Saia’s two Tesla Semis, their team, the drivers, and Tesla Semi Lead Dan Priestley. Check out the video HERE!
– Per Elon, “Tesla is training a new FSD model with ~10X params and a big improvement to video compression loss. Probably ready for public release end of next month if testing goes well.
Robert Scoble (@Scobleizer) replied to Elon with expectation of what 10X means:
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See and avoid potholes.
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Better in parking lots; find optimal spaces and park.
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Handle Robotaxi pick-up/drop-off zones better.
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Path planner will pick lanes more accurately.
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Avoid anomalies better; first responders, rare situations.
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Drive smoother and more confident.
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Drive faster, but regulations limited.
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Manage high-chaos situations better; crowds, airports.
Elon replied back with, “Minimizing probability of injury is the goal, but we will address these other factors too. If not entirely in this build, then shortly thereafter.“
– Jessica Kimy, Tesla’s Event Coordinator for Ireland, organized the company’s participation at the Bray Air Display, where children painted a Tesla, the team engaged with attendees, showcased the models, and embraced one of Ireland’s premier summer events.
– German Tesla owners can transfer their FSD if they take delivery of a new Tesla by the 30th of September. Owners must notify Tesla of the intent to transfer and sign an agreement before new vehicle delivery.
– Tesla opened their new Miami, Florida, Doral center today from 4 – 7 p.m.
– Per Elon, “We are working as quickly as possible to get 100+ Teslas operating for autonomous ride-hailing (can’t use the word “taxi” or “cab” in California) in the Bay Area and allow anyone to request a ride.”
– Last week it was reported that Tesla’s second showroom in India is scheduled to open on the 11th of August at New Delhi’s Worldmark, Aerocity. Today, Indian news outlets are reporting Tesla has signed a 9 year lease for a 3rd +33,000 sq ft showroom in Gurgaon at the Orchid Business Park on Sohna Road. Tesla has not confirmed this, but real estate analytics platform CRE Matrix posted the lease was signed on July 28th, and covers the entire ground floor, which will house a service center, delivery hub, and retail outlet. The 1st pic is Aerocity and the 2nd is Orchid.
– “Afterglow in Brazil…” by Daniel Lunelli.
FLYOVERS (flight links in sources section):
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Giga Texas: Joe Tegtmeyer (@JoeTegtmeyer), 6th of August, ’25. Significant activity focused on delivering production line equipment. Materials moving into the east side’s second, third, and new mezzanine floors including large robotic assemblers. Ongoing grade work at the Switch Yard 2, installing rebar and forms for underground vault roofs. Cortex 2 construction progresses. Subscribe to Joe and support his work!
■ SPACEX:
– Newly posted LNM (Local Notice to Mariners) shows Flight 10 is currently targeting August 17th. High probability the date will be pushed back. Ship 37 needs to undergo another static fire.
– Today, Super Heavy Booster 16 left Mega Bay 1 and is now staged at the Rocket Garden. Screenshots from @NASASpaceflight and @LabPadre. Follow and subscribe to both to support their great coverage.
– Starship Gazer (@StarshipGazer) found something interesting yesterday. A new construction project near Pad 1 at the launch complex has steel columns labeled “Megabunker”. No details yet. Follow and subscribe to Gazer and support his content.
– NASA announced a delay in the undocking of Crew-10 from the ISS to no earlier than this Thursday at 12:05 p.m. ET. This is due to high wind predictions in the splashdown zones off the California coast. Splashdown is targeted for Friday at 9:58 a.m. PT.
– Elon on Mars, “Slight chance of Starship flight to Mars crewed by Optimus in Nov/Dec next year. A lot needs to go right for that. More likely, first flight without humans in ~3.5 years, next flight ~5.5 years with humans. Mars city self-sustaining in 20 to 30 years.”
– SpaceX has started removing the Raptors from Super Heavy Booster 13’s aft section. This was section fished out of the Gulf a few weeks ago. Great pic by Interstellar Gateway – IGW (@interstellargw)!
Starbase City Commission Meeting:
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Regular Meeting: 20th of August, at 7:00 p.m. CT. Located at 39046 LBJ Blvd, Unit 2, Brownsville, TX 78521
Countdown to 180 (96 – Falcon 9, 0 – Falcon Heavy, and 3 – Starship):
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Launch 100! Thursday, 7th of August, at 10:01 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 Project Kuiper KF-02 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 the second of three SpaceX launches for Amazon’s Kuiper low Earth orbit satellite internet constellation. 24 satellites will be on board.
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Launch 101! Saturday, 9th of August, at 7:05 p.m. PT, Falcon 9 Starlink 17-4 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.
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Launch 102! Sunday, 10th of August, at 8:16 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 Starlink 10-20 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.
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Launch 103! Wednesday, 13th of August, at 8:41 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 Starlink 10-11 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.
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Launch 104! Wednesday, 13th of August, at 8:44 a.m. PT, Falcon 9 Starlink 17-5 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.
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Launch ??! Flight 10 NET August.
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■ THE BORING COMPANY: N/A… boring.
■ NEURALINK: N/A…
■ STARLINK:
– Alaska Wildlife Trooper Whittaker parked his patrol truck and set up his Starlink Mini to monitor the live feed the Youth Caribou Hunt from Eagle Summit. If you look closely at the nearest hill on the left, you can see hundreds of dots; those are all caribou. Pic by the Alaska State Troopers (@akstatetrooper).
– Embraer’s Praetor 600, Praetor 500, Legacy 500, and Legacy 450 jets will offer Starlink through a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC), in partnership with Nextant Aerospace, the engineering unit of Flexjet. The Praetor 500 and Legacy 450 have FAA certification, while the Praetor 600 and Legacy 500 expect FAA approval in Q3 2025, ANAC certification in Q4 2025, and EASA certification in Q1 2026.
■ X:
– Per Elon on the recommendation algorithm, “We just turned off “deep retrieval”, so hopefully you notice an improvement in recommendations. Dredging the sewage pond did not turn out to be a huge winner.“
– The latest versions of X for iOS, Android, Web have/will have age verification to comply with new regulations in the EU and UK. Spicy Mode incoming. H/T Swak (@swak_12).
– The House Judiciary Committee’s report reveals that the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), while claiming to target only harmful content in Europe, pressures US tech companies, including X, to enforce censorship globally. This includes American political speech, conflicting with the First Amendment’s protection of free expression.
– Do forget to join the X Ads discussion this evening today at 4:30 p.m. CT with Elon and the X team. Click HERE.
■ xAI:
– Per Elon, “Major improvements have been made to get Imagine audio to be passable. Epic audio will take a few more weeks.”
“Grok Imagine usage is growing by ~50% per day. Hyper-viral. Ani and Valentine growing fast too.”
■ DOGE:
Estimated Savings: $199 Billion
Amount Saved Per Taxpayer: $1,236.02
– 19-year-old former DOGE member and Neuralink prodigy Edward Coristine (@as400495), aka “Big Balls”, was assaulted around 3 a.m. this past Sunday near Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. He rushed to protect a young woman from an attempted carjacking and was attacked approximately 8 to 10 juveniles. Edward suffered many injuries and a concussion… He saved the young woman.
■ ELON NEWS: N/A…
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REFERRALS:
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Tesla: 3 free months of FSD or $400 Off Solar Panel Installation. ts.la/stephen746292
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Starlink: Free Month for either Residential or Roam service! https://www.starlink.com/residential?referral=RC-3527509-65487-76
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T-Mobile (Starlink Direct-to-Cell): $50 credit 45 days after you activate. Direct-to-Cell has dropped from $20 to $10 per month! https://share.t-mobile.com/stephenr-3419
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SOFI (ARK Venture Fund): $25 worth of stock. SOFI is the only outlet the public can invest in Cathie Wood’s ARK Venture Fund ($ARKVX). This ARK fund includes SpaceX, xAI, Tesla, X, and a ton of other major AI, Tech, and Bio companies. Of note, investing in the fund requires an initial $500. https://www.sofi.com/invite/invest?gcp=ecf25d1c-7bc9-4ee0-a407-a51849297288&isAliasGcp=false
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Robinhood: Get a Free stock. https://join.robinhood.com/stepher-fcc938
Have a great day!
■ SOURCES:
FLYOVERS:
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Giga Texas: Joe Tegtmeyer
Starlink:
X:
Elon News: