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SpaceX Starship’s Raptor engine test facilities are about to get a big upgrade, says Elon Musk
According to CEO Elon Musk, SpaceX’s Starship and Super Heavy rockets are about to get a new test stand that will enable additional and more useful static fire tests of their Raptor engines.
These modifications could reportedly lead to a simplified engine design and will generally expand SpaceX’s ability to rapidly acceptance-test a huge number of Raptors – a necessity given that each Starship/Super Heavy pair will need up to 43 engines.
Musk’s additional insight came by way of a tweet response to an article , discussing SpaceX’s recently-unearthed plans to reactivate a test stand that hasn’t seen use in almost half a decade. Known as the tripod stand, the large concrete structure was originally built in the 1990s by Beal Aerospace, a now-defunct spaceflight startup, and came under SpaceX ownership when the company bought the McGregor, Texas facilities in 2003.
SpaceX repurposed the stand to static fire Falcon 9 boosters for a number of years, eventually replacing it with a ground-level installation in 2015 that has since been used to test more than 60 Falcon 9 (and Heavy) boosters. It’s not a huge surprise that SpaceX decided to make the change, given that the tripod stand necessarily placed Falcon boosters several hundred feet off the ground, making what was already a challenge even more arduous (and dangerous) for workers.
NASASpaceflight.com also notes that the stand produced far more noise pollution, encouraging SpaceX to move the replacement stand partially underground.
After four years of inactivity, NASASpaceflight.com photos show that SpaceX is well into the process of refurbishing McGregor’s tripod stand. This time, Musk says it will be modified to support vertical Raptor engine testing, likely requiring a new custom mount and new liquid methane and oxygen propellant farms.
By far the most interesting detail to come out of this development is Musk’s indication that moving Raptor static fires to a vertical stand could actually allow SpaceX to simplify the engine’s design by creating more flight-like test conditions (and thus better data). At the moment, all Raptor acceptance testing is done on a separate test stand located elsewhere at SpaceX’s McGregor facilities. Those stands are horizontal, an engineering decision likely motivated by their relatively cheap and fast construction thanks to sidestepping the need for large, water-cooled thrust diverters.
SpaceX does all of its Merlin Vacuum, Merlin 1D, Falcon 9 booster, and upper stage static fire testing on vertical stands at its McGregor facilities, with Raptor’s horizontal stands being the only exception to the rule. As such, it was likely just a matter of time before SpaceX replaced the horizontal Raptor facilities with vertical stands. Given that SpaceX plans to modify an entirely separate stand to support vertical testing, it’s likely that the company will modify the existing stands to support vertical testing as soon as the tripod stand is up and running.
For Falcon 9 and Heavy, SpaceX has relied on a total of five main engine/vehicle test stands: two for Merlin 1D, one for MVac, one for boosters, and one for upper stages. SpaceX builds engines and rockets in Hawthorne, tests every engine separately in Texas, returns them to Hawthorne, installs them on their respective booster/upper stage, and tests those stages in McGregor before they are shipped to their launch site.
Although that sounds undeniably arduous, the four stands pictured above (plus the F9 booster stand further up) have managed to support the entirety of SpaceX’s 82 launches. A new upper stage test stand is being built, but it has yet to be completed and is only necessary because Falcon 9 upper stages are expendable. According to SpaceX planning documents, Starship and Super Heavy will only perform static fire testing at the launch site. As such, something like the cluster of four Merlin stands above could very likely support the production and testing of 100-200+ Raptor engines annually, enough to build numerous boosters and ships.
SpaceX moves fast, so stay tuned for updates as work continues on the tripod stand and paves the way for even more significant changes at SpaceX’s McGregor, Texas test facilities.
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Elon Musk
xAI’s Grok 3 partners with Oracle Cloud for corporate AI innovation Â
Elon Musk’s xAI partners with Oracle to deliver Grok 3 to enterprise users via OCI. The move boosts Grok’s reach.

xAI’s Grok 3 is partnering with Oracle Cloud to deliver its advanced AI model to corporate customers.
Oracle announced its collaboration with xAI earlier this week. The partnership leverages Oracle’s robust infrastructure to offer xAI’s Grok 3, positioning it as a transformative tool for business applications.
“Today, we announced xAI has selected Oracle to offer xAI’s Grok models via OCI Generative AI service for a wide range of use cases and will use OCI’s leading AI infrastructure to train and run inferencing for its next-generation Grok models,� said Clay Magouyrk, Executive Vice President at Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, via LinkedIn.
Oracle’s cost-effective AI capabilities will support xAI’s demanding workloads, enabling faster processing for enterprise users.
Oracle’s Karan Batta told : “O³Ü°ù goal here is to make sure that we can provide a portfolio of models – we don’t have our own.â€� Oracle will host Grok 3 alongside models from Meta, Mistral, and Cohere, ensuring corporate data remains secure within existing Oracle protections.
Oracle’s strategy focuses on integrating popular AI models into corporate software, and xAI’s Grok 3 enhances this portfolio. The collaboration expands Grok’s reach to businesses seeking secure, high-performance AI solutions for diverse use cases.
Elon Musk’s xAI launched Grok 3 in February. It competes with models from DeepSeek and OpenAI. Grok 3 is free for all X users, but features are limited. X offers Premium and Premium+ subscribers access to Grok 3’s advanced capabilities like DeepResearch and Think modes. Users who are not paid subscribers have access to Grok 3’s basic features.
Elon Musk’s companies have a longstanding relationship with Oracle. In 2018, AGÊÓѶƽ̨ appointed Oracle founder Larry Ellison to its board, a move Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives called a “home run appointment.”
In 2023, Ellison–who is no longer on AGÊÓѶƽ̨’s board but still close with Musk–revealed plans for a AGÊÓѶƽ̨ Cybertruck police car.
“O³Ü°ù next-generation police car is coming out very soon,â€� Ellison said at the 2023 Oracle CloudWorld conference in Las Vegas. “It’s my favorite police car. It’s my favorite car, actually. It’s Elon’s favorite car.â€�
Grok 3’s integration into Oracle Cloud strengthens xAI’s position in the corporate artificial intelligence market. By combining Oracle’s infrastructure with Grok’s cutting-edge capabilities, this collaboration could redefine enterprise AI adoption, driving innovation across industries.
Elon Musk
AGÊÓѶƽ̨ Robotaxis are becoming a common sight on Austin’s public roads
AGÊÓѶƽ̨ Robotaxi sightings are becoming much more frequent ahead of its launch planned for this month.

AGÊÓѶƽ̨ Robotaxis are becoming a common sight on the public roads of Austin, Texas, as yet another test mule has been spotted near the company’s target launch date.
Just over a week ago, the first public sighting of a driverless AGÊÓѶƽ̨ Robotaxi was reported. The vehicle was an updated version of the AGÊÓѶƽ̨ Model Y, which will be the initial model used in the public deployment of the Robotaxi platform.
Throughout the past week, sightings have been more common, as people in Austin have been looking for the unique decal AGÊÓѶƽ̨ is placing on car doors to recognize the driverless vehicles (After all, Robotaxis are not as easy to recognize as driverless vehicles without the LIDAR unit on the roof like Waymo).
Yet another sighting of a Robotaxi was shared on social media today, just two days before CEO Elon Musk’s proposed launch date of June 22:
🚨 AGÊÓѶƽ̨ Robotaxis are being spotted all over Austin!
Here’s another spotted within the last hour:
â€� TESLARATI (@AGÊÓѶƽ̨rati)
It is easy to tell that there is nobody in the driver’s seat of this vehicle. AGÊÓѶƽ̨ is using its white interior on this particular mule, making it incredibly simple to recognize that no human is controlling the car.
Whether AGÊÓѶƽ̨ will still meet the June 22nd deadline remains to be seen, but it is no secret that the company is prioritizing safety ahead of offering public rides.
AGÊÓѶƽ̨ will initially roll out the Robotaxi platform in Austin, but it has already started the regulatory process in other areas, specifically California.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is also helping to streamline the process for companies developing driverless vehicles by giving exemptions to automakers. It will make things much more efficient, benefiting AGÊÓѶƽ̨ and other car companies that have similar plans.
AGÊÓѶƽ̨ Robotaxi just got a big benefit from the U.S. government
Elon Musk
Elon Musk teases AGÊÓѶƽ̨ Optimus Gen 3 capabilities: ‘So many improvements’
If you thought Optimus Gen 2 was impressive, AGÊÓѶƽ̨ might have a surprise for you.

Elon Musk has teased that huge improvements are coming to AGÊÓѶƽ̨’s Optimus humanoid robot, which is arguably the product that the company is developing with the most potential for everyday use by consumers and valuation increases from a financial perspective.
Optimus is still in the development stages, but AGÊÓѶƽ̨ has made great strides in its development over the past several years. It started as a simple idea that was unveiled with a human being in a spandex suit.
AGÊÓѶƽ̨ posts Optimusâ€� most impressive video demonstration yet
Just a few years later, AGÊÓѶƽ̨ has developed several humanoid robot prototypes that have made their way to influencers and have lent a helping hand around the company’s manufacturing facilities.
AGÊÓѶƽ̨ has already introduced two generations of Optimus, as the most recent release featured a vast number of improvements from the initial version.
The following is a list of things AGÊÓѶƽ̨ improved upon with Optimus Gen 2 compared to Gen 1:
- AGÊÓѶƽ̨ introduced a weight reduction of roughly 22 pounds, improving efficiency and agility
- Optimus Gen 2 had a walking speed that improved by 30 percent over Gen 1
- AGÊÓѶƽ̨ developed more capable hands that had 22 degrees of freedom, double that of Gen 1. This improved object handling
- Optimus Gen 2 had a 2-degree-of-freedom neck, as Gen 1’s was fixed
- AGÊÓѶƽ̨ integrated actuators and sensors for better performance. This includes things like foot force/torque sensing, articulated toe sections that are close to human foot geometry for better balance and movement
- Optimus Gen 2 has 28 degrees of overall freedom, improving flexibility from the first generation
- AGÊÓѶƽ̨’s Optimus Gen 2 can do more than Gen 1, and has shown improved motor control and precision, doing things like squats, yoga poses, dancing, and even poaching an egg
These changes essentially brought AGÊÓѶƽ̨ closer to what will be the Optimus version that makes it to production. The company has plans to start production for the public in 2026, but some units will be manufactured for internal use within its factories as soon as this year. AGÊÓѶƽ̨ has said it could scale to 100,000 units or more by next year.
Musk also revealed to AGÊÓѶƽ̨rati recently that the company is in the process of building the production line that will bring manufacturing rates of Optimus to that level.
However, there is another design of Optimus coming, and Musk says it will feature “so many improvements”:
So many improvements to come in the next design of Optimus
� Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
AGÊÓѶƽ̨ has said that Optimus will have the capability to perform tedious and time-consuming tasks like folding laundry, babysitting, cooking, walking the dog, and plenty of other things. However, it will be super impressive to see it do things that require true coordination, like threading a needle, for example.
Musk did not hint toward any specific developments that AGÊÓѶƽ̨ will aim for with Optimus Gen 3, but the sky is the limit, especially as it will be performing some manufacturing tasks across its factories.
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