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SpaceX’s recovered fairing spotted sailing into port on Mr Steven

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Just 24 hours after gently landing in the ocean, SpaceX recovery technicians have successfully recovered one half of an intact Falcon payload fairing for the first time ever. Photos of the return to Port of San Pedro in Southern California, captured by Teslarati photographer Pauline Acalin, show that the halve recovered is in amazing condition considering its journey from speeds of nearly two miles per second (approximately 30 football fields per second, or more than ten times faster than a commercial passenger jet), to a soft, watery halt.

Despite the fact that SpaceX’s recovery boat, Mr Steven, was unable to catch the fairing as intended, a truly 100% successful recovery using the vessel’s specially-designed net is all but a foregone conclusion. If the fairing can gently land in the ocean looking as good as this article does, avoiding the water entirely should be a relatively simple matter of tweaking recovery hardware and software – a slightly larger parafoil as mentioned by Elon Musk, for example.

Mr Steven proudly returns to port with fairing halve in tow. (Pauline Acalin)

This recovery marks the end of yet another successful flight-proven SpaceX launch, this time tasked with carrying the Spanish PAZ imaging satellite and two SpaceX Starlink prototypes into a sun-synchronous orbit around Earth. We’re just two full months into 2018 and SpaceX appears to already be nearing the end of its fairing recovery development program, with operational fairing recovery and reuse the next (imminent) task at hand.

The most important unknown here is just how well SpaceX’s fairing design is able to cope with even brief contact with or immersion in saltwater, a natural corrosive agent. As a Teslarati reader rightly noted, carbon fiber composites do currently see quite a bit of use in boating, apparently no worse for wear in terms of maintainability. However, carbon fiber components on marine vessels are treated and coated with specially-chosen laminates and waterproofing materials to prevent saltwater intrusion. It’s unclear if SpaceX’s fairings include the same sort of treatment, although it can be all but guaranteed that the outside of the fairing is designed to be perfectly sealed against the environment – a necessity to protect sensitive satellite components from local weather and humidity.

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Of course, reuse for this particular fairing half may be out of the question given its pathfinder position. SpaceX may destructively analyze and test the recovered fairing to gather as much detail as possible about its condition after a rough reentry and some ocean-floating leisure time. In line with my above speculation, recovery technicians and engineers will judge how much (if any) saltwater managed to get inside the fairing, while also judging the condition of the giant halve’s carbon composite structure. Just like SpaceX chose to display its first successfully landed Falcon 9 booster outside of their Hawthorne, CA factory, they may hold onto this intact fairing as a piece of SpaceX history, maybe even put it on display in or around one of SpaceX’s US facilities.

 

With the next Mr Steven-led fairing recovery set to occur on March 29, SpaceX will have plenty of additional options to firm up their expertise with the newly successful practice. In fact, the upcoming February 25 launch and “hot” landing of Hispasat 30W – this time on the East coast – could also see its own successful fairing recovery, given the fact that PAZ’s fairing technically survived intact without the use of Mr Steven’s gentler catching mitt. Time will tell!

Follow us on social media for down-to-the-minute and behind the scenes updates on SpaceX activities.

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Tom Cross – Twitter

Pauline Acalin  Twitter

Eric Ralph Twitter

Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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Tesla updates Cybertruck owners about key Powershare feature

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla is updating Cybertruck owners on its timeline of a massive feature that has yet to ship: Powershare with Powerwall.

Powershare is a bidirectional charging feature exclusive to Cybertruck, which allows the vehicle’s battery to act as a portable power source for homes, appliances, tools, other EVs, and more. It was announced in late 2023 as part of Tesla’s push into vehicle-to-everything energy sharing, and acting as a giant portable charger is the main advantage, as it can provide backup power during outages.

Cybertruck’s Powershare system supports both vehicle-to-load (V2L) and vehicle-to-home (V2H), making it flexible and well-rounded for a variety of applications.

However, even though the feature was promised with Cybertruck, it has yet to be shipped to vehicles. Tesla communicated with owners through email recently regarding Powershare with Powerwall, which essentially has the pickup act as an extended battery.

Powerwall discharge would be prioritized before tapping into the truck’s larger pack.

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However, Tesla is still working on getting the feature out to owners, an email said:

“We’re writing to let you know that the Powershare with Powerwall feature is still in development and is now scheduled for release in mid-2026. 

This new release date gives us additional time to design and test this feature, ensuring its ability to communicate and optimize energy sharing between your vehicle and many configurations and generations of Powerwall. We are also using this time to develop additional Powershare features that will help us continue to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”

Owners have expressed some real disappointment in Tesla’s continuous delays in releasing the feature, as it was expected to be released by late 2024, but now has been pushed back several times to mid-2026, according to the email.

Foundation Series Cybertruck buyers paid extra, expecting the feature to be rolled out with their vehicle upon pickup.

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Cybertruck’s Lead Engineer, Wes Morrill, even commented on the holdup:

He said that “it turned out to be much harder than anticipated to make powershare work seamlessly with existing Powerwalls through existing wall connectors. Two grid-forming devices need to negotiate who will form and who will follow, depending on the state of charge of each, and they need to do this without a network and through multiple generations of hardware, and test and validate this process through rigorous certifications to ensure grid safety.”

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It’s nice to see the transparency, but it is justified for some Cybertruck owners to feel like they’ve been bait-and-switched.

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Tesla’s northernmost Supercharger in North America opens

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has opened its northernmost Supercharger in Fairbanks, Alaska, with eight V4 stalls located in one of the most frigid cities in the U.S.

Located just 196 miles from the Arctic Circle, Fairbanks’s average temperature for the week was around -12 degrees Fahrenheit. However, there are plenty of Tesla owners in Alaska who have been waiting for more charging options out in public.

There are only 36 total Supercharger stalls in Alaska, despite being the largest state in the U.S.

Eight Superchargers were added to Fairbanks, which will eventually be a 48-stall station. Tesla announced its activation today:

The base price per kWh is $0.43 at the Fairbanks Supercharger. Thanks to its V4 capabilities, it can charge at speeds up to 325 kW.

Despite being the northernmost Supercharger in North America, it is not even in the Top 5 northernmost Superchargers globally, because Alaska is south of Norway. The northernmost Supercharger is in Honningsvåg, Norway. All of the Top 5 are in the Scandanavian country.

Tesla’s Supercharger expansion in 2025 has been impressive, and although it experienced some early-quarter slowdowns due to V3-to-V4 hardware transitions, it has been the company’s strongest year for deployments.

Through the three quarters of 2025, the company has added 7,753 stations and 73,817 stalls across the world, a 16 percent increase in stations and an 18 percent increase in stalls compared to last year.

Tesla is on track to add over 12,000 stalls for the full year, achieving an average of one new stall every hour, an impressive statistic.

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Recently, the company wrapped up construction at its Supercharger Oasis in Lost Hills, California, a 168-stall Supercharger that Tesla Solar Panels completely power. It is the largest Supercharger in the world.

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Tesla shocks with latest Robotaxi testing move

Why Tesla has chosen to use a couple of Model S units must have a reason; the company is calculated in its engineering and data collection efforts, so this is definitely more than “we just felt like giving our drivers a change of scenery.”

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Credit: Sawyer Merritt | X

Tesla Model S vehicles were spotted performing validation testing with LiDAR rigs in California today, a pretty big switch-up compared to what we are used to seeing on the roads.

Tesla utilizes the Model Y crossover for its Robotaxi fleet. It is adequately sized, the most popular vehicle in its lineup, and is suitable for a wide variety of applications. It provides enough luxury for a single rider, but enough room for several passengers, if needed.

However, the testing has seemingly expanded to one of Tesla’s premium flagship offerings, as the Model S was spotted with the validation equipment that is seen entirely with Model Y vehicles. We have written several articles on Robotaxi testing mules being spotted across the United States, but this is a first:

Why Tesla has chosen to use a couple of Model S units must have a reason; the company is calculated in its engineering and data collection efforts, so this is definitely more than “we just felt like giving our drivers a change of scenery.”

It seems to hint that Tesla could add a premium, more luxury offering to its Robotaxi platform eventually. Think about it: Uber has Uber Black, Lyft has Lyft Black. These vehicles and services are associated with a more premium cost as they combine luxury models with more catered transportation options.

Tesla could be testing the waters here, and it could be thinking of adding the Model S to its fleet of ride-hailing vehicles.

Reluctant to remove the Model S from its production plans completely despite its low volume contributions to the overall mission of transitioning the world to sustainable energy, the flagship sedan has always meant something. CEO Elon Musk referred to it, along with its sibling Model X, as continuing on production lines due to “sentimental reasons.”

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However, its purpose might have been expanded to justify keeping it around, and why not? It is a cozy, premium offering, and it would be great for those who want a little more luxury and are willing to pay a few extra dollars.

Of course, none of this is even close to confirmed. However, it is reasonable to speculate that the Model S could be a potential addition to the Robotaxi fleet. It’s capable of all the same things the Model Y is, but with more luxuriousness, and it could be the perfect addition to the futuristic fleet.

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