S.E. Robinson, Jr.

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

Added 2025-08-26 20:36:16 +0000 UTC

26th of August, 2025

"I have a plan for that..." - Elon Musk (@elonmusk)

■ TESLA TSLA 2.24%↑ ($351.67, +1.46%):

- On my way to Starbase on Saturday, we stopped by the Tesla Lithium Refinery in Robstown, Texas. Lots of progress I dropped 26 pics for subscribers HERE. Go check them out!

- Per Kimbal Musk (@kimbal) "I think my brother deserves to be paid. He has zero pay for the past 6-8 years. I don't think that's right. I'll let the Tesla shareholders make that decision, but I believe he needs to be paid."

- Tesla Australia and New Zealand are set to reveal a new offering this Friday, August 29th. The company suggests it will be a significant step for the brand in the region. The announcement could be the introduction of FSD, Tesla has been testing in Sydney and Melbourne. Then again, it could be the Model Y L or Cybertruck. We shall see.

- According to Not A Tesla App, Tesla is developing a Low Power Mode feature which will reduce standby energy consumption by disabling features like Sentry Mode, Summon Standby, Cabin Overheat Protection, and Keep Accessory Power On. It is expected in the 2025.32 update and can be toggled on/off via the app. You will be able to customize which features remain active and potentially set an automatic activation based on battery percentage, addressing vampire drain during extended parking periods like vacations or airport parking.

- Jorge Quintana, Tesla Account Manager for Utility Energy Storage for LATAM, with team members Jemaris Martes, Nicholas Reale, and more spent last week in Puerto Rico holding Megapack events. "What a great week for the Tesla Energy team in Puerto Rico. We held our first Megapack event for our local partners and engaged with the top industry stakeholders on the Island. It is such an exciting time for the future of energy in Puerto Rico and we are honored to be part of it."

- The 2026 Model Y, produced at Giga Berlin, has been approved for Quebec’s Roulez Vert program, qualifying for a $4,000 CAD provincial EV rebate. H/T Drive Tesla Canada (@DriveTeslaca).

- Tesla has expanded Robotaxi in Austin to include Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, Giga Texas, and all the way west to MOPAC (Loop 1). Hopefully more invites will go out and the grow the fleet. H/T Joe Tegtmeyer (@JoeTegtmeyer).

- Tesla is hiring a “Data Collection Supervisor, Autopilot (Night Shift)” in Henderson, Nevada, for Robotaxi. Tesla has not filed applications with the Nevada DMV or Transportation Authority, though discussions occurred in July. Nevada’s permissive autonomous vehicle laws, established in 2011 and amended in 2017, allow driverless operation.

- Per Elon, "Lidar and radar reduce safety due to sensor contention. If lidars/radars disagree with cameras, which one wins? This sensor ambiguity causes increased, not decreased, risk. That’s why Waymos can’t drive on highways. We turned off the radars in Teslas to increase safety. Cameras ftw."

- The Giga Nevada Semi Factory took delivery of some of the equipment that had originally be stored at Giga Texas. Very possible due to the size that this is part of a Giga Press. Check out Zane's (@HinrichsZane) flyover in the FLYOVER SECTION below.

- According to Tesla's Raj Jegannathan (@r_jegaa), Tesla may increase Model Y pricing and increase production output in the U.S. "Trending toward a need to expedite output even further, which could mean adjusting pricing upward in the coming days. Trying hard not to, will see."

- Tesla has announced it will officially launch Cybertruck in South Korea on the 29th of August. There will be a period from August 29th to September 4th for those with reservations to confirm their orders. New orders will start on September 5th. The variants include:

Cybertruck AWD: 145,000,000원 ($104,000)
Cybertruck Beast: 160,000,000원 ($114,500)

- Yesterday, Giga Berlin built their 100,000th Model Y!

- Tesla is expected to introduce tire and windshield protection plans for the Cybertruck this week in the U.S.

FLYOVERS (flight links in sources section):

Giga Nevada Semi Factory: Zanegler, 23rd of August, '25. “The Actual Big Show Probably my most consequential video of the construction of the high-volume semi factory. Enjoy......it's a long one.”

Tesla Lithium Refinery: Joe Tegtmeyer, 24th. "The plant is operational, taking deliveries of a lot of raw Spodumene & visible signs of operations."

■ SPACEX:

- Today, launch 107 of Falcon 9 NAOS took place from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. This was the 27th flight for first stage booster B1063. It previously launched Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, DART, Transporter-7, Iridium OneWeb, SDA-0B, NROL-113, NROL-167, NROL-149, and 18 Starlink missions. The booster RTS (Return to Site) and landed at Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) at Vandenberg.

NAOS (National Advanced Optical System) is the space component of Luxembourg's Earth Observation System (LUXEOSys) governmental dual-use satellite system. Its purpose is to provide high resolution images to national and international governmental and military organizations such as NATO. Also on board the launch is Dhruva Space's LEAP-1; Planet's Pelican-3 and Pelican-4; and Exolaunch’s Acadia-6, FFLY-1, FFLY-2, and FFLY-3.

- Last Saturday, launch 106 of Falcon 9 Dragon CRS-2 SpX-33 took place from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. This will be the third flight for Cargo Dragon C211. It previously flew the CRS-26 and CRS-29 missions. This was the seventh flight of first stage booster B1090. It previously launched O3b mPOWER-E, Crew-10, Bandwagon-3, O3b mPOWER-D, and two Starlink missions. The booster landed on drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.

Dragon C211 docked with the ISS Monday morning. This is the 33rd commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station operated by SpaceX. The flight will be conducted under the second Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA. While docked, Dragon will perform a series of burns to help the ISS maintain its current altitude, using an independent propellant system and two Draco engines in the spacecraft’s modified trunk.

- Flight 10 has been scrubbed twice. First from a liquid oxygen leak in a supply line from the SQD. Crews worked all night Sunday and early into Monday to fix the problem. Monday everything was green to go, but not the weather. So fingers crossed today we get to Starship 37 and Super Heavy Booster 16 fly. For all my subscribers, I posted over 100 pics from my time at Starbase this past Saturday and Sunday. Go check them out HERE and let me know what you think.

- After the 1st scrub, Elon posted the above video from within the Starfactory. Incredible. LilHumansBigImpact (@BigImpactHumans) posted the pic of the SpaceX 737 landing at Brownsville. The caravan of Cybertrucks and SUVs heading to the LC is when Elon took the pic from under the SHB16. During the 2nd launch attempt, we got to see Optimus while the Tesla Diner live streamed the launch and inside SpaceX's new control room.

- Here is the technical conversation between Elon, Communication Manager Dan Huot (@danhuot), and and VP of Starship Engineering Bill Riley (@Boca_Bill_R). Many complained that Elon did not reveal any new info during this talk, but Elon's goal is to get people excited, especially those who are not informed about the project and what SpaceX intends to do.

- The evolution of the Raptor is on display at Starbase. V1, 2, and 3 are currently side by side inside the HQ. Pic by @StarshipGazer.

- Per Elon, "Making a fully reusable orbital rocket of any design is one of the hardest engineering problems of all time. Much, much harder than going to the Moon, which is why it still hasn’t been solved. I am cautiously optimistic that Starship will achieve full reusability next year. The other critical technology, albeit much easier, is orbital refilling. If fortune favors us, that will also be achieved next year. Then consciousness and life as we know it can extend to the planets and hence to the stars."

- Per Elon, "Starship V4 will have 42 engines when 3 more Raptors are added to a significantly longer ship. That will fly in 2027. Starship V3 is a massive upgrade from the current V2 and should be through production and testing by end of year, with heavy flight activity next year."

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

City Commission Regular Meeting, September 17, 2025 7:00 PM
City Commission Regular Meeting, October 15, 2025 7:00 PM
City Commission Regular Meeting, November 19, 2025 7:00 PM
City Commission Regular Meeting, December 17, 2025 7:00 PM

Countdown to 180 (104 - Falcon 9, 0 - Falcon Heavy, and 3 - Starship):

Launch 108! Tuesday, August 26th, at 6:30 p.m. CT, Starship Flight 10 will launch from the Orbital Launch Mount at Pad 1 in Starbase, Texas. Super Heavy Booster 16 will do a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of America. Starship 37 will test an in-space Raptor engine relight, validate the heat shield for re-entry, test the payload bay door and simulate payload deployment with faux Starlink satellites. S37 will then attempt a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean, off the northwest coast of Australia.
Launch 109! Wednesday, 27th of August, at 1:49 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 Starlink 10-11 will launch from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The booster will land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
Launch 110! Wednesday, 27th of August, at 6:53 a.m. PT, Falcon 9 Starlink 10-56 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 111! Friday, 29th of August, at 7:05 p.m. PT, Falcon 9 Starlink 17-7 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 112! Sunday, 31st of August, at 7:15 a.m. PT, Falcon 9 Starlink 10-14 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.

■ THE BORING COMPANY:

- TBC intern Matthew Lizak from the University of St. Thomas just finished his Operations & Supply Chain Internship at The Boring Company. "It was an amazing experience to support active tunneling in Vegas. Everyone worked incredibly hard, so I made sure to deliver results I was proud of on every project. It was rewarding to see my work directly contribute to the Ops team’s goals, and they were sad to see me leave after just 3 months. Thank you to my team for an outstanding experience." Video by Matthew.

■ NEURALINK: N/A...

■ STARLINK:

- Starlink's new video focused on the Redmond, Washington, Factory.

Per SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell (@Gwynne_Shotwell), "The world’s most advanced satellite constellation delivering reliable high-speed internet, built right here in the USA!"

Per Michael Nicolls (@michaelnicollsx), VP of Starlink Engineering, "The Starlink “mini laser” shown in today’s video will connect third party satellites and space stations into the Starlink constellation. The mini laser is designed to achieve link speeds of 25 Gbps at distances up to 4000 km, and was recently successfully tested in orbit on a satellite launched on Starlink G10-20."

Per Elon, "Lasers in space..."

- Zbigniew Bogucki, head of the Chancellery of Polish President Karol Navrocki, denied claims that Navrocki’s veto of an amendment to the law on aid for Ukrainians would lead to a Starlink shutdown in Ukraine. He stated that funding for Starlink services, critical for Ukraine’s internet connectivity, is secured under current Polish legislation until September 30th.

- Filtronic PLC secured a £47.3 million ($62.5 million) order from SpaceX for proprietary gallium nitride (GaN) E-band products that deliver double the output power of existing gallium arsenide RF systems. Shipments will start in 2027 to support the Starlink constellation; this follows previous orders of £32.5 million in June, £16.8 million in February, and £6.4 million in August 2024, with extended warrants issued to SpaceX for E-band and other bands, vesting on product delivery for closer strategic alignment.

■ X:

- The XTV app for android TV and smart TVs has been officially shut down. This was abandoned by X even though there was a lot of enthusiasm behind the feature. It received one release and was never touched again. Pic by Omar, (@WholeMarsBlog).

- X Corp filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, before Judge Reed C. O'Connor, against Apple, OpenAI, and California. X Corp alleges they are colluding to create an illegal AI monopoly by restricting open-source AI development. The suit claims Apple's App Store policies, combined with OpenAI's shift from a non-profit to a for-profit entity backed by Microsoft, stifles competition and harms consumers by limiting access to advanced AI technologies. X Corp seeks an injunction to prevent Apple from enforcing restrictive developer agreements and to stop California from implementing laws that hinder open-sourced AI, arguing these actions violate federal antitrust laws and the First Amendment.

- P4mui (@P4mui) found that X will soon use the native iOS selector for pics and videos. X's Nikita Bier (@nikitabier) replied saying, "Finally bringing AI search to your camera roll—and in a much more private form." He credited xAI's Kyle Zaragoza (@KyleZaragoza).

- According X's Chris Park (@chrisparkX), the X API will continue to be free for all emergency and weather utility apps. "If you are sending weather notifications, saving lives, and serving humanity, please DM us."

■ xAI:

- Ted Townsend of the Greater Memphis Chamber with Michael Dell at xAI's Colossus 2. "Thrilled to witness the remarkable collaboration between xAI and Dell Technologies on Colossus 2! We welcome Dell to the Digital Delta and eagerly anticipate its continued growth, driving innovation and opportunity in our city. This powerful partnership marks an exciting milestone for Memphis!"

- HUMAIN, the Saudi Arabia-based AI company founded as a Public Investment Fund subsidiary, started construction on the two 100MW data centers in Riyadh and Dammam, The company is securing 18,000 Nvidia GB300 units, pending US government approval, and plans to acquire hundreds of thousands more GPUs. HUMAIN has secured a $5 billion ‘AI Zone’ partnership with AWS, 500MW of compute from AMD, and deployed Groq chips for inference, while also signing agreements with Qualcomm and Cisco. The company aims to develop 6.6GW of data center capacity within ten years and has been in talks with xAI for potential Middle East collaboration.

- Per Elon, "xAI will soon be far beyond any company besides Google, then significantly exceed Google. Companies in China will be the toughest competitors, because they have so much more electricity than America and are super strong at building hardware."

- Grok 2.5 model is now open source. Grok 3 will be open source in about 6 months.

- Grok Vision mode is now available Android app.

- SuperGrok Heavy subscriber now get $50/mo. in API credits.

- xAI is no longer incorporated as a public benefit corporation (PBC).

■ DOGE:

Estimated Savings: $205 Billion

Amount Saved Per Taxpayer: $1,273.29

- DOGE announced, agencies terminated 163 contracts with a ceiling value of $1.9 billion and savings of $647 million. This includes:

$35 million USAID contract to “acquire contractor support to establish and manage a flexible, quick response mechanism supporting activities that will support democracy and stability in El Salvador”.
$280k DOI contract for “horse mounted patrol groom services”.
$102k DOT contract for an “assessment specialist academics provost office”.
$179k State Dept. contract for “customized English language training to the US embassy in Yerevan, Armenia”
$25k DOI contract to “provide facilitation, collaborative problem solving services”.

■ ELON NEWS: N/A...

■ THANK YOU:

Thanks for reading, everyone!

For August, I am giving away Optimus, the Tesla Bot Action Figure ($45), to one of you guys.

If you are looking for some cool Musk Company Merch, you can also support the content by checking out the new shop! If you order anything let me know what you think, good or bad. serobinsonjr.shop

REFERRALS:

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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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