ELON CHRON: The Daily Chronicle of Elon Musk's Companies
Added 2025-07-18 21:49:24 +0000 UTC18th of July, 2025
"Memes are the most information-dense form of communication..." - Elon Musk (@elonmusk)
■ TESLA TSLA 2.32%↑ ($329.65, +3.21%):
- The new 50,000 sq. ft. Tesla Service, Sales and Delivery Center at the Bison Crossings Development in the Village of Buffalo Grove, Illinois. It sits on a 16-acre site is located at the corner of Dundee and Old Arlington Heights Roads.
- Tesla Joy (@TeslaJoy) got the inside scoop on the Tesla Diner's test opening. Patrons could order basic diner food like hot dogs, burgers, shakes, etc. directly from their Tesla's interface. The drive-in theater audio synced through the same system. Food was served in Cybertruck-shaped boxes with wooden utensils on metal trays, with themed placemats for kids. There are techno Toto toilets, an elevator, and of course merch. No official grand opening date yet. Thanks, Joy! FYI, the Diner is starting to show up in the App. 80 V4 Superchargers!
- Not sure if this is new, but I have never seen it. Tesla has a webpage that lists al of their current promotions in the U.S. Check out the above post for a complete list of incentives.
- It is being reported that Tesla veteran, Raj Jegannathan, has taken on the role as Tesla's top North American sales executive. Raj has been involved with infrastructure and security roles, and most recently Vice President of IT, AI Infrastructure, Apps, Infosec, and Vehicle Service Operations. This has not been confirmed by Tesla.
- Tesla will participate in the ChargedUp Cybersecurity x EV Showcase at Singapore Management University’s Connexion Boulevard. The event highlights EV cybersecurity and smart mobility. Tesla and MG EV will display a live Vehicle-to-Load (V2L) demo on July 18th and Future Ready Talks on July 19 from 3–4 pm with insights from Tesla and ChargedUp.
- Model YL spotted in China by Veo (@Veowow).
- For Q2, Cybertruck sales dropped 51% YoY to only 4,300 vehicles according to Cox Automotive. For the first half of 2025 only 10,700 units have been sold. Tesla has to get those prices down.
FLYOVERS (flight links in sources section):
Giga Texas: Joe Tegtmeyer (@JoeTegtmeyer), 18th of July, '25. Early morning views in the south extension and some along the east and full length on the west side. Big stamping press parts for Giga Nevada have not yet departed the site. Trucks loading up new vehicles even at this early time of the morning.
■ SPACEX:
- At Starbase, SpaceX lifted the converted Starship Transport Stand, now Static Fire Stand, atop the Orbital Launch Mount at Pad 1. One step closer to Starship Static Fires. Shaun Gisler (@lifeatstagezero).
- Yesterday, the Liquid Oxygen Booster Quick Disconnect hood for Pad-2 was spotted being delivered. Big! Pics by Toby (@tobewobemusic) and Lab Padre (@labpadre).
- Today,@NASASpaceflight spotted a potential SpaceX salvage operation starting. Salvage ship LB Jill was caught leaving the Port of Brownsville with a manifest to “Load Rocket Parts 1 M/T.” The operation likely targets debris from Starship Flight 6, specifically Booster 13, which floated for hours after an offshore divert and drifted south, possibly into Mexican waters.
- The beautiful images around Starbase by the great and powerful Carlos (@cnunezimages)! Subscribe to Carlos and support his work!
Starbase City Commission Meeting:
No meetings scheduled at this time.
Countdown to 180 (87 - Falcon 9, 0 - Falcon Heavy, and 3 - Starship):
Launch 91! Friday, 18th of July, at 8:51 p.m. PT, Falcon 9 Starlink 17-3 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 92! July, Monday, 21st of July, at 5:00 p.m. ET, Falcon 9 O3b mPower 9-10 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. 2 high-throughput communications satellites in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) built by Boeing and operated by SES.
Launch 93! Tuesday, 22nd of July, at 11:05 a.m. PT, Falcon 9 TRACERS will launch from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The booster will return to site and land at Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) at Vandenberg. This is NASA's Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) mission, consisting of two identical satellites that will orbit Earth in tandem (one following the other), will help understand magnetic re-connection and its effects in Earth’s atmosphere. Magnetic re-connection occurs when activity from the Sun interacts with Earth’s magnetic field. By understanding this process, scientists will be able to better understand and prepare for impacts of solar activity on Earth.
Launch 94! Thursday, 24th of July, at 5:12 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 Starlink 10-26 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 95! Friday, 25th of July, at 7:09 p.m. PT, Falcon 9 Starlink 17-2 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 96! Tuesday, 29th of July, at 8:39 a.m. PT, Falcon 9 Starlink 13-4 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.
Launch ??! Thursday, 31st of July, at 12:09 p.m. ET, NASA SpaceX Falcon 9 Crew-11 will launch from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. This will be Crew Dragon Endeavour's 6th flight. Booster B1094 will return to site and land at Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) located at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Launch ??! Flight 10 NET August 4th.
■ THE BORING COMPANY:
- Elon replied to a post on China’s 600 km/h maglev trains and suggests the Boring Company’s near-vacuum tunnels could exceed them. He highlights how air resistance limits speeds in traditional tunnels. Elon is of course referencing Hyperloops. "Air at anywhere near 1 bar is like running in molasses, due to drag increasing with the square of velocity and the effective drag coefficient spiking as you get close to Mach 1."
- Siobhan Chou, a 4th-year Civil Engineering student at the University of Warwick, led the Warwick Boring team to a Top 5 finish in this years finals of the Not-A-Boring-Competition. As Team Lead, she manages 50 members, overseeing project development and technical innovation for hyperloop-inspired infrastructure solutions.
■ NEURALINK:
- Per Brad (@ALScyborg), "The crazy thing that the robotics team is doing is to try to implant the threads through the dura! In the video, John explains how the needle grabs the thread and places it in the brain. At 200x scale! Before the beginning of the video, he was pointing out the robot that did my surgery. They ship the robot to the hospital and back to Neuralink for updates between surgeries."
- Per Neuralink Co-founder DJ Seo (@djseo), "The bar for shipping a product should generally be higher."
- It is being reported that in April, Neuralink filed as a "small disadvantaged business" with the U.S. Small Business Administration. This filing utilizes a claim that 51% of the company has ownership by disadvantaged individuals. Jared Birchall was listed as the contact person on the filing from April. Birchall also manages Elon's money as head of his family office. The filing preceded the $650 million funding round in June, valuing Neuralink at $9 billion.
■ STARLINK:
- Today, Starlink officially launched in Bangladesh. The service includes Residential at 6,000/month and Residential Lite at 4,200/month. Both require a one-time 47,000 for the kit. Grameen Caledonian College of Nursing (GCCN) in Bangladesh hosted SpaceX's Vice President of Starlink Business Operations, Lauren Dreyer (@LaurenDreyer), and Global Engagement Consultant, Richard H. Griffiths (@RHGriffiths), to explore a collaboration aimed at transforming GCCN into the country's first fully digital nursing college.
- In Pineville, LA, at Camp Beauregard, the Louisiana State Guard (LASG) Cyber Reserve Team (CRT) conducted a drill to strengthen cyber readiness and emergency communications. Brigadier General Larry Benton assessed Starlink as a communications system for its ability to maintain connectivity during outages. The team tested the system's setup, signal strength, and data transfer rates under simulated disaster conditions. Led by Mr. Bob Miller of IRGame .ai, the drill included a tabletop exercise simulating a man-made cyber outage, with the CRT practicing rapid response, system restoration, and coordination with civilian agencies while prioritizing technical precision and empathetic communication to support affected communities. Per Miller, "We train to meet the moment with confidence, compassion, and capability. Louisiana deserves nothing less."
- Want to get out of the office? Jake Lingwall, VP of Engineering at Leland, did. So he decided he would go to his favorite campsite in Utah’s mountains. But he still had work to do, so he took his whole team with him. Utilizing Starlink to work remotely, the team was able to enjoyed productive discussions, rock climb, and excellent food in a scenic setting just 30 minutes from their office.
- New 400Mbps Starlink Gen3 Performance kits arriving in Europe. Per Mickael Da Silva, Sales Manager at IEC Telecom, "Kits are arriving in big numbers! Looks like it’s going to be a bright summer!"
■ X:
- Burnley FC (@BurnleyOfficial) officially announced their partnership with X. They are the first Premier League (football/soccer) club with a "Strategic Digital Platform Partnership" using a dedicated team to boost fan engagement and revenue. They are launching the "Keeping The Faith" 20-episode X Original docuseries for the 2025-2026 season. Each episode will be between 10-12 minutes.
■ xAI:
- A teaser video of the upcoming Grok Companion, Valentine, will drop tomorrow, the 19th of July, and release next week. "Valentine’s day in a week. He will make your heart race."
- Elon posted that xAI is working on a new way to quickly make creative "viral" videos. The feature will be called Imagine.
- Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) suggested Grok should have a separate meme generator feature. "The image generator already does a solid job making memes, but I feel like a separate meme creator with built in templates and whatnot would be awesome." Elon replied, "Something very cool is brewing."
- As I stated before and records now show, xAI, through its Wyoming-based affiliate MZX Tech LLC, purchased the former Duke Energy plant at 2875 Stanton Road in Southaven, Mississippi, as confirmed by a special warranty deed in DeSoto County Property Records. MZX Tech LLC shares the same Palo Alto, California, address as xAI’s SEC filings. Want to know the funny part, the special warranty deed shows that the properly was traded for $10!
- xAI also posted images as they move throughout the areas of Memphis cleaning around schools and homes. "We work continuously with city and county officials to remove waste and improve the community. Today, our team was working hard to clean up the roadways. On average our crews remove 8-10 discarded mattresses, 15-20 rubber tires and 1500 lbs of waste per day."
Per xAI's Colossus Lead Brent Mayo (@BrentM_SpaceX), "Making a place better than you found it is critically important to the entire xAI team. Doesn’t matter if it’s repurposing wastewater, working with schools to enhance a child’s school experience or cleaning up the streets. We’re excited to be a part of the community and greatly appreciate the local leaders, school officials, pastors and countless others that continue to move Memphis forward."
■ DOGE:
Estimated Savings: $190 Billion
Amount Saved Per Taxpayer: $1,180.12
- The House of Representatives passed the $9 billion spending cuts package today. A victory for DOGE. It passed 216-213 and will placed before President Trump for his signature. Some of the items cut with this bill includes:
$18 million to improve gender diversity in the Mexican street lighting industry.
$1 million for voter ID in Haiti.
$6 million for Net Zero Cities in Mexico.
$3 $3 million for Iraqi Sesame Street.
$6.2 million to address the needs of Venezuelan migrants in Columbia.
$2.1 million for climate resilience in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and East Africa.
$21 million on wind farms in Ukraine.
$500,000 for electric buses in Rwanda.
$33,000 for Being LGBTI in the Caribbean.
$643,000 for LGBTQI+ programs in the Western Balkans.
$2.4 million to make aid more considerate of sexual orientation and gender identity.
$2.5 million to teach children how to make environmentally-friendly reproductive health decisions.
$4.4 million for the Melanesian Youth Climate Corps.
$3.3 million for civic engagement in Zimbabwe.
$882,000 to fund social media mentorship in Serbia and Belarus.
■ ELON NEWS:
- "Wow I can’t believe Epstein killed himself before realizing it was all a hoax."
■ WAYS TO SUPPORT:
If you enjoy the ELON CHRON, please support by subscribing for only $4/month. That's less than .18¢/update! When you subscribe you also become instantly eligible for the monthly random subscriber giveaway.
For July, I am giving away Tesla's official Year of the Snake Backpack ($50)! Like always, one random subscriber's name will be drawn at the end of the month. Join the likes of Elon himself and SUBSCRIBE HERE!
Check out the new 420 Prime T-Shirt in the serobinsonjr.shop
REFERRALS:
Tesla: 3 free months of FSD or $400 Off Solar Panel Installation.
Starlink: Free Month for either Residential or Roam service!
https://www.starlink.com/residential?referral=RC-3527509-65487-76
T-Mobile (Starlink Direct-to-Cell): $50 credit 45 days after you activate. Direct-to-Cell has dropped from $20 to $10 per month!
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
Robinhood: Get a Free stock.
Go buy a Tesla and have a great weekend!
■ SOURCES:
FLYOVERS:
Giga Texas: Joe Tegtmeyer
Tesla:
Neuralink:
Starlink:
X:
Elon News:
